What can the $1m Hult Prize tell us about building better spinouts?

At a time when much of Britain’s and Europe’s innovation agenda is couched in the language of defence, from sovereign semiconductor ambitions to dual-use AI, the Hult Prize tells a strikingly different story. Rather than sovereignty, security and military readiness, this $1m global award puts its faith in optimism, social impact and student-led entrepreneurship.

That contrast was on full display at London’s Tate Modern last week, where teams of young innovators from across the world gathered for the 2025 Hult Prize Global Finals. For Lori van Dam, chief executive of the Hult Prize Foundation, the philosophy is disarmingly simple. “You have to be an optimist to be a social entrepreneur,” she says.

And optimism, in this case, is measurable. During just four weeks at the Hult Prize accelerator at Ashridge House, the 22 semi-finalist ventures collectively generated $660,000 in revenue, signed $3.6m in contracts, secured $113m in letters of intent, attracted nearly $2m in grants and non-dilutive funding, and launched 80 pilot programmes. It’s an impressive haul and a clear illustration of how the Hult Prize likes to operate. For van Dam, the prize’s value lies less in the million-dollar cheque than in the learning it imparts.

“We feel we have a very strong educational mission,” she says. The aim is to show students “they don’t have to go into a business world that is trying to merely extract from the economy and the world’s ecology, that they can actually do people and planet and profit.”

Van Dam adds that the Hult Prize process also equips the entrepreneurs with skills in presentation, problem-solving and teamwork that will endure long after the competition ends. It’s a process that 2024 finalist, Diana Virgovicova, co-founder and CEO of start-up Xatoms, refers to as “life changing.” 

“Having that university mindset of let’s explore, let’s learn, let’s try things, let’s fail, is critical to creating an environment where these teams can be successful.”

Lori van Dam

The winners of this year’s prize, Stick ’Em from Singapore (which has developed a low-cost STEAM kit designed to expand access to hands-on science lessons), is the kind of solution that combines commercial potential with social impact. And for van Dam, it is also proof that entrepreneurship need not follow the Silicon Valley stereotype.

“We don’t want entrepreneurship to be the sole province of the California dude,” she says. Instead, the Hult Prize sets out to build what she calls “the beautiful rainbow of the world at large,” equipping students with the tools to test ideas, draft founder agreements and explore business models regardless of background.

So what can university spinouts and entrepreneurs learn from this?  

For a start, the speed and intensity of the Hult model shows what can be achieved when early-stage ventures are given structure, visibility and targeted support. Unlike the often lengthy process of UK spin-outs, where technology-transfer offices negotiate intellectual property and founders wrestle with equity stakes, Hult’s four-week accelerator at Ashridge House is designed to sharpen existing ventures quickly, putting mentors and experts on hand to help refine pitches, business models and team dynamics.

The government is trying to streamline matters. Earlier this year it launched a national spinout register, alongside £30 million of regional funding to encourage more universities to commercialise research. 

Science minister Patrick Vallance said at the time that he hoped to “have a system where we are never leaving something that could create value, a product that could benefit society, just resting on the shelf because no one knows what to do with it.”

Yet the Hult Prize suggests there is more to be gained than just reforming contracts and IP frameworks. At its heart, it is about culture, teaching students that entrepreneurship is not reserved for the few, but can be part of a broader education and a world view. 

The ventures themselves reflect this breadth. While repurposing agricultural and food waste into new materials and products remains a strong theme (take a look at Banofi Leather, EcoBana, Bean Around and Breer), teams are also pushing into health tech and water solutions. Universities, meanwhile, provide the environments where such experimentation can flourish.

“Having that university support, that university mindset of let’s explore, let’s learn, let’s try things, let’s fail, is critical to creating an environment where these teams can be successful,” adds van Dam.

So why should early-stage start-ups consider the Hult Prize alongside more traditional routes to funding? For van Dam, the answer lies in what a prize can offer that venture capital cannot.

“For us, it’s really about building awareness and educating people,” she explains. “Angel investments are useful. Venture capital might be right for some. We sort of feel like we have this catalyst function. We build community and then we fund a company.”

The Hult Prize is also starting to look outward. Alongside the XPRIZE and other global competitions, it has begun exploring how prize funds can collaborate rather than compete. This collaborative, collective process fits with the growing reputation of Hult Prize and XPRIZE, and how they both view the world and the role entrepreneurs can play in making it a better place.

As van Dam put it after announcing the winners, “the world is facing increasingly complex challenges. Nonprofits alone cannot fill the gaps. The private sector – so often viewed as part of the problem – has a critical opportunity to be part of the solution.”