The very best new companies were celebrated yesterday at the fourth annual Startups Awards.
The day’s big winner was the SportStars team, who took home the community impact award as well as being crowned the NatWest Startups Business of the Year.
The company runs sports coaching sessions during term time and works with parents to offer after school, weekend and holiday events across 15 different sports.
The judging panel for the awards included Martin Webb, presenter, Channel 4’s Risking It All; Sahar Hashemi, co-founder, Coffee Republic and Oli Barrett, founder, Make Your Mark With a Tenner.
They were particularly impressed by SportStars for demonstrating that small businesses can be conscious of their impact on the community while remaining profitable.
James Taylor, founder of SportStars said:
“I feel amazing and so proud. I wanted to show that you can go out there and grow a highly successful business making lots of money whilst doing something extremely positive within the community at the same time.
“It’s great to be able to show people that people like me - a young boy from a small village in Leicester – can go out there and chase their dreams.”
Other winners included online retailers The Book Depository, who went home with best online business and best retailer, and online reviewing site Reevoo, who won the best use of technology category.
For a full list of winners visit www.startupsawards.co.uk
Find out why the judges picked SportStars here
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