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Applications open today for the latest NatWest Accelerator Pitch competition, giving founders the chance to compete for a share of a £100,000 prize fund at a live final held at the bank’s London head office.
The London contest is part of NatWest Accelerator Pitch, the bank’s UK-wide competition, which will award £1m across 2025 and 2026 to help early-stage businesses grow and scale.
Five finalists will be selected to pitch at NatWest’s conference centre in its flagship London office on 19 November, in front of investors, entrepreneurs and business leaders. The winner will receive £70,000, with £20,000 for the runner-up and £10,000 for third place.
To enter, founders must join the free NatWest Accelerator community and submit a 60-second video pitch explaining how the funding would help grow their business, alongside an online application form.
Entrants must be a UK-registered limited company incorporated within the last five years and generating up to £1m in annual revenue. NatWest said the final would take place at its flagship Accelerator hub at 250 Bishopsgate, opposite Spitalfields Market, and that a full judging panel would be announced ahead of the event.
While the live final will be held in London, NatWest said the competition is open to eligible founders from across the UK.
Growing Together
The competition supports NatWest’s Growing Together campaign, which the bank says is building the conditions and connections to help more businesses start, grow and scale by connecting founders with funding, expertise, networks and opportunities.
Emily Fallon, regional director at NatWest Accelerator, said: “London is home to some of the most ambitious founders anywhere in the world, and we’re incredibly excited to open applications for the next NatWest Accelerator Pitch competition.”
She added: “Through our Growing Together plan, we’re backing entrepreneurs at every stage of their journey, helping them access funding, coaching, networks and opportunities to scale. We’ve seen the impact this support can have through our recent competitions in Oxford and Wolverhampton, and we’re excited to discover the next generation of businesses ready to grow.
“With £100,000 on the table and some of the biggest names from the business world joining us in London, this is a brilliant opportunity for founders ready to take their business to the next level.”
Previous finals
Since launching in 2025, NatWest Accelerator Pitch has attracted thousands of applications and awarded funding to businesses across the UK. Alongside the prize money, participants can access coaching, investor connections and peer networks through the wider NatWest Accelerator programme, which the bank is expanding to 50,000 entrepreneurs this year and which runs regional hubs including a site at Tyseley Energy Park in Birmingham.
The London event follows finals in Oxford and Wolverhampton. More than 400 founders, investors and business leaders attended the Oxford final at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, on 18 June, where five finalists were chosen from more than 600 applicants.
November’s event marks the second time NatWest has hosted a Pitch final in the capital, almost a year after the inaugural London competition, which was won by Orli founder Dr Mark Cox. He took the £70,000 top prize for the business, a behavioural intelligence platform for childhood emotional wellbeing. NatWest said it has continued to support Cox and Orli through its wider Accelerator community.
Jamie Young
Jamie Young is Senior Reporter at Business Matters, covering SME finance, employment law and Westminster policy since 2016. He has reported on every Budget and Autumn Statement since 2018, helped make sense of the ‘covid era’ and the bounce-back loan scheme from launch through the fraud investigations, and broke the magazine’s coverage of the 2024 late-payment reforms. He joined Business Matters straight from completing his BA in Administration from Exeter University and is NCTJ-qualified. Reach him at jyoung@cbmeg.co.uk
