Xero Beautiful Business Fund winners for 2023 unveiled

Wellington — 15 November 2023 — Xero, the global small business platform, today announced the 28 small businesses and nonprofits who have won a share of the NZ$750,000 global prize pool as part of the inaugural Xero Beautiful Business Fund.

The winners were recognized for best demonstrating, in a 90 second video, how they would use the funding to support their future business goals in one of four categories - Innovating for sustainability, Strengthening community connection, Trailblazing with technology and Upskilling for the future.

Launched earlier this year, the Xero Beautiful Business Fund seeks to help Xero's small business customers boost their growth plans and drive future success. More than 5,500 applications were received from Xero customers across Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, the United States and the United Kingdom.

The four global winners will each receive NZ$70,000 (or equivalent). The remaining 24 winners will each receive NZ$20,000 (or equivalent).

Strengthening community connection

We Care Connect, a charity and volunteer organization from Australia’s Central Coast and Hunter region, is the global winner in the ‘Strengthening community connection’ category. We Care Connect tackles childhood poverty in their local region by rehoming quality preloved children’s essentials with families who need them most, helping to positively impact the lives of an estimated 30,000 kids. This prize will fund the purchase of critical items that are rarely donated like newborn car seats, nappies, cot mattresses and more.

Additionally, the regional category winners are:

• Building Up (Canada)
• Toko Rugby Football Club (New Zealand)
• Art Outreach Singapore (Singapore)
• Oranjezicht City Farm Market (South Africa)
• The Together Project (UK)
• Rock Recovery (US)

Innovating for sustainability

Constantia Food Club, a South Africa-based food buying club that connects small local growers and producers directly with customers in Cape Town, is the global winner in the ‘Innovating for sustainability’ category. Constantia Food Club aims to support local regenerative farmers to help reduce biodiversity loss, promote sustainable food production and create a decentralised food system. They plan to use the fund to help build a new clubhouse, where they can serve more customers and provide additional support to growers and their local environment.

Additionally, the regional category winners are:

• Suitcase Records (Australia)
• More Granola (Canada)
• Kiwi Skips (New Zealand)
• Style Theory (Singapore)
• Oat Float (UK)
• Hand Me Up (US)

Trailblazing with technology

Buzz Burrows is a luminaire (pendant light) design and manufacturing business from Wanaka, New Zealand, and the global winner in the ‘Trailblazing with technology’ category. Buzz Burrows is focused on building beautiful, high-quality pendant lights. The company is planning to enhance their manufacturing process with a new laser-cutter, which will result in new design opportunities, greater manufacturing efficiencies and reduced waste.

Additionally, the regional category winners are:

• Natura Pacific (Australia)
• Hoot Reading (Canada)
• Oysterly (Singapore)
• Mygrow (South Africa)
• Let’s Go Physio (UK)
• SuvaNova (US)

Upskilling for the future

The Seam is the ‘Upskilling for the future’ global winner. The UK-based company provides a digital platform for highly skilled makers from across the country to be paid in exchange for offering specialist wardrobe care and repair services to those that need it. The Seam’s platform can reduce the amount of garments being sent to landfill by extending their life through alterations and repairs. With demand growing, The Seam will use the fund to train and upskill more makers across the UK.

Additionally, the regional category winners are:

• Rattlepod Landscapes (Australia)
• Scimar (Canada)
• Intricate Developments (New Zealand)
• Oriental Remedies Clinic (Singapore)
• Curate (South Africa)
• Moonlighter FabLab (US)

Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, Xero CEO, said: “Congratulations to our amazing Xero Beautiful Business Fund winners. We’re honoured to be able to support these small businesses and nonprofits in taking steps to boost their growth plans and drive future success. It’s such an important way to connect back to our purpose to make life better for small businesses, their advisors and communities around the world. We’re extremely grateful to all who took the time to enter and share their stories with us; we are truly blown away by the incredible response and your dedication to apply. Judging the entries was a wonderful reminder of who our customers are – passionate people who are dedicated to solving problems and making a positive impact in their communities - and I want to thank all of the judges who helped us select the winners.”

The Xero Beautiful Business Fund was first announced during Xero Day, Xero’s founding day celebrations, on 6 July this year. Applications opened on 23 August and ran for six weeks, closing 6 October. To enter, applicants needed to submit a 90-second pitch video sharing details of their business, the category they were applying in and their plans to use the funding. Regional winners were chosen by a regional judging panel composed of local business and industry leaders, Xero accounting and bookkeeping partners and Xero employees, for a total of 28 winners. A global judging panel made up of global business and industry leaders, technology experts and Xero executives, then selected one global winner in each category from the 28 regional winners.

For more information and to learn about the winners, visit xero.com/beautiful-business-fund.

ENDS

Media Contact | Janna Wilkinson | Xero Communications | press@xero.com

About Xero

Xero is a global small business platform with 3.95 million subscribers which includes a core accounting solution, payroll, workforce management, expenses and projects. Xero also has an extensive ecosystem of connected apps and connections to banks and other financial institutions helping small businesses access a range of solutions from within Xero’s open platform to help them run their business and manage their finances. Xero is a FIFA Women’s Football partner.