The Western European final of Get in The Ring were held in London on Thursday 11 February. The winners were two UK start-ups, Choosic (Lightweight) and NearSt (Middleweight), and one French start-up, onoff (Heavyweight). They will progress to the global final to be held in Medellín, Colombia, on 15th of March.

On the morning of Thursday, the Get in The Ring national winners of Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Monaco, Norway and The Netherlands arrived to the new MassChallenge campus at Tobacco Dock (Wapping – London) and joined the UK winners for the day programme.

The day started with 18 start-ups pitching their business ideas before a panel of judges to win a place in the evening final, followed by mentoring sessions and pitching training provided by a group of selected professionals. The six finalists from the day programme then went on to battle in a real life boxing ring at York Hall – one of Britain’s best known boxing venues – in front of a bustling crowd of entrepreneurs, investors and start-up enthusiasts. The panel of judges for the evening event comprised Mike Royston, from Crowdcube, Jeremy Dalton, emerging tech consultant at PricewaterhouseCooper, and Carl Petrou, investor, entrepreneur and mentor.

Amedeo Claris, director of the hosting organisation, Eye On Startups, commented: “we are very grateful to all our partners and supporters who contributed to make this a great event. The level of interest that we are receiving from both private organisations and public bodies is a testament of the strength of the Get in The Ring brand and we aim to roll out these events across the UK.”