A number of Leicestershire startup founders are celebrating after being named as regional winners of the UK StartUp Awards.

Anuj Ashar founder of Launchpad AI scooped Digital StartUp of the Year, whilst AMMI Food took Graduate StartUp of the Year in the Midlands.

Anuj, an entrepreneur who was previously on the Leicester Startups Accelerator, said:

“Wow- this journey just gets more crazy!

“It’s a win that propels us to the national stage, where we’ll compete for even greater recognition on a global scale.”

Overall 29 businesses were winners in a variety of categories, including Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland based Koloko Travel CIC (Consumer Services) and Altitude Marketing (Marketing, Advertising & PR).

All the winners will now progress to the inaugural national UK StartUp Awards final where they will be competing against category winners from the rest of the UK.

Professor Dylan Jones-Evans OBE, creator of the awards said:

“Start-ups are the life of any economy and that is especially true in the Midlands where those new businesses are contributing to job creation, innovation, and prosperity across the whole of this entrepreneurial region.

It’s been an honour and a pleasure to read the stories of those founders who have spotted the opportunity and taken the risk to launch their own venture.

All of the winners have demonstrated that they deserve to win their categories and I’m looking forward to having the ‘best of the best’ from the Midlands competing at the UK final later this year”

The UK final will take place on September 12th at Ideas Fest – the festival for entrepreneurs, business leaders, disruptors, change-makers and decision-makers.