Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2017: Meet the finalists

Climb Online

Climb Online is a digital marketing agency specialising in SEO and paid search, founded by former Apprentice winner Mark Wright in partnership with Lord Sugar. The agency is a top listed Google Partner within the UK and the owner of Facebook BluePrint Certification, and has secured contracts with over 450 businesses domestically and overseas.

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Collegiate Capital

Founded by Young Gun Abbas Kazmi, the 25-year-old’s Venture capital firm, which focuses on pre-seed, seed and Series A stage companies, provides a full suite of services including everything from technological and legal support to marketing, international expansion and accounting services. Through its relationships with public and private sector partners, Collegiate’s schemes can help start-ups unlock and access vital markets such as the US and Asia.

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Cornerstone

A men’s grooming subscription service founded by Young Gun Oliver Bridge, Cornerstone’s 145,000+ UK subscribers receive razors, gels, face-scrubs, post-shave balms and everything else they need for that perfect shave. Submitting details on how often they shave and what products they would like to receive and when, Cornerstone’s community can receive regular packages of German-engineered razors and British-blended skincare products straight to their door.

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Forsyth Barnes

An executive appointments consultancy, Forsyth Barnes provides two services; placing permanent candidates on both a retained and contingent model, while also providing senior contractors on a consultancy model. Founded by Scott Parsons and Roheel Ahmad recruitment business has filled vacancies for over 100 clients so far, ranging from large financial services companies to tech start-ups. 

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Lexoo

The marketplace matching businesses with experienced independent lawyers, legal tech start-up Lexoo was founded by 32-year-old young entrepreneur and former lawyer Daniel van Binsbergen and his co-founder Chris O’ Sullivan. Created in 2014 to “transform the legal experience for forward-thinking businesses and legal teams”, the marketplace works by enabling a customer to submit a request and it then invites three or four of the best suited lawyers to send a quote within 24 hours.

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Pip & Nut

Founded by marathon enthusiast Pip Murray back in 2015, the 29-year-old’s eponymous range of almond nut butters have taken UK supermarkets by storm in such a short space of time. Found in over 4,000 stories nationwide, Pip & Nut counts the likes of Sainsbury’s, Tesco, ASDA, Ocado as stockists, and its recently launched a range of almond milks in addition to squeeze packs.  

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Ventro Group

Helping institutions and organisations across the UK manage their fire risk, Ventro Group was founded by brothers and 2017 Young Guns Harvey and Ross Melvin. Plymouth-based, the start-up’s consultancy service works in three steps: a health check, installation, and then maintenance to make sure its products work effectively. 

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Wiser

Claiming to be the only company of its kind, recruitment and creative solution firm Wiser works closely with brands to attract top candidates through design, web and film. With a founding team all aged under 35, Wiser helps the best and most suitable candidates to “select themselves into the process” and has been able to develop strategies that take care of the entire candidate journey. 

View the full profile here.