WIN £15,000

WIN £15,000

TO KICKSTART YOUR BUSINESS OR IDEA!

APPLY BEFORE 12PM
ON 22 OCTOBER 2025

Tata Varsity Pitch logo with stylized arrow, supported by Centre for Entrepreneurs.
PulpaTronics logo featuring a geometric abstract symbol above the company name.

Varsity Pitch Champion 2024

THE CATEGORIES

Applicants can enter one category; category sponsors will be confirmed shortly.

Hospitality, Travel and Tourism
Startups targeting business or consumer clients in sectors such as holidays, hotels, airlines and travel guides.

Consumer and Retail
Consumer-facing businesses offering services or products in sectors such as food, drinks, online retail, store concepts, clothing and personal health.

Mobility, Clean Energy and Infrastructure
Business-facing companies offering services or products in sectors such as clean power, materials, business processes, industrial design and engineering.

Digital and Design
Online and digital-led propositions for business or consumer customers such as media, entertainment, gaming, AI and productivity tools.

Community and Social Development
Businesses looking to help consumer and business customers in sectors including education, public health, social cohesion, and tackling societal problems.

WHAT IS IT?

Tata Varsity Pitch Competition is a national early-stage business pitching competition that celebrates the best student and graduate businesses across the UK.

Varsity pitch has run for over fifteen years and is one of the UK’s flagship student pitching events. As part of Global Entrepreneurship Week this November, we will host a prestigious Grand Final where student and graduate start-ups will compete for a prize pot of £25,000 to develop their business ideas.

  • All submissions will compete in one of five categories

  • The best in each category will be named as Category Finalists and will be invited to pitch in person for the chance to be a Category Winner

  • The Category Winners will then take part in the Grand Final

  • The Varsity Pitch Champion 2025 will receive £15,000 for their business

  • Two runners-up will each receive £2,500 for their business

  • All Category Winners will receive £1,000 towards developing their business

  • On the day, the audience will also be asked to select their winner for an audience prize

  • All Category Winners, the Champion and the Runners Up will receive artwork that they can use to promote their success on their websites, CVs and social media as well as being invited to participate in an alumni programme with mentoring from Tata Group companies that will last throughout the academic year

Key Dates

  • Entries close – 22 October, 12pm

  • Category Finalists announced – 1 November

  • Online boot camp for all Category Finalists – 10 November

  • Finals Day: Category Finals and Grand Final presentations – 20 November, in-person, in central London

Two women and a man engaged in conversation in a well-lit indoor setting, with people in the background.
Group of ten former Varsity Pitch winners and organisers at the media launch for VP2025 at the Conde-Naste headquarters in London

Criteria

To enter Varsity Pitch, you must:

  • Be a current student at a recognised UK Higher Education Institution, College or Further Education Institution

OR

  • Have graduated from a recognised UK Higher Education Institution, College or Further Education Institution within the last five years (since July 2020).

It doesn’t matter what subject you studied or where you are from. You will need to be serious about starting your business and commit to starting your business if you win. Winners will need a UK business bank account to receive cash prizes.

what are we looking for?

Varsity Pitch is a competition for new business ideas at an early stage, and the criteria reflect that. We don’t expect you to have started selling anything yet or even to have legally formed or registered the business. However, we do expect you to have put some time and effort in to planning and researching your idea and to share some of what you have found with us as part of your application. Understanding a new business idea is a bit like solving a great mystery plot or any problem, really.

We want to know:

  • What is your business idea, what is the problem it will solve?

  • Why is it different to what has come before? Is there anything new or innovative or are you focussed on executing better?

  • Can you define your Unique Selling Point (USP)?

  • Who are the customers and what have you done to show they need your solution?

  • Where is the market, how big is it and are there any competitors in the landscape?

  • How will you make money and be sustainable? What’s the business model?

  • When is this going to happen and do you have a timeline and plan to get things going?

  • Are there any big risks to it working? Do you have the team and resources already or do you still need more?

A woman standing on a stage, holding a microphone, smiling, and gesturing with her left hand in front of a large screen.

guidance

Top tips to help you in preparing and completing the online application form and video pitch. Before you start your entry:

  • Read through the criteria and categories

  • Choose the category which best fits your business idea. If you’re unsure, reach out and we can help.

  • If we think you’re in the wrong category, we will be in touch to discuss moving your application to a better fit

  • Check the deadlines, plan how much time you will need to prepare your 60 second video pitch and complete the application. Don’t leave it to the last minute to submit your entry

  • Review the Terms and Conditions to see what we will expect from you on entering the competition and if you are this year’s champion

TESTIMONIALS

  • A woman with blonde hair wearing black glasses and a white shirt, smiling at the camera against a white background.

    “The Tata Varsity Pitch was an incredible springboard for Even, with massive upshifts in our pace and visibility. For any start-ups considering applying so go for it! The Tata Varsity Pitch is really a huge partnership with so many organisations coming together to create opportunities for young entrepreneurs. Since joining the family, it feels like we have 100’s more people fighting in our corner.”

    Sarah Bailey
    Co-founder, Even

  • Close-up portrait of smiling young man with short brown hair and light skin, wearing a dark blue T-shirt, in front of an orange circular background.

    “Winning Varsity Pitch was a major step forward for us. It was the first recognition that we had beyond our own universities and it was a great milestone that we could use as we went out to raise our first angel funding. That same business is now Enthuse, the market leader in corporate platforms for charity partnerships, working with global brand businesses to raise millions of pounds each year.”

    Chester Mojay-Sinclaire
    Founder & CEO, Enthuse

  • Adam Barriball of Tata UK

    “The goal of the Tata Varsity Pitch competition is to engage and encourage young entrepreneurs. It has been a privilege to work with The Centre for Entrepeneurs (CFE) to build and develop the competition. Many Tata businesses participate as mentors, and we believe the Tata Varsity Pitch is an exceptional platform for young entrepreneurs to reach a wider audience and build out their network of contacts.

    Adam Barriball
    Business Development and Brand Director, Tata Limited

Startup Navigator

Anyone thinking of applying for Varsity Pitch is invited to try Startup Navigator, the AI startup planning and mentoring tool from Centre for Entrepreneurs and DeepFlow.

Startup Navigator is free and can help you plan, test and develop your ideas faster.

It’s an exciting development for new entrepreneurs and is in public beta - so this is an incredible opportunity to be at the leading edge of what AI can do for you.

A digital graphic showing a startup navigation graphic with the title "Your Startup AI Co-Pilot" and a large word "Startup". The background includes a light blue radar element with dotted lines extending outward. There is a small profile picture of a woman with text "Launch New Business and Future Plans" next to a progress indicator of "0/1" on the top left. An orange rounded rectangle contains the text "Powering New Companies Across the UK."
Workflow diagram titled 'Define Value Prop' with seven steps including 'Identify and Segment Your Target Customers,' 'Map the Customer Profile,' 'Map Your Current or Proposed Offerings,' 'Achieve Fit,' 'Test Your Value Proposition,' 'Refine and Iterate,' and 'Document and Communicate Your Value Proposition.'

REQUEST A PROMO PACK

We invite universities, incubators, enterprise support programmes, and other entrepreneur communities to join as promotional partners, helping encourage student and graduate entrepreneurs to apply.

To request a promotional pack for your programmer institution, please complete this form.