Applications are now closed for The Young Entrepreneurs Challenge 2025. Applications for 2026 will reopen in:
Applications are now closed for The Young Entrepreneurs Challenge 2025. Applications will reopen in:
The Young Entrepreneurs Challenge—brought to you by Verizon and Unloc—is an annual event centred around finding the best young talent across Europe.
If you’re 16–25 and have a fresh and innovative tech-led idea, The Young Entrepreneurs Challenge could help you get your business off the ground—or if you’ve already launched, boost it to the next level.
Previous year’s finalists’ ideas included:
Olivia Simpson – 2023 Winner
Do you have a game-changing tech idea burning inside you? Don’t let self-doubt hold you back! Be inspired by this year’s incredible finalists who dared to dream big. Discover their groundbreaking innovations and ignite your own entrepreneurial fire. Join us live to witness the crowning of the next tech superstar!
AquaRenew
Skomb-By-Tex
Trovador
Solar Sub
Exoheal
£1k for Ignite Prize winners
Our Ignite Prize recognises those ideas that aren’t yet as advanced as the entries for the main prize – but still show great promise. There’s a cash prize of £1,000 (1,175€) of each of the three best innovations. Below are the Ignite categories recipients for 2025:
One-to-one mentorship
You’ll be paired with an enterprise mentor, who will create an individual plan focused on your key priorities. This could be addressing knowledge gaps or helping match you with contacts or services to help get your business off the ground and into orbit. Along with all finalists, you’ll also get a series of exclusive masterclasses with a variety of industry experts; last year’s masterclasses included business finance, legal structures & R&D.
Cash award of £10K (11.75K€*)
The overall winner will receive a £10,000 (11,750€*) grant to help accelerate their business idea or start-up..
* Approximate Euros equivalent. The actual prize will be calculated based on the exchange rate at the time of the award.
Global One Young World Summit
The winner will also get a trip to the One Young World 2025 Global Summit in Munich. This annual event brings together many of the brightest young leaders from 190+ countries and 250+ organisation. The agenda is packed with events including speeches, workshops and networking events with influential political, business and humanitarian visionaries.
Applications will be judged on three key factors:
Is it innovative?
Does it improve sustainability?
Is it viable?
Applying is easy:
Then sit tight, finalists will be announced in early February 2025.
Applicants must be:
Business proposals must:
Businesses must be either:
At Verizon, we create the networks that connect people to the things they love, be it businesses to consumers; work teams to work teams; or employees to charities.
We’re problem-solvers, engineers, technologists, innovators and thought-leaders who create the networks that move the world forward. Networks that connect anything to everything and everyone to anyone. Networks built for innovators, entrepreneurs and anyone with the ambition to tackle the world’s biggest challenges.
Our story has been hundreds of years in the making and today businesses use our award-winning networks to make breakthroughs in immersive retail experiences and virtual fashion shows, through to remote healthcare and building revolutionary factory infrastructures to deliver the promise of the digital world.
Unloc is a dynamic social enterprise on a mission to empower young people to be innovative change makers. We strive to encourage entrepreneurial thinking amongst 16-25 year olds, help grow their skills, get a handle on their ambitions and promote alternative career pathways.
Through our wide range of engaging programmes, academies, and courses, as well as our physical Changemaker Studios spaces, digital offer, and touring roadshows across the UK, we provide young people with the confidence, creativity and skills required to be the changemakers of tomorrow.
Through the Verizon and Unloc partnership, The Young Entrepreneurs Challenge provides an extremely valuable platform for young people across Europe to promote their creative business ideas, and take their first bold steps into a promising new future.
Verizon UK Limited. Registered in England and Wales #02776038. Registered address Reading International Business Park, Basingstoke Road, Reading, RG2 6DA.
Unloc Learning Limited. Registered in England and Wales #08578126. Registered address c/o Portsmouth Guildhall, Guildhall Walk, Portsmouth, PO1 2AB.
Verizon
@ 2024 Verizon UK Limited. All rights reserved.
Aleksandra Daniljuk: AquaRenew
Aleksandra aims to address the global environmental crisis of water pollution caused by excess nitrogen and phosphorus in water bodies. Her solution involves small, solar-powered robots that use wire meshes to collect harmful algae blooms, release oxygen through air stones to combat oxygen depletion, and utilise zeolite biofilters to absorb excess nutrients, thereby preventing further eutrophication.
Luisanny Martinez: Skomb-By-Tex
Skomb-By-Tex is a solution to modern challenges in fashion and sustainability that offers a sustainable, biodegradable material made from kombucha fermentation by-products. The eco-friendly alternative to traditional leather and textiles is crafted from bacterial cellulose, offering a lightweight, durable, and unique texture.
Marta Bernardino: Trovador
Marta developed Trovador, a reforestation robotics company that combats climate change by planting trees in hard-to-reach areas. Unlike drones, which have a low survival rate for seeds, Trovador’s hexapod robots plant saplings with a 90% survival rate. These AI-driven robots navigate challenging terrains like cliffs and slopes, ensuring effective reforestation.
Sebastiaan Schalkwijk: Solar Sub
Solar Sub’s floating solar solution revolutionises renewable energy by placing solar panels on water bodies, maximising land use and harnessing natural cooling. This approach enhances system efficiency, increasing energy yield by up to 27% compared to traditional solar systems. Solar Sub’s advanced cooling technology and optimal panel positioning improve efficiency and durability, reducing operational costs and extending the lifespan of solar installations.
Zain Sumdani: Exoheal
Exoheal addresses the global shortage of physiotherapists and the inaccessibility of effective therapy with a robotic glove and a machine-learning-powered app. This solution delivers personalised, real-time therapy, enabling stroke recovery from home. Early trials show a 50% improvement in recovery time compared to traditional methods.
Cristina Campos Maciá: MGUS
MGUS is an innovative vertical gardening system designed to make cities greener, more sustainable, and livable. By addressing urban challenges like extreme temperature fluctuations and climate change, MGUS improves building energy efficiency, reduces carbon footprints, and fosters biodiversity. Its modular design allows easy installation on any building facade, using sustainable materials like recycled PET plastics, mycelium, cellular PVC, and rock wool.
Molly Ratcliffe: WasteProjekt
WasteProjekt is an eco-friendly initiative that transforms food waste into biodegradable plant pots, addressing plastic pollution in gardening. Currently in trials ahead of their June 2025 launch, the company aims to offer sustainable, zero-waste solutions that enrich soil health. Their goal is to partner with retailers to revolutionise gardening and waste management, aligning with sustainability goals and providing scalable, market-ready products.
Simone Panella: Dyamotechem
The Dyamotech Smart Headband is a head impact monitoring device designed to improve safety in grassroots sports by tracking the force, direction, and frequency of head collisions. It provides real-time data to coaches, parents, and medical professionals, helping them make informed decisions to prevent head injuries.