- Aimed at: Entrepreneurial projects
- Located in:
United Kingdom
Requirements
The University category is for early-stage university businesses and entrepreneurs who are preparing their go-to-market strategy and are looking to launch. If your business has a university connection but you have already launched and you are legally incorporated, please apply for the Startup category.
To be eligible to apply for the University category:
- At least 1 team member must be a current student, graduate of the last 5 years (since 2020), university employee, or and entrepreneur within an university accelerator, incubator or spin out company at any UK University.
- Your business must be a team of 2 or more people and/or you should have a plan in place to form a team (If solo founders additional team members can include advisors, board members and/or full and part-time staff including voluntary roles).
- Your business must have a minimum viable product (MVP) and be preparing to go to market.
You can only apply for the Santander X UK Awards once, even if you have a number of businesses and/or separate businesses which match the criteria for the University, Startup or SME categories.
Please note there are two stages to the application process. If you are successful in the 1st 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 University entrepreneurs from across the UK the opportunity to win up to £15,000 equity-free funding and business support through the Santander X UK Awards 2025.
3 winners will receive up to £15,000 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 University entrepreneurs worldwide?
50 businesses in the University 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 to decide the 3 finalists.
Make it to the final 3 businesses in the University 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: £15,000
· 2nd place: £10,000
· 3rd place: £5,000
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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