Business of the Year Awards: Calling all South West start-ups

The Business of the Year Awards 2025 have been launched and TheBusinessDesk.com is searching for the South West’s best start-up companies.

Staged for the first time last year by TheBusinessDesk.com, the awards set a new benchmark in reflecting what makes the South West such a special place to do business.

The Start-Up award is for a business that has been actively trading for three years or less. The judges will be looking for a business that is making its mark and is creating the right foundations for growth.

Bristol tech firm YellowDog took home the award last year after competing against companies including Distinctive Communications,
Grace & Green,  SuSy, and Wake The Tiger.

YellowDog enables leading AI, finance and research institutions to optimise their use of the world’s compute through an innovative software platform.

The company was set up to harness spare compute capacity on devices in the cloud, in order to serve CGI Studios undertaking large rendering tasks.

Multiple funding rounds later, the company is now an established technology leader with customers across the world. The focus has shifted to running much larger compute workloads in areas of extremely large consumption such as AI, financial services and life sciences.

Supported by headline partners accountancy group PwC, law firm Michelmores and Partners&, the awards boast a rigorous judging process, with all companies entering visited by members of the judging panel.

There are 14 categories in total, designed to recognise and celebrate the whole range of businesses in the region, from exporters and innovators to those placing sustainability at their core.

Businesses going the extra mile to make a positive impact on their local community and those with exceptional reputations as good employers will also be championed.

Shortlisted companies will then on be invited to pitch, with the winners revealed at a high-profile black-tie awards evening on 13 November at the Harbour Hotel in Bristol.

The awards are free, simple and quick to enter – click here to visit the Business of the Awards website. The deadline for entries is Friday 2 May.