15. Zero Gravity: the social mobility startup championing change

Founder: Joe Seddon
Year founded: 2020
Website: zerogravity.co.uk

Most of us are aware of the UK’s gender pay gap (currently 9.1%). But, as well as gender, class barriers can prevent many young people from entering high-paid jobs, creating an average class pay gap in the UK of 18%. It’s an issue Zero Gravity is tackling head on.

“Students from the most advantaged UK areas are over six times more likely to go to a top university than those from low opportunity areas,” says founder, Joe Seddon. “Our vision is to ensure every student, regardless of background, has an equal opportunity to succeed.”

It does this by turning ‘it’s not what you know, but who’, on its head. Zero Gravity acts as a matchmaker between disadvantaged, high-performing students at over 750 state schools, and the connections they need. That might be a mentor, a university, or an employer.

Rather than take the easy road, Zero Gravity is punching up. It has partnered with institutions such as HSBC, KPMG, and Morgan Stanley to ensure its users can access top careers. Few could argue about its impact. One in four students at Oxbridge from low-opportunity areas have reportedly come through our platform. 

Our vision is to ensure every student, regardless of background, has an equal opportunity to succeed.

Having already appeared in the Startups 100 Index back in 2024, Zero Gravity has had an impressive 12 months since then. HSBC has renewed its partnership, while the platform has also onboarded Accenture, Octopus Energy and Christie’s to its school of high-profile clients.

In 2024, Mercedes Benz Grand Prix pledged £438,000 to the Zero Gravity Fund, a registered charity that provides scholarships for low-opportunity students while they are at university. The pledge brings the fund’s total pool to almost £2m.

But Seddon’s biggest achievement since featuring in the Startups 100 has been Zero Gravity’s impact report. Data shows that members who regularly engage with the app can improve their chances of attending Oxbridge by 500% (and 200% for a top UK university).

One member was 13 when he came to the UK as a refugee from Iraq. Knowing only basic English, he struggled in school, and signed up to the platform last year. Now he is set to study medicine at King’s College London; the first person in his family to attend university.

“Seeing my hard work paying off and getting accepted into my firm-choice university is an amazing feeling,” he tells Startups. Congratulations to the champion of change, Zero Gravity, for becoming a top 100 startup for the second-year running.