The six startup and scaleup winners of the Santander X Global Challenge | Circular Economy Revolution hail from Germany, Spain and the UK and will get financial support, global visibility and access to innovation networks.

Madrid, 26 June 2025.
Banco Santander, together with the Norrsken and Oxentia foundations, has announced the six winners of the Santander X Global Challenge | Circular Economy Revolution, an international contest to uncover the most innovative startups and scaleups in the circular economy. The winners, from Germany, Spain and the UK, will each share a total of EUR 120,000 in prize money, become members of the Santander X 100 global community, and get access to Fintech Station (Banco Santander’s open innovation programme) and a year's membership to Norrsken in Barcelona.

The announcement came at an event held in Barcelona that brought together leading entrepreneurs and sustainable innovation figures. Among those attending the event were Antonio Suárez-Pumariega, Global Head of Digital Business at Santander Universities; Maite Cordón, Head of Santander Growth; Asier González, Head of Value-Added Solutions at Santander España; Rocío Alcocer, Managing Director of Norrsken Barcelona; and Marc Jordana, Co-founder of Norrsken Barcelona. They all agreed on highlighting the transformative potential of the award-winning solutions and the key role of entrepreneurship in the transition to a circular economy.

Winners

After a rigorous selection process, the international panel chose these companies as winners from 500 contestants based in 11 countries:

Startup category

• Metalchemy (UK): Produces anti-microbe and biodegradable food packaging with green-manufactured colloidal silver, which helps reduce waste and prolong the shelf life of products.
• PulpaTronics (UK): Designs smart, chipless RFID tags made of paper, which enables product tracking without generating electronic waste.
• Radical Dot GmbH (Germany): Converts mixed plastic waste into high-quality chemical precursors to reduce dependency on fossil fuels and remove harmful emissions.

Scaleup category

• Catalyxx Procesos Catalíticos (Spain): Turns waste into renewable alcohols to offer a sustainable alternative to fossil resources in many industrial sectors.
• Lain Technologies (Spain): Develops electrochemical technologies for the sustainable extraction of metals to reduce the environmental impact of these processes.
• Kelpi (UK): Creates recyclable, seaweed-based coating to replace the plastic in packaging and contribute to a more sustainable supply chain.

Santander and its support for education, employability and entrepreneurship

Banco Santander has been a pioneering stalwart of education, employability and entrepreneurship for almost 30 years, standing out among the world's financial institutions. Santander has deployed over EUR 2.4 billion to these areas and given scholarships and grants to more than 3.7 million people and businesses through agreements with nearly 1,200 universities (www.santander.com/universidades).

Against this backdrop, it helps companies grow and transform through the stages of their life cycle on the Santander X global platform, which offers a wide range of tools and non-financial services such as training programmes, online courses, discounts, exclusive events, challenges and awards, and other benefits.

Norrsken Barcelona

Norrsken Barcelona is a non-profit foundation that is building a global impact ecosystem where entrepreneurs can find the capital, network and knowledge they need to make a positive change.

The Hub is part of the Norrsken Foundation, founded by Niklas Adalberth, which has five funds with more than USD 1 billion in assets under management invested in impact startups, two other global Hubs and hosts Impact/Week.

Oxentia Foundation and its commitment to innovation and global entrepreneurship

The Oxentia Foundation was created to support Oxentia’s goal to address global inequalities through innovation and entrepreneurship. Oxentia has organized international entrepreneurial innovation competitions and awards, and has also provided advice to entrepreneurs to help bring science and technology projects to market, which contribute to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Oxentia was born out of the University of Oxford’s technology transfer company, Oxford University Innovation, with the aim of delivering specialist innovation management services to public and private sector clients worldwide. Its approach is backed by Oxford University’s 30-plus years’ experience supporting academic innovation and entrepreneurship in over 70 countries.