- Aimed at: SME
- Located in:
United Kingdom
Requirements
The SME category is for legally incorporated UK businesses generating over £250k annual revenue who are growing and looking to scale. If your business is generating less than £250k annual revenue, or has less than 25 employees, please apply for the Startup category.
To be eligible to apply for the SME category your business should:
- Be legally incorporated and registered in the UK.
In addition to the above, businesses must also meet one or more of the following:
- Annual revenue of over £250k
- Between 25 to 250 employees
All applicants/members of the participating business must be at least 18+.
Applicants/participating businesses must confirm they meet the above criteria upon submitting their application.
You can only apply for the programme once, even if you have a number of businesses and/or separate businesses which match the criteria for the University, Startup and SME categories.
Please note there are two stages to the application process. If you are successful in the first stage you will be asked to complete a further application form where you will be asked additional information about your business. Please refer to the T&Cs for further information.
General information
Santander are offering SMEs from across the UK the opportunity to win up to £30,000 equity-free funding and business support through the Santander X UK Awards 2025.
3 winners will receive up to £30,000 funding and go forward to represent the UK in the Santander X Global Award, Santander's international early-stage entrepreneurship competition. In the Global Award you'll compete with entrepreneurs from countries across Europe and Latin America to win additional cash prizes, international exposure and more!
Do you have what it takes to go up against the best SMEs worldwide?
50 businesses in the SME category will be shortlisted in September. If selected you'll have the opportunity to join a series of expert-led online pitch workshops.
All shortlisted businesses will pitch virtually through a series of heats to select 9 semi-finalists who will pitch in-person at Unity Place to decide the 3 finalists.
Make it to the final 3 businesses in the SME category and you'll get the chance to pitch live to a panel of high-profile judges, including Mike Regnier, Santander UK CEO at the National Final on 13 November 2025.
Reward
Winners will receive the following cash prizes:
· 1st place: £30,000
· 2nd place: £20,000
· 3rd place: £10,000
Winners will also receive a package of business support.
Call guidelines
Collaborators
Call stages
Contact to make enquiries about this call
To resolve queries about this call, you can contact the manager of the call by writing to:
santander.universities@santander.co.uk
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