Blood donor reward scheme and AI recruitment app scoop top prizes in AXA startup competition

·        Winners’ ideas focus on encouraging blood donation through a reward platform and using AI to streamline job applications

·        AXA Startup Angel competition attracts double last year’s entries from entrepreneurs across UK

·        Winners receive £25,000 funding plus mentorship and business insurance for a year thanks to AXA

A reward platform for blood donors to encourage participation and a WhatsApp-based app to make job applications easier took the two £25,000 top prizes in this year’s AXA Startup Angel competition. 

The competition, now in its fourth year, attracted more than 500 entries from across the UK and was judged by a panel including the AXA Startup Angels, all small business experts in their own right. As well as being involved in the judging, the Angels – Stack World CEO Sharmadean Reid MBE, UK Black Business Week and UK Black Business Show founder Raphael Sofoluke and BOSH! vegan food brand creators Henry Firth and Ian Theasby – provide mentoring to the winners to help them on their business journeys.

WeDonate, a reward platform to encourage more people to give blood, and Bluco, a recruitment tool that uses conversational AI to streamline the job application process, were this year’s big winners.

Best friends Alex Last and Stephen King from Woking, Surrey, are committed to inspiring a new generation of blood donors through their “student discount-like” rewards platform WeDonate, while Bluco founders Francisco Shirazi, 22, and Nicoló Magnante, 24, are determined to make job applications “as easy as sending a message on WhatsApp” using conversational AI.

The judges said this year’s entries were more impressive than ever, with almost all the entrepreneurs looking to tackle societal issues and many focusing on environmental concerns such as water pollution and waste.

Thirty-year-olds Alex and Stephen set out to start a business that would do something positive for society and leave a lasting legacy. They were inspired after Stephen’s uncle needed multiple blood transfusions while in hospital. Discovering a lack of younger generation donors, with a 50% drop reported in the last five years due to the Covid pandemic, they set up WeDonate to verify and reward donors with discounts on their favourite brands through an online platform. 

Francisco and Nicoló from London hope to gain unique insights from the Startup Angels on taking their AI job application app Bluco to a global audience. Inspired by the post-Brexit supply shortage in the labour market, Bluco’s ambition is to help deskless workers such as those in the health service or delivery roles to easily apply for jobs without the need for a CV or a laptop. They believe Bluco has the potential to revolutionise the job application process for both applicants and employers.

AXA Small Business Champion Julie White, who was also on the judging panel, said this year’s entries were truly inspiring and demonstrated the strength of entrepreneurial spirit in the UK.

“The AXA Startup Angel competition continues to highlight and celebrate the incredible entrepreneurial spirt and savvy business minds we have here in the UK. This year both winners showed how their innovative problem-solving, creativity and self-belief can transform an idea into an exciting business prospect. AXA is excited to be on the journey with these two new startups.” – Julie White, AXA Small Business Champion (pictured)

To find out more about this year’s winners and runners-up, head to the AXA Startup Angel website. Budding entrepreneurs can register their interest in the 2025 AXA Startup Angel competition.