The 100 projects have been chosen through a rigorous selection process from among the more than 4,500 applications submitted this year, of which 83% came from outside our borders.

Among the most represented countries this year are the United States and the United Kingdom, with 6 startups each, and Portugal with 5 — a notable comeback after having no representation in last year's Startup Competition final. Latin America continues to showcase its innovation potential, increasing its presence at South Summit Madrid with 9 finalist startups from across the region, up from 7 last year. Spain, for its part, contributes 51 startups to the final stage of the Startup Competition.

This fourteenth edition of the Startup Competition also stands out for the maturity of the 100 finalist startups: almost half (49%) are generating sales or traction, while 32% claim to be in the growth stage, and 6% are already a consolidated business. In addition, 37% have a turnover of more than 500,000 dollars, of which 23% invoice more than 1 million and 7% invoice more than 5 million.

Among the 100 finalist startups of South Summit Madrid 2025, 6 that come from UK stand out:

1. CDotBio: from Bristol, revolutionising bioactive delivery with elegant, ultra-small engineered carriers —Innovating Agriculture, Preserving the Planet.​
2. IPG Energy: from London, The IPG Flameless Generator uses patented Flameless Combustion technology to deliver pollutant-free power from any fuel, helping industries like construction transition to renewable fuels at scale and competitive cost.​
3. Silas Insurtech: A platform that solves the frustrating problems of flawed systems, fragmented services and inefficiencies at various stages of the underwriting journey. They created an integrated solution that acts as a companion to underwriters by focusing on pain points such as inaccuracies in the contract certainty processes, manual data extraction from lengthy reports and and the inability to access data in a consistent manner.
4. OpenCyberAI: from London, addresses the global shortage of cybersecurity professionals and the lack of cybersecurity culture. By 2025, 4.7M professionals will be needed, with $8T lost to cyberattacks in 2024—95% caused by human error. Our AI-powered gamified platform upskills users from level 0 to junior professional, providing interactive training starting at age 16.
5. Enhanced Fertility: from London, 1 in 6 couples are infertile, but less than 2% can access the care they need. When they do, it takes over 3 years to have a diagnosis, treatment has low success rates and it takes over 7 years to have a baby. Enhanced Fertility's AI-powered remote diagnostic and decision-support platform helps fertility clinics make data-driven decisions most likely to result in live birth.
6. TerraVoyant: from London, Revolutionising agriculture with AI-driven, earthworm-inspired robots for precise, real-time soil analysis.

In addition, 1 in 4 of the finalist projects has more than 20 employees on staff, and they are also very attractive to investors:  70% of the startups have already raised more than half a million dollars in investment, of which more than half (52%) have obtained more than 1 million in investment.  14% more than 5 million and 9% more than 10 million.

To select the 100 finalist startups, a jury made up of the world's leading experts in the innovative and entrepreneurial ecosystem has assessed factors such as the scalability of the project, financing, degree of innovation, attractiveness for investors or quality of the human team.

The finalist startups will have the opportunity to pitch to the leaders and most relevant actors in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, including corporations and investment funds, in addition to connecting with other startups and learning first-hand about the latest trends and technologies.

South Summit 2025: In Motion

#SouthSummit2025 will be held between June 4 and 6 at La Nave under the slogan 'In Motion', with the aim of promoting a global movement with purpose, driving innovative solutions to challenges and generating a positive impact on the planet, the economy and society. This year, speakers and leaders of the highest level include: Greg Hoffman, responsible for Nike's brand evolution and one of the most influential experts in branding and business creativity worldwide; Marc Randolph, co-founder of Netflix, or Dennis Hong, professor at UCLA and one of the world's leading exponents of robotics.

The fourteenth edition of South Summit Madrid, co-organised with IE UNIVERSITY, will have the institutional support of the Secretary of State for Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence, the Community of Madrid and the Madrid City Council, as well as Mutua Madrileña, Google for Startups, BBVA Spark, Wayra – Telefónica Innovation and BStartup of Banco Sabadell.