20 finalists from universities across London have been selected for four Award categories:

• Creative Industries
• Environment
• Health 
• Tech

The two King's finalists who will be pitching at City Hall on 8 May 2024 are:

Name	Course and Faculty	Venture Name	Award Category
Sanchitha K Ratnakara	MA Digital Asset and Media Management Faculty of Arts & Humanities	CocoPac	Creative Industries
Yassin Ali	BA Political Economy Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy	ARENA	Tech

 

Winners will receive £20,000 to put towards their start-up, alongside expert mentoring from staff at City Hall to get their idea to market.

Since 2012, the Mayor's Entrepreneur Competition has invited London's university students to come up with viable, sustainable business ideas that improve the capital. A total of £560,000 in start-up funding has been awarded to winning student ideas to date, with 81% of the winning business ideas still trading since 2012.

The 20 finalists have been selected from 80 semi-finalists. At the grand final they will each pitch their ideas in front of a panel of celebrity judges and a live audience.

Previous King's winners include Josephine Philips, CEO and founder of SoJo, a door-to-door clothing and alteration repairs company, aiming to reduce the negative impact of the fashion industry.

ARENA, like Sojo, started out at the Entrepreneurship Institute's Idea Factory Competition. In 2023, they won the 2nd runners up prize and the lucrative People's Choice Award. 

The winners of the Mayor's Entrepreneur Competition 2024 will be announced on 8 May 2024 during the live event at City Hall.