Meet the 2024 AXA Startup Angel winners
Check out the video below to see the moment our winners found out they had won.
What is AXA Startup Angel?
When you’re first starting out, the best advice you can get comes from those who have been in your shoes. That’s why we created AXA Startup Angel. This competition gives budding entrepreneurs the chance to turn their business dreams into a reality.
In 2024 we ran AXA Startup Angel in partnership with the Evening Standard for a third year to offer 6 of the most promising up and coming businesses from across the UK a variety of incredible prizes and first-class mentoring.
Introducing our AXA Startup Angel 2024 top prize winners
Our two top prize winners won £25,000 of startup funding to help launch or support their business, as well as mentoring advice from our expert Angels and business insurance for a year thanks to AXA. So, let’s meet our winning businesses.
Steve King and Alex Last
Founders, WeDonate
When a family member needed several blood transfusions and had a rare blood type, Steve became a regular donator.
It was then he noticed there were fewer and fewer young people donating blood. This inspired him, along with his friend Alex Last, to co-found WeDonate - an exclusive closed-member rewards platform built to support NHS Blood and Transplant, dedicated to saving lives by incentivising and acknowledging blood and plasma donors through an affiliate platform.
Speaking about their win, Steve said:
“The prize means so much, It’s a good signal that now’s the time to take it to the next level. We’re going to be able to help save more lives, which is what we made the platform for.”
Francisco Shirazi
Co-founder, Bluco
The struggle to recruit essential workers, which makes up 80% of the workforce, worsened during Covid. It was this fact that led Francisco and his co-founder, Nicolò Magnante, to founding Bluco.
Bluco tackles the challenge of attracting and hiring qualified deskless workers, streamlining the recruitment process by leveraging WhatsApp and conversational AI. This means that companies can attract and hire qualified candidates more effectively, enhancing operational efficiency and employee satisfaction.
Speaking about their win, Francisco said:
“The funding will allow us to develop the next features we have on our roadmap to really serve the problem and decrease even further the time it takes to get these deskless workers into jobs.”
Who were our 2024 runners up?
On top of our two main prize winners, we also chose three runners up who each have won over £18,000 of media, mentoring and exposure. Each runner-up will receive a profile on their business in the Evening Standard, mentoring with a member of the Evening Standard team, plus VIP access to SME XPO 2025.
Adhesh Shenoy
Co-founder of Guerrilla.Co
Every time it rains, debris of human activity is washed off roads into water bodies, causing contaminants to enter into our water and into our food chain. Guerrilla is a device fitted onto road drains to collect urban runoff in a simple, cost-effective and impactful solution.
Molly Ratcliffe
Founder of WasteProjekt
WasteProjekt turns waste into a solution, one plant pot at a time. Biodegradable plant pots, made from food waste, will naturally break down as the plant grows in the ground, contributing to a circular economy by repurposing food waste as a valuable resource.
Sol Escobar
Founder of Give Your Best
Give Your Best is the first digital platform where people, brands and businesses can donate clothes online, allowing those in need to shop for free with dignity and choice. Give Your Best! is tackling clothing property and the amount of clothing ending up in landfills.
Who was the winner of the Evening Standard People’s Choice poll?
Our sixth and final winner from AXA Startup Angel 2024 was chosen by the public in a poll hosted by our partner, the Evening Standard. Just like our runners up, our people’s choice winner will receive over £18,000 of media, mentoring and exposure. Each runner-up will receive a profile on their business in the Evening Standard, mentoring with a member of the Evening Standard team, plus VIP access to SME XPO 2025.
Salim Duman
Founder of Meal2Deal
While studying at King's College London, Salim and his friends came up with smart machines that offer inexpensive and nutritious meals and Meal2Deal cards for those in need. With Meal2Deal, Salim is on a mission to make food poverty history.
See what last year's winners are up to
We caught up with our two 2023 top prize winners to find out what they had been up to since winning last year, and to hear more about their plans for the future. Let’s see what they had to say.
Entries for this year’s competition may be closed, but things don’t stop there
If you’re interested in finding out more about the future of AXA Startup Angel or you’re considering entering your business in next year’s competition, you can use the sign up form below to register your interest.
All you have to do is give us a few quick details and we’ll be in touch next year to let you know when entries open.