CleanTech startup Desolenator was crowned the winner at the Duke of York’s Pitch@Palace competition, last night.
The London-based company beat 11 other entrepreneurs after pitching in front of a live audience at St James’s Palace.
Founded in 2014, Desolenator has patented a way of purifying water using the sun’s power and claims to be able to do so in an environmentally friendly way, avoiding the use of chemicals or filters.
Louise Bleach, business development manager at Desolenator, said the whole process had been fantastic.
“Building a business from the ground up is never easy and we feel like this is an incredible milestone for us at Desolenator.
“We would like to say thank you to the wonderful team at Pitch@Palace and HRH The Duke of York for all the support and introductions. It was a fantastic cohort of companies and we are excited to see what the next few months bring. Now the real work begins.”
Speaking about the competition, The Duke of York added: “The calibre of the entrepreneurs participating this year has been incredible, and I am immensely proud of the achievements of the entrepreneurs in the Pitch@Palace 7.0 programme.
“The support and generosity of all those involved in Pitch@Palace made the final event incredibly successful. I greatly look forward to hearing more about the future successes of Desolenator and of all the entrepreneurs that have taken part,” he concluded.
Other finalists in the competition included interactive media firm TryLife and SafetyNet Technologies, a company working to make the fishing industry more sustainable.
The competition was set up by the Duke of York to showcase technology companies across the UK and help them scale. So far, the competition claims to have helped 247 firms grow.
Pitch@Palace Global will hold events in China (May 2017), Australia (September 2017), UAE (October 2017) and Mexico (November 2017).