The Amazon Innovation Accelerator: 2025 winners and everything you need to know

Amazon has announced the 2025 Amazon Innovation Accelerator Award winners at a ceremony in its UK headquarters in London.

The announcement marks the conclusion of this year’s Accelerator programme—a free training programme which offers a behind the scenes look at how we have scaled our operations in the UK, providing a dynamic setting for sharing best practices with small businesses.

This year’s awards, hosted by Amazon's UK Country Manager John Boumphrey, celebrated the very best of that ingenuity, with £100,000 in prizes recognising outstanding innovation across four categories. From transforming mental health training to redefining fintech for vulnerable people, the winners show how creativity, purpose, and problem-solving can make a real difference.

Martin McTague OBE, National Chair of the Federation of Small Businesses, was on hand to announce the winners.

Recognises a transformative business or operational innovation with strong commercial or productivity impact.

Winner: FinProxy Solutions

The top honour went to FinProxy, a world-first digital Power of Attorney platform using AI and Open Banking to help protect the finances and dignity of vulnerable people.

Developed in collaboration with banks and charities including Alzheimer’s Society, FinProxy empowers older adults and those living with dementia to maintain financial independence while enabling trusted loved ones to provide oversight safely. The platform uses AI to detect fraud, flag anomalies, and automate financial management, transforming a once paper-heavy, stressful process into a secure, transparent experience.

Rewards creativity and feasibility in developing innovations that drive growth and improve productivity.

Winner: Elena Essex Trading Limited

Hove-based Elena Essex Trading Limited won the Innovation for Growth Award for developing PuzzlePiecePromise, an AI-powered service that ensures no jigsaw puzzle is ever left incomplete.

The system allows customers to upload a photo of their puzzle, which is then matched to its design using image recognition. A precision-cut replacement piece is printed and sent within days—removing one of the greatest frustrations for puzzle enthusiasts.

The innovation combines technology, customer insight, and design to strengthen the brand’s reputation for quality and care. The judges praised it as a brilliant example of how even traditional creative businesses can use AI to improve customer experience and scale sustainably.

Celebrates innovations delivering measurable social or environmental benefits.

Winner: KWERKY Foods

London-based KWERKY Foods is reimagining the way we drink coffee—and the social impact of every cup. Its winning innovation, KWERKY Drops, is the world’s first fully dissolvable plant-based coffee pod designed to eliminate single-use packaging and reduce transport emissions by up to 82%. Each drop combines coffee, oat, and pea protein in an edible seaweed-based film, creating a zero-waste, vegan, barista-style coffee experience. Through its Drink One, Feed One initiative, every pack sold funds a meal for a child in need across the UK and India. The judges praised KWERKY for proving that sustainability and social good can go hand in hand—one cup at a time.

Recognises charity-led innovations that drive positive and tangible change for local communities or vulnerable groups.

Winner: HelloHope

HelloHope, a Leeds-based Community Interest Company founded by Ellie MacDonald, received this year’s Charity Innovation Award for creating the world’s first virtual reality mental health and suicide prevention training programme.

The immersive experience equips people with the confidence and skills to recognise warning signs, start difficult conversations, and intervene safely—all within a two-hour session.

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Developed in partnership with organisations such as Samaritans, the training reduces costs and expands access to lifesaving education for workplaces, schools, and communities. The judges described HelloHope as a moving and measurable example of technology being used for public good—making empathy scalable.

Since its launch in 2023, the Accelerator has upskilled more than 500 organisations across the UK, while the Accelerator’s impact speaks for itself: 99% of participants would recommend it, and 40% report stronger leadership and innovation capability within their organisations.

It provides small business leaders with:

• Training workshops: In-person training, hosted at state-of-the-art Amazon Fulfilment Centres, where small businesses learn directly from senior Amazon leaders about how to build a culture of innovation, automate operations, and achieve enhanced productivity within their own organisations.

• Digital resources and certification: Access to a comprehensive e-learning course on a digital platform that includes modules on digitisation, innovation leadership, and operational efficiency.

• Networking and peer-to-peer learning: Participants can connect with SME leaders from across the UK, share challenges, collaborate on solutions, and be part of an active community driving innovation.

• Available funding for innovating and scaling: Participants can enter the AIA Innovation Challenge Prize for a chance to win a share of £100,000 to fund their innovation strategy, providing them with the resources to bring their innovation culture and digital transformation vision to life.

The Amazon Innovation Accelerator Awards was a cornerstone of AIA’s 2025 programme. It aims to motivate, celebrate, and fund innovative ideas from small businesses, non-profits, and charitable organisations that have participated in the AIA programme.

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Central to this challenge is Amazon’s working backwards methodology, which encourages applicants to define their innovation from the customer (or beneficiary) perspective before planning execution details.

Businesses submit their idea as a press release (FAQ) format on the back of learnings from the AIA programme to be able to win funding for their idea.

Amazon has been serving customers in the UK for 25 years and we know how important it is to maintain a start-up mentality and find new ways to innovate.

Amazon is committed to helping UK small businesses grow and create jobs in the communities we serve. Participants of AIA can apply these learnings to their own businesses to boost their growth and productivity.

At Amazon, we know small businesses are engines of innovation. We’re proud to support nearly 100,000 UK-based small businesses that sell and export on our store, then supporting many more by upskilling through initiatives like the AIA where we share with them practical tools and ideas for growth.

When Gareth Thomas MP, the former Minister for Services, Small Business, and Exports, visited the Amazon Innovation Accelerator recently, he said: "Brilliant to see the Amazon Innovation Accelerator in action. I met a range of businesses benefiting from support that the accelerator offers, including training workshops at Fulfilment Centres, networking opportunities, and peer-to-peer learning.

"This Government is committed to making sure that small businesses have the capabilities they need to unlock growth - from digital skills to data-drive decision making - and business-led initiatives like this are an excellent way to build those capabilities. Thank you to Amazon for hosting me and demonstrating how you are helping businesses around the UK innovate and grow."

If you are interested in learning more, or in signing up for one of the Amazon Innovation Accelerator training programmes, get in touch at aia-uk@amazon.com or check out further details on the website.

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