FedEx Express has announced the winners of its pan-European annual Small Business Grant competition.

byACRE, a Danish company that produces mobility solutions, has been selected as the winner of the Grand Prize, winning €50,000 to help the firm achieve its ambition of dispelling the stigma associated with mobility challenges.

Based in Copenhagen, byACRE designs rollators (pictured) for people, not patients, aiming to help many around the world rediscover their freedom of mobility and improve their quality of life.

The contest attracted over 2,100 entries, the highest number of nominations to date.

Three small businesses were awarded €15,000 each in the Judges’ Choice Awards:

In Association with

• Digital Excellence: eKuore - this Spanish smart medical devices company has developed a digital sound scope that can be connected to a smartphone or tablet to record and store information to achieve more reliable diagnoses.

• Sustainability Champion: MOYU - based in Amsterdam, MOYU creates sustainable writing products that are erasable and rewritable up to 500 times.

• Innovation Mastermind: Apis Innovation - this Czech firm’s Thermosolar Hive kills off the varroa mite, the largest enemy of bees, helping provide ecological and economical solutions for beekeepers.

The People's Choice award for Ireland is Her Sport, a digital media platform dedicated to giving girls and women in sport a voice. The site's prize from FedEx Express is €10,000.

Established in the US in 2012, the FedEx Small Business Grant Competition seeks to help businesses with under 50 employees achieve their growth ambitions.

In Europe, the competition was first launched in 2016 in three countries, building to five countries by 2019, and setting the stage for this year’s largest-ever competition.

Jury member Helena Jansson, SVP Finance International, FedEx Express, commented: “It was a tough choice given the outstanding quality of entries, but our four main winners showed exceptional ambition and innovation, and we’re excited to help them write their next chapters in 2022 and beyond.”