2nd July 2026
We are delighted to announce yet another very successful Enterprise Awards, culminating in last night’s glittering Dinner in the City of London. The Enterprise Awards is one of the UK’s leading celebrations of technology entrepreneurship, founded in 2012 by John O’Connell, Executive Chairman of ScaleUp Group and which ScaleUp Group continues to organise as well as being one of the Headline Sponsors.
Over the years, the Enterprise Awards has recognised 120 entrepreneurs, whose businesses now generate more than $3.1 billion in annual revenue and employ around 18,000 people worldwide, demonstrating the lasting impact of exceptional founders and the businesses they build.
John O’Connell commented
” ScaleUp Group is committed to supporting ambitious founders by obtaining the growth funding they need, including co-investing alongside a Fund and then providing on-going advice and guidance through every stage of their scaling journey. As successful founders ourselves, the Enterprise Awards are very much part of our DNA.”
“I’m personally delighted that the calibre of this year’s finalists and winners has been as outstanding as ever, reflecting the ambition, creativity and resilience driving innovation across the UK. Working also as we do with supportive Funds, I was delighted to create the Founder Friendly Funds category, recognising those investors who fuel the growth of such exceptional founders over the long term. Together, this year’s winners and Funds represent the people and organisations helping to shape the future of UK technology.”
This year’s ceremony brought together entrepreneurs, investors and business leaders from across the UK technology ecosystem. Alongside recognising outstanding founders across six award categories- see below- 2026 also marked the introduction of a new category – Founder Friendly Funds– another initiative of ScaleUp Group, by enjoining investment institutions funding ambitious businesses to scale up successfully. The inaugural cohort of 18 funds – see below- during 2025 alone made almost 400 investments totalling around $600 million into UK technology businesses, spanning Seed to Series B funding.
Tola Sargeant, Chair of the Judging Panel and CEO of Archives of IT, led the Entrepreneurial part of the Dinner last night, supported by Paddy MccGwire, Managing Partner in Silverpeak (and also a ScaleUp Group Partner).
ScaleUp Group managed this year’s event, led by our Marketing Executive, Andrea Goodkind who drove engagement across finalists, judges, sponsors and the wider entrepreneurial community in the lead-up to the ceremony.
In addition, ScaleUp Group Partner Lisa Powis served again as one of the Awards’ judges, together with Shaun Scoon, Investment Director at ScaleUp Group joining the judging panel for the first time.
Our CFO, Graeme Mair ensured the event was financially sound, so that once again it was able to donate any surplus to the charities supported by the WCIT livery company – circa £200,000 donated to date – assisted this year by various raffle prizes including those donated by other ScaleUp Group Partners Alastair Bathgate, Matthew Elson, John O’Connell and Rob Wirszycz.
2026 Enterprise Awards Winners:
Social Enterprise Entrepreneur: Laura Earnshaw, myHappymind
Applied AI Entrepreneur: Helen Murphy, Opply
Scale-Up Entrepreneur: Sean Williams, AutogenAI
Emerging Entrepreneur: Thomas Garnett & Vlad Galu, Refute
Developing Entrepreneur: Stephanie Eltz, Doctify
Enterprise Entrepreneur: Michelle He, Abound
2026 Founder Friendly Funds:
Fellow 2026 partners and sponsors, include Evelyn Partners and Silverpeak as Headline Sponsors; Farringford Legal as Drinks Sponsor; Archives of IT as Impact Partner; WCIT as Charity Partner; with expert event management delivered by tx2events.
For more information contact [email protected], visit www.enterprise-awards.co.uk or follow the Enterprise Awards on LinkedIn.
