2025 was the final chapter of The Big Pitch, a competition designed to help Deliveroo riders turn their business dreams into reality. As we wrap up the programme, we’re excited to spotlight and celebrate our last group of inspiring winners.
Learn more about how some of our 2025 Big Pitch winners have grown their businesses after receiving their prizes:
Lucien is a multidisciplinary creative and founder of Stott & Company, a cultural brand uniting art, music, film, and fashion to amplify underrepresented human stories. Drawing inspiration from his grandfather artist D.C. Stott, he reimagines his grandfather’s art on fine textiles and multimedia platforms.
Since the Big Pitch, Lucien has used the funding to build the technical foundations of Stott & Company, and move from concept into serious development. He has set up an in-house studio, invested in core production equipment, and focused on improving garment construction, sampling, and tech-pack readiness so he can move toward viable manufacturing.
Having learned from challenges in balancing creative ambition with real production constraints, Lucien is looking to the future to focus on final sample refinement, stronger manufacturer relationships, and building toward a public-facing exhibition outcome in October, followed by a more viable garment launch.
Tawanda is the founder of The Outdoor Experience Co. (OdECo), Scotland’s emerging all-in-one outdoor entertainment brand. The idea for OdECo was born after he attended a three-day outdoor cinema event in Edinburgh that attracted over 15,000 people.
Since the Big Pitch, he has been able to focus on building out The Outdoor Experience Co. by investing in new equipment, launching the OdECo website, expanding the businesses digital presence, plus more.
Tawanda is also shaping a community outreach scheme where locals can nominate charities that support people experiencing loneliness and social isolation. Through partnerships with selected charities to deliver a series of outdoor cinema events for their service users, he aims to bring people together, encouraging new friendships, and creating fun, inclusive experiences.
As a lifelong martial artist with decades of experience boasting multiple black belts and a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Oz realised there was a clear gap in the market: no-one was producing premium gear for older, more experienced practitioners like him. That’s when he got the idea to create a British luxury fightwear brand, designed for practitioners aged 30 and above.
Since the Big Pitch, things have moved really quickly for Oz. He has since settled on the name Rikuzame, which is Japanese for Landshark. Oz has led Rikuzame’s relaunch, designing a new product range and shaping the refreshed brand identity as it launches its new online store. The product range received extremely good feedback from its test audience.
Now, Oz is hoping to launch a single, limited edition BJJ gi on a pre-order basis. He even has a couple of huge influencers lined up to help amplify the launch, currently planned for early April.
Arron has an impressive background as a multimedia creative with experience working in a range of specialities, from graphic design, to selling his art on various stalls. After becoming fixated on playing a historical strategy computer game, he remembered a dream that he’d once had: to capture an immersive experience in a physical and sociable board game.
Since the Big Pitch, Arron has been advancing his idea into further play testing stages, whilst continuing to deepen his knowledge of the dark age period. He has also been working on more artwork and new ideas are evolving daily, with research leading Arron particularly to the crafts of the dark ages, which will be well weaved into the creative design.
Arron is also making progress in development of the game, having created new cards, counters, and a larger, more durable board.
Once again, congratulations to each winner! We’re excited to see these riders grow their business ventures even further in the future.