The Global Entrepreneurship Network congratulates the winners of the 2025 Entrepreneurship World Cup, one of the largest competitions of its kind.
One hundred startups representing 46 countries competed for a share of $1.5M in prizes at the Global Finals held as part of Biban 2025 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The competition, after which 13 companies returned home as champions, kicked off Global Entrepreneurship Week celebrations in Saudi Arabia.
In the Early Stage category, Swijin AG, a Swiss active apparel company founded by women and tailored to the needs of female athletes, won first place with a cash prize of $250,000.
United States-based MabLab followed in second place with $200,000. The company is building the first self-administered test to detect the five deadliest lacing agents in drugs and drinks.
SARsatX, a space tech company from Saudi Arabia that designs and develops small satellites for Earth Observation using Synthetic Aperture Radar, came in third with a $150,000 prize.
Canada's Aruna Revolution, a compostable menstruation product company, ranked fourth with $100,000.
DATAYOO, a data prediction company based in Taiwan, placed fifth with $50,000.
In the Growth Stage category:
- Brelyon (USA), an MIT spin-off introducing the first-ever, headset-free virtual display for gaming, entertainment, and enterprise applications, won first place with $175,000.
- DeafTawk (Denmark), a company bridging the communication gap between the deaf community and the rest of society, in second place with $100,000.
In the Idea Stage category:
- Tasmanion (New Zealand), a startup at the forefront of commercialising rechargeable aluminum-ion batteries, won first place with $50,000,
- KLORA (Netherlands) ranked second with $25,000.
In the Space Tech track, four companies were awarded prizes of $100,000 each:
- Stitch3D (USA), a reality capture company (Space Tech in Mining category),
- SpaceMap (South Korea), a real-time decision-making platform for the safety and efficiency of space assets (Public Safety category),
- Sytemap (Nigeria), a company innovating the way land buyers trust estate transactions across Africa (Space Tech in Smart Construction category), and
- eAgro (Zimbabwe), a company empowering African farmers with AI-powered insights for sustainable agricultural growth (Space Tech in Crowd Management category).
The EWC competitions represent a significant platform, providing tools and resources to help entrepreneurs develop their ideas and achieve success. They also offer support to small and medium enterprises through specialized training programs and provide opportunities to connect with a global network of mentors in an intensive training camp.
GEN President Jonathan Ortmans and Board Chair Jeff Hoffman joined Saudi Arabia's Minister of Commerce and Chairman of the Board of the Small and Medium Enterprises General Authority (Monsha’at) Majid Al-Kassabi, as winners were crowned in the final round.
The ceremony took place in the presence of Governor of Monsha’at Sami bin Ibrahim Al-Husseini, CEO of the Mohammed bin Salman Foundation (Misk) Dr. Badr Al-Badr, and several officials, as part of the Biban Forum 2025.