Tech Nation Rising Stars

Applications open for Tech Nation’s rebooted Rising Stars competition offering £3 million for the UK’s most innovative early-stage start-ups.

• Newly merged with OnetoWin and with additional supporters, Rising Stars’ enhanced competition will reward and find the most promising tech start-ups from across the UK
• After nine weeks of regional heats, the Grand Finale at London Tech Week will involve the top 10 finalists pitching to a live audience of ecosystem leaders, investors, and media for a total investment pot of £3 million
• This year’s competition is led by Founders Forum Group and supported by – and in partnership with – Rigby Group, Haatch and Wealth Club

21 JANUARY 2025 – LONDON – Today Tech Nation and OnetoWin have launched the 2025 Rising Stars competition to uncover and accelerate the most innovative early-stage companies in the UK. Powered by Founders Forum Group and supported by and in partnership with Rigby Group and its cornerstone IT services businesses SCC, Haatch and Wealth Club, the competition is open to early-stage B2B and B2B2C founders from all regions of the UK who are building technology in any sector, including agritech, edtech, medtech, AI, health, beauty tech, and more. Applications are open from 21 January to 2 March 2025. For more information about the competition, please visit here.

Technology companies in the UK are worth a combined value of $1.1 trillion and the nation is home to 171 unicorn companies, according to Tech Nation’s most recent report. Tech Nation’s Rising Stars competition aims to support up-and-coming entrepreneurs and innovators from across the UK, including those in underserved regions and communities, with new investment and exposure. The revamped competition aims to inspire and enable more people to embrace tech entrepreneurship by providing resources to help bring their ideas to life.

Rising Stars features two competition tracks: pre-seed or seed-stage companies, and Pre-series A to Series A and later. A judging panel of founders, investors and ecosystem leaders will assess each company’s team experience, value proposition, traction and revenue, and future goals and projections. Over a nine-week period, selected participants will benefit from networking opportunities, as well as regional support and resources. Winners of the early-stage track regional finals will have the opportunity to win the Haatch regional investment prize of £335K. Across the regional finals there will be over £2 million up for grabs. For the later-stage track, grand finalists from each region will have the chance to exhibit at London Tech Week, taking place 9-13 June at London’s Olympia.

In the lead-up to the event, finalists will receive individual mentoring to improve their business propositions and prepare to pitch their start-ups to a live audience of ecosystem leaders, investors, and media, competing for a potential £1 million investment prize at the event. Throughout the process, participants will also gain access to the Founders Forum Group community, with top-tier networking opportunities with other UK and global founders, CEOs, and influential investors.

This year’s competition is now merged with the West Midlands pitch competition OneToWin, which brings existing partners Rigby Group (including SCC) and Haatch. Wealth Club will also be contributing to the investment prize this year and additional partners include HSBC Innovation Banking, Amazon Web Services and British Business Bank. NGOs and industry organisations across the UK are providing support and resources for the Rising Stars competition, including Manchester Digital, Sunderland Software City, Tramshed Wales, TechSPARK (Bristol), ScotlandIS, Innovate Cambridge, and Cambridge Tech Week.

Last year’s Rising Stars’ winner was Novai, a medtech company from Reading combating blindness and disability by pioneering early detection and intervention for eye and brain diseases using DARC technology. In second place was Vikela, a Belfast-based defence tech firm that manufactures next-gen stab and ballistic protection equipment. Cambridge’s Lambda agri, which has developed a light-changing spray coating for greenhouse panels to increase crop yields, came in third place.

Carolyn Dawson, CEO of Founders Forum Group which powers Tech Nation, said: “Fostering entrepreneurship and innovation in the UK is crucial to the growth of our economy. In turn, it provides life-changing opportunities and skills to people from all communities and all regions. Now, with the help of our partners new and old and via our merger with OneToWin, Tech Nation’s Rising Stars can support the most exciting scaleups from across the nation and foster the UK’s tech ecosystem at scale with better resources and investment, enabling more people to make the jump into entrepreneurship.”

Steve Rigby, co-CEO of Rigby Group said: “Talent can only thrive when it meets opportunity. That’s exactly what the revamped OnetoWin competition offers – with an incredible prize on offer for the UK’s best up-and-coming tech entrepreneurs. The UK has huge untapped potential, with tech talent spread far and wide throughout the country. By providing resources, mentorship and networking opportunities through a competitive pitch process, this year’s Rising Stars competition will unleash new, amazing ideas that can boost our economy and solve problems for customers in sectors ranging from AI to medtech.”

Scott Weavers-Wright OBE, co-founder of Haatch said: “At Haatch, we are thrilled to back the incredible emerging talent from every region of the UK by committing over £2m to the Rising Stars competition. By empowering these innovators with the investment and resources they need, we have the opportunity to drive transformative growth for the UK’s tech ecosystem.”