The winner, Zero Gravity, spots unrecognised talent in young people and unlocks it, spreading opportunity across the UK and powering high-potential students into top universities and careers. Zero Gravity is led by its founder and CEO, Joe Seddon, an entrepreneur who featured in the 2022 Forbes 30 Under 30 list.
The SCFG competition featured tech startups and scaleups that bring positive social change and impact people’s lives through technology. Zero Gravity was named the EdTech Winner, Regional Winner (London and Southeast), and the Global Winner. The Global Final also saw the announcement of the 11 Innovation Winners who were selected by more than 25+ judges from Hays and the competition's innovation partners following pitches by 100 finalists at the Top 100 Innovation Showcase in October 2023.
This year's innovation winners include:
● AI for Good: xFarm Technologies
● EdTech: Zero Gravity
● HealthTech: Card Medic
● MedTech: Echopoint Medical
● ClimateTech: Koolboks
● Water Challenge: xFarm Technologies
● Mental Health and Wellbeing (Hackathon Winner): Auric
● Mental Health and Wellbeing (Startup/Scaleup Winner): BioStress
● Diversity and Inclusion: Accessercise
● General Tech for Good: AirSeed Technologies
● FinTech for Good: Good With
Zero Gravity will receive a 12 Month Subscription of Hays Rise Experience worth £40,000, a LinkedIn Live appearance on Hays’ page, exposure on the Hays Technology insights blog, Digital Solution profiling on Hays websites, five free recruitment hires (up to 120k salary) over a 12-month period, and access to Go1 Training Platform.
Joe Seddon, Founder & CEO, Zero Gravity, commented: "The UK has one of the worst rates for social mobility in Europe. Zero Gravity is changing that through the power of tech. In four years, we’ve grown from a student bedroom startup into a platform that has powered 8,000+ students from low-opportunity backgrounds into top universities and top careers. We’re aiming to become a “social impact unicorn” by 2025, creating over £1B of social impact. The journey from starting Zero Gravity in my childhood bedroom to now supporting thousands of students each year still seems crazy to me, and we are honoured to be the global winner for Super Connect for Good. It's a privilege to stand among Europe's most impactful startups and scale-ups that are making a real difference in the lives of so many."
James Milligan, Global Head of Technology at Hays, commented: “The judges and I were impressed by Zero Gravity’s pitch, leading them to score full marks in every category. Joe Seddon and Zero Gravity showed a great understanding of the social issues they are tackling and their inspiring commitment to social mobility. Zero Gravity not only understands the need for tech for good, but it is commercially tuned into it as well. It clearly demonstrated that it understood the commercial benefits of getting people from diverse backgrounds into the world of work and the pressure that organisations are under to make significant progress in addressing this issue.”
Kosta Mavroulakis, Founder & CEO of Empact Ventures, commented: “We are delighted to announce Zero Gravity as the Super Connect for Good 2023 Global Winner who are an inspiration to all startups as to the aggregate social impact that can be created through technology. I'd like to thank all the participants, judges and partners for all their hard work over the year past year who we look forward to super connecting moving forward."
The SCFG competition is backed by innovation partners and judges around the world. The winners were nominated by over 40+ judges led by Hays and 10 Regional Partners, including Angels Den, Envestors,
Menzies, The Werks Group, CodeBase, Europe-India Centre for Business and Industry (EICBI), She Loves Tech, Global Good, Aon, StartPlatz, Ruffena Group, Startup Lisboa and R+I Germans Hospital Trias y Pujol. The partners and judges joined from organisations including the OVHcloud Startup Program, Excelledia, Albion Business School, Global Banking School, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Leeds City Council, the NIHR Surgical MedTech Co-operative, University of Portsmouth SIGHT Programme, Siemens, Greenbackers Investment Capital, FinTech B2B Marketing, Lloyds Banking Group, Elliot for Water, Presidium Network, Global Good, NatWest, Minerva Venture and Invest Eastern France.
