Terms & Conditions

Introduction

These Terms & Conditions ("T&Cs") set out the rules for entry to The Investec Early Stage Entrepreneur of the Year Awards 2026 (the "ESEY Awards" or the "Awards"), organised by OPUS Community Limited (company number 12860792) ("OPUS", "we", "us", "our"). By submitting an application you ("Entrant", "you", "your") agree to be bound by these T&Cs. Please read them carefully before applying.

These T&Cs should be read together with the ESEY Privacy Policy, which explains how your personal data is handled, who it is shared with, and the choices available to you. Clause 4 is the clause to read most carefully — it explains who will see your application.

1. Eligibility

1.1Entrants must:

be aged 18 or over;
be the founder of a legally registered company;
have a business less than four years old at the date of application;
be at pre-Series A stage (bootstrapped, angel or seed funding welcome);
demonstrate real momentum through product, prototype, traction or early users;
be founder-led; and
be based anywhere globally. OPUS membership is not required.

1.2Applications must be submitted by a lead founder on behalf of the founding team. The lead founder named in the application is the person who will represent the company at all stages of the Awards and, if selected as a category winner, the person invited to Davos.

1.3Each company may submit one application only. A later application from the same company supersedes any earlier one. Entrants may select up to two (2) award categories on a single application and will be considered independently in each. OPUS may move an application into a more appropriate category at its discretion and will notify the Entrant if it does so. The award categories are published at theeasies.com.

1.4In submitting the application you confirm that you are authorised to do so on behalf of your company, that you are eligible to enter and eligible to claim the Prize. OPUS may require any Entrant to provide proof of eligibility, including evidence of company registration, incorporation date and funding stage, and may disqualify an Entrant who fails to provide it within a reasonable period of being asked.

1.5Employees, directors and immediate family members of OPUS Community Limited, Day Zero Limited, Investec, Caplia Technologies Ltd, Harmonic, HelpBnk, Careless Technologies Ltd and any category sponsor, venture capital partner or other partner of the Awards are not eligible to enter.

2. Entry and submission

2.1Entries must be submitted via the official ESEY application platform. The application window opens on 24th August 2026 and closes on 30 September 2026 at 11:59pm (UK time).

2.2OPUS may, at its sole discretion, extend that deadline. OPUS currently anticipates a final extended deadline of 7 October 2026 at 11:59pm (UK time) (the "Closing Date"), but is under no obligation to offer an extension. Any extension will be published at theeasies.com.

2.3Late, incomplete or illegible entries will not be considered.

2.4Required materials: a completed application form, a pitch deck and a founder headshot. An intro video is optional but encouraged.

2.5Entrants who reach the shortlist of 25 or the Finalists may be asked to provide additional information, including verification documents, at OPUS's discretion.

2.6Entry is free of charge. Any costs incurred in submitting an entry are the responsibility of the Entrant.

2.7Application platform. The application form and the application platform are hosted by OPUS. When you submit, your application is passed to Caplia Technologies Ltd ("Caplia"), which provides the review tools described in clause 3.2 and hosts the secure portal through which the ESEYs team, the judging panel and Partners view applications (clause 4.2). Caplia processes your application on OPUS's documented instructions under a written data processing agreement, and may not use it for its own purposes. OPUS remains responsible for your application throughout. Full detail is in the Privacy Policy.

2.8Caplia Passport. Every Entrant who submits a completed application receives a complimentary Caplia Passport account, created using the details in your application. Caplia will email you directly to activate it. This is provided as a benefit of entering. In using that account you enter into a direct relationship with Caplia, governed by Caplia's own terms of service and privacy policy, which you should read: caplia.com/legal/terms-of-service and caplia.com/legal/privacy-policy. Receiving a Caplia Passport does not affect the assessment of your application, and you may close the account at any time. Caplia may only send you marketing about its own products and services if you separately agree to that when you activate your account; applying to the Awards is not agreement to it.

3. How applications are assessed

3.1Assessment criteria. Applications are assessed against pre-determined criteria: Founder Quality (40%), Execution Momentum (30%), Market Ambition (20%) and Cultural & Social Relevance (10%). Every applicant is assessed not just on their idea but on the individual or individuals behind it.

3.2Automated processing. Applications are processed using automated analysis and scoring tools provided by Caplia. These tools flag eligibility criteria, rate fit against the Awards criteria, and score each application against the published thesis for its category. Automated scores are advisory only. No Entrant is selected for the shortlist of 25, selected as a Finalist, rejected or selected as a winner on the basis of automated processing alone — every progression decision is reviewed and made by people, who may override any automated score. You have the right to request an explanation of how your application was assessed, to request human review of any decision, to express your point of view and to contest a decision, by contacting support@theeasies.com Further detail is in the Privacy Policy.

3.3Stages. The Awards proceed as follows:

Stage

Who decides

Indicative date

Applications close

—

30 September 2026, or 7 October 2026 if extended

Shortlist of 25 per category confirmed

The Day Zero investment team and the OPUS team

14 October 2026

Shortlist of 25 announced and public vote opens

—

15 October 2026

Public vote closes

—

1 November 2026

Finalists confirmed — the top ten per category

Determined by the public vote (clause 3.5)

1 November 2026

Judging window

The judging panel

2 – 15 November 2026

Category winners and global winner confirmed

The judging panel; the global winner by the Day Zero Fund

16 November 2026

Winners announced

—

25 November 2026

OPUS may amend these dates. Any changes will be published at theeasies.com.

3.4The shortlist of 25. Following the Closing Date, the ESEYs team review every application and select up to twenty-five (25) Entrants per category to form the shortlist of 25.

3.5The public vote and the Finalists. A public vote runs from the announcement of the shortlist of 25 on 15 October 2026 until it closes at 11:59pm (UK time) on 1 November 2026. The Finalists are the ten (10) highest-voted Entrants in each category at the moment the public vote closes. The public vote is therefore determinative of which Entrants become Finalists. It is not determinative of who wins: at the judging stage the vote result is provided to the judging panel as advisory information only.

3.6OPUS reserves the right to discount or disregard votes, and to disqualify an Entrant, where it reasonably believes votes have been obtained by automated means, multiple or fraudulent accounts, payment or other inducement, or any other manipulation of the vote. Voting is limited to one vote per person per category, verified by email address.

3.7Judging. The judging panel reviews the Finalists during the judging window and selects the winner of each category. The panel then selects one category winner as the overall global winner, who receives the investment prize described in clause 5.2. That investment is made by the Day Zero Fund on the terms set out in clause 5.3.

3.8Judges must declare any conflicts of interest and may recuse themselves where appropriate. Judges are bound by confidentiality obligations in respect of the applications they review.

3.9The judging panel's decision is final. No correspondence will be entered into regarding outcomes. OPUS is not obliged to provide feedback on unsuccessful applications.

3.10Entrants on the shortlist of 25, Finalists and winners will be announced via OPUS communication channels and notified directly by the OPUS team. The date of public announcement of the winners is the "Announcement Date".

3.11OPUS will make all reasonable efforts to contact a winner. If a winner cannot be contacted, is not available, or has not claimed their Prize within thirty (30) days of the Announcement Date, OPUS reserves the right to offer the Prize to the next eligible Entrant selected from the valid entries received before the Closing Date.

3.12OPUS will publish the name of each Prize winner within one month after the Announcement Date. If a winner objects to that, please contact support@theeasies.com; OPUS must still provide the information to any relevant authority on request where required by law.

4. Who will see your application

4.1The Awards are delivered with Investec as headline partner, together with Caplia Technologies Ltd, Harmonic, Careless Technologies Ltd, Day Zero Limited, HelpBnk, the sponsor of each award category, a number of venture capital partners, and other general partners (together, the "Partners"). A current list of Partners, and the level of access each holds, is published at theeasies.com..

4.2 By entering, you accept that your application will be visible to Partners and to the judging panel. Partners and judges view applications through a secure portal hosted by Caplia and configured by OPUS. Through that portal a Partner may view your company name, founder details, application responses and pitch deck. Access is granted at three levels:

4.2.1Full access — OPUS, Investec, Caplia, Harmonic, Careless, HelpBnk, Day Zero and any other general partner identified as holding full access on the Partner List may view all applications in all categories;

4.2.2Category access — a category sponsor may view only the applications entered into the category it sponsors; and

4.2.3VC access — a venture capital Partner views the applications matching the investment focus it has stated to OPUS.

No Partner can see another Partner's view.

4.3This is a condition of entering, not something OPUS asks your permission for. The Awards cannot be run without it: applications are reviewed by the ESEYs team, judged by the judging panel, and the categories are sponsored. Being seen by investors and corporate partners is the principal benefit of entering. OPUS relies on these T&Cs and on its legitimate interests for this processing. If you would prefer your application not to be seen this way, please do not enter. You may object at any time by contacting support@theeasies.com, but OPUS may not be able to continue processing your application if you do.

4.4Contact from Partners. Unless you have told us otherwise, OPUS may share your contact details with Partners on the Partner List so that they may contact you directly about their own products, services, investment interest and opportunities. You can tell us not to, either on the application form or at any time afterwards — email support@theeasies.com, or use the unsubscribe link in any message. If you do, we will not share your contact details with Partners for that purpose, and Partners already holding them will be instructed to stop. This has no effect on the assessment of your application.

4.5Introductions facilitated by OPUS. A Partner may also ask OPUS to introduce it to you. OPUS will not make such an introduction without first asking you, and you are free to decline. Declining has no effect on the assessment of your application.

4.6Partners are contractually restricted to using your application to assess it, to consider it for the purposes of the Awards, and to consider a possible investment, commercial or partnership opportunity. Partners may not sell your data, pass it on, use it for unrelated prospecting, or use it to train any model or dataset.

4.7Day Zero Limited (company number 17062328) is a company in the same group as OPUS Community Limited. It holds full access under clause 4.2.1 and it provides the investment prize described in clause 5.2. Its employees, directors and immediate family members are not eligible to enter.

4.8What is never published. Your pitch deck and any financial or commercially sensitive information in your application are not published and are not shared outside the parties described in this clause 4. See clause 7.4.

5. Prizes

5.1Category winners. Each category winner will receive:

an invitation for the lead founder to attend Davos during the week of the World Economic Forum in January 2027;
accommodation in Davos for the lead founder for the duration of the OPUS delegation programme;
access to OPUS delegation programming throughout the World Economic Forum; and
a twelve-month OPUS membership.

5.2Global winner. One category winner will additionally be selected as the overall global winner and will receive an investment of $250,000 from the Day Zero Fund, managed by Day Zero Limited ("Day Zero").

5.3The investment prize The Day Zero investment is subject to: (a) satisfactory completion of Day Zero's due diligence; (b) agreement and execution of investment documentation between Day Zero and the winning company on Day Zero's standard terms; (c) any regulatory, anti-money-laundering and know-your-customer checks Day Zero requires; and (d) approval by Day Zero's investment committee. The investment is made by Day Zero and not by OPUS. Day Zero's own terms and privacy policy apply to the investment relationship.

5.4What the Prize does not include. For the avoidance of doubt the Prize does not include flights, travel to or from Davos, ground transport, visas, travel insurance, food and drink, spending money, tax, or any personal or incidental expenses. All such costs, and any other costs incurred in connection with attending Davos, are the sole responsibility of the winner.

5.5Only the lead founder named in the application may attend Davos. The lead founder is responsible for ensuring that they are available to travel and that they hold a valid passport and any necessary visas and travel documents for the journey on the travel dates specified. OPUS accepts no liability where a winner is unable to travel for any reason, including refusal of a visa, and is under no obligation to substitute an alternative attendee or prize.

5.6Prizes are non-transferable and there is no cash alternative.

5.7An Entrant may withdraw from the Awards at any time before the Shortlist is announced by contacting support@theeasies.com. After the Shortlist is announced, OPUS may in its discretion decline a request to withdraw where doing so would disrupt judging, production or the announcement.

5.8Prizes are subject to availability. OPUS reserves the right to substitute any element of the Prize with an equivalent alternative if circumstances beyond its reasonable control make fulfilment impossible.

5.9Winners are responsible for any tax arising in connection with the Prize in their country of residence and should take their own advice.

6. Data protection and privacy

6.1OPUS will only process your personal information, including any personal data comprising the founder photo, as set out in the Privacy Policy at theeasies.com/privacy-policy.

6.2The Privacy Policy explains in particular: who your data is shared with and why; the three levels of Partner access described in clause 4.2; the role of Caplia Technologies Ltd as platform provider; the use of automated analysis and scoring; the Caplia Passport; how long your data is kept; and the choices available to you.

6.3Some messages are part of entering. OPUS will send you messages necessary to administer your application and the Awards — confirming receipt, prompting you to complete or improve your entry, and telling you the outcome at each stage. These are not marketing and you will receive them whatever other choices you make.

6.4Your choices about being contacted. Separately from clause 6.3, you may tell us at any time that you do not want to hear from OPUS about membership, events and community, and that you do not want Partners to contact you directly. You can do that on the application form, by using the unsubscribe link in any message, or by emailing support@theeasies.com. Neither choice has any effect on the assessment of your application.

6.5Co-founders. If you name co-founders in your application you are providing us with their personal data. By submitting the application you confirm that you are authorised to do so. OPUS will use co-founder details only to assess the application and to contact the founding team about the Awards, and will tell each named co-founder where their details came from the first time it contacts them.

7. Intellectual property and publicity

7.1Entrants warrant that they own all rights to the materials submitted and that submission does not infringe third-party rights.

7.2OPUS does not claim any rights of ownership in any Entrant's application or any material submitted by an Entrant.

7.3By applying, you grant OPUS, the judges and the Partners a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to use and publish your company name and logo, and to use, publish, alter and modify the founder photo, a summary of your application and the short company description submitted as part of the application, for marketing, publicity and promotional purposes in connection with the Awards, in print and digital media formats throughout the world (the "Permitted Activities"). Each lead founder agrees to OPUS storing copies of the application for as long as necessary to fulfil the Permitted Activities.

7.4The licence in 7.3 does not extend to your pitch deck or to any financial or commercially sensitive information in your application. Those materials are used only to assess your application and are made available only to the judging panel, the OPUS and Day Zero teams and Partners through the gated portal described in clause 4, at the level of access set out in clause 4.2. They will not be published.

7.5Filming and broadcast. Winners agree to take part in reasonable publicity and promotion as requested by OPUS. This includes participating in filming for the Awards broadcast and associated content. By accepting a Prize, each winner grants OPUS and its Partners a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free licence to record, edit, broadcast, reproduce and distribute their contribution to that content across all media, in connection with the Awards and the promotion of OPUS and the Awards in future years.

7.6Announcement rules. If you are selected for the shortlist of 25 or as a Finalist, you must not publicly claim, imply or announce this status until OPUS has made the relevant announcement. If you are selected as a winner, you must not publicly claim, imply or announce this status until OPUS has officially announced the winners on the Announcement Date.

7.7OPUS reserves the right to withdraw or disqualify an Entrant who breaches these publicity restrictions.

8. Disqualification

OPUS reserves the right to disqualify any Entrant who:

provides false, misleading or incomplete information;
fails to meet the eligibility criteria;
breaches these T&Cs;
manipulates or attempts to manipulate the public vote;
engages in behaviour that could bring OPUS, its Partners or the Awards into disrepute; or
displays conduct contrary to the spirit or intention of the Awards.

Where an Entrant is disqualified after being announced as a winner, OPUS may reclaim the Prize and, in the case of the global winner, Day Zero may withdraw from any investment process not yet completed.

9. Liability

9.1OPUS is not responsible for:

late, lost or misdirected entries, including entries that are corrupted, not successfully completed or transmitted, damaged or delayed in transit, regardless of cause, and including any failure or unavailability of the Caplia platform;
any reliance placed on publicity, advice or opportunities connected with the Awards;
any decision by Day Zero not to proceed with, or to vary the terms of, the investment described in clause 5.2;
any act or omission of a Partner in relation to information shared with it under clause 4, beyond OPUS's own obligations as data controller; or
any failure to deliver a Prize due to circumstances beyond its reasonable control.

9.2Nothing in these T&Cs limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, fraud, or any other liability that cannot be excluded by law.

9.3To the extent permitted by law, OPUS will not be liable for any loss, damage, injury or disappointment suffered in connection with the Awards or any associated event, including any damage to your or any other person's computer or mobile equipment as a consequence of downloading or accessing any materials, or any delay or failure (in whole or in part) to perform any of its obligations.

9.4Nothing in these T&Cs creates any partnership, joint venture, employment or agency relationship between OPUS and any Entrant, nor any obligation on OPUS or any Partner to invest in, contract with or otherwise engage with any Entrant.

10. General

10.1OPUS may cancel, amend or suspend the Awards if required by unforeseen circumstances or force majeure, or where it otherwise becomes necessary to do so.

10.2OPUS reserves the right to amend these T&Cs at any time. Where a change is material, OPUS will notify Entrants at the email address given in their application. Entrants will be deemed to have accepted any updated version upon continued participation.

10.3If any provision of these T&Cs is found to be invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions continue in full force.

10.4These T&Cs are governed by the laws of England & Wales. Any disputes shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England & Wales.

For any questions, please contact support@theeasies.com.

OPUS Community Limited, company number 12860792. [10 Queen Street Place, London EC4R 1AG.]Last updated: 20th August 2026

Last updated: 20th August 2026