14 year-old founders wow Duke of York, crowned Pitch@Palace 8.0 winners

Further proof that age is just a number when it comes to starting a business; two 14 year-old school girls have been crowned winners of the esteemed Pitch@Palace 8.0 pitching competition.

The youngest contestants ever to pitch at the St James’s Palace-hosted event, Siena Jackson-Wolfe and India Garret-Cox took home the accolade for their Internet of Things (IoT) device Eat Me.

Launched last year by the Bristol students, the device can be installed in a consumer’s fridge or kitchen cupboard and then sends alerts via an app on when their food is about to pass its sell by date, along with recipes on what they can make based on what’s in their fridge, or cupboard.

Eat Me’s aim is to “transform the relationship between consumers and their food wastage”.

An award for People’s Choice was also presented, awarded to Quit Genius – an app which uses cognitive behavioural therapy to help smokers quit.

Established in 2014 by The Duke of York, Pitch@Palace is a bi-annual competition which gives start-up businesses the opportunity to pitch at the Palace in front of an audience of high-profile investors, entrepreneurs, journalists, and famous faces.

Last night’s event was attended by Dragons’ Den stars Peter Jones and Hilary Devey, Mind Candy founder Michael Acton Smith, investor Sherry Coutu, property tycoon Nick Candy, and royalty including Princess Eugenie of York and Sarah, Duchess of York.

Pitch@Palace is said to have helped over 400 start-up businesses, created more than 900 new jobs and generated over £400m in new economic activity.

On their win, young entrepreneurs Siena Jackson-Wolfe and India Garret-Cox commented:

“Eat Me has grown so much throughout this process and this wouldn’t have happened without the Duke of York and his team, who we would like to thank for their invaluable support.

“Being 14 years-old, we didn’t know what to expect when we entered five months ago; entering a prestigious competition like Pitch can be terrifying. However, although all the red and gold at St James’s was intimidating, the experience has developed both our business and us as young women in an ever-changing technological world.”

Entries for Pitch@Palace 9.0, which will take the theme of ‘Data, Intelligence, and The Future of Security” are now open. The competition will take place in April 2018.