Sadiq Khan announces the winning companies in the ‘Poverty Prevention Challenge’

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan has announced the winning tech companies and AI firms who will receive funding to bring to life their innovative ideas to support Londoners struggling with the cost of living crisis.

The ‘Poverty Prevention Challenge’ was launched by Sadiq in January 2023 to find innovative solutions to tackle the impact of the cost-of-living crisis, provide Londoners with access to opportunities and resources to reach financial independence, and improve the way the public sector identify and support people at risk of falling into financial hardship.

The initiative is part of Challenge LDN, launched by City Hall in partnership with Barnet Council to encourage organisations to find new ways to use technology to support the Londoners who are most in need.

Challenge LDN has helped dozens of startups and small businesses. It has invested more than £2.5m in supporting them to scale up across the city, providing access to seed funding and opportunities to develop new products and services and create jobs.

The “Poverty Prevention Challenge” is the latest in more than 20 challenges set since 2018 encouraging innovators from across London to test, prototype, and scale up ideas that address the city’s most pressing challenges. Seven London tech companies will each receive up to £50,000 to develop their projects. The winning proposals include:

Mealia’s cutting edge AI technology to help families at risk of falling into food poverty maximise their budget by creating personalised meal plans using the cheapest ingredients from the user’s favourite supermarket.

Mortar Works tenancy sustainment tool, designed to support renters in or at risk of rent arrears. It protects renters from needing high-cost debt to afford their rent.
Mendee’s AI-powered digital tools to enable overwhelmed non-profit organisations to help refugees to integrate successfully into society by providing language and digital literacy support.

SuperFi’s easy-to-navigate digital tools to help Londoners struggling to pay their bills manage their finances and access services and resources most suited to their individual needs. City Hall data shows that more than half (54 per cent) of Londoners are either ‘financially struggling’ or ‘just about managing’.

The Mayor is doing all he can to help Londoners cope with the increasing cost of living, including providing free school meals to help hundreds of thousands of low-income London families and has repeatedly called on the Government to introduce a two year rent freeze to support London’s renters.

Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “The cost of living crisis continues to hit Londoners hard and these innovative projects will help thousands who are struggling to make ends meet in the wake of soaring energy costs and food prices.

“Supporting open calls to London’s tech sector means we can apply new approaches to the challenges people face. By working this way we can break down silos, collaborate with new partners and build a better, safer, fairer and more prosperous London for everyone.”

Theo Blackwell, chief digital officer for London said: “Over the past 5 years setting open calls or challenges like this has allowed us to be bolder and work more collaboratively with London’s start-ups and scale ups. Seeking and testing new ideas and learning from others, is an important part of London’s new way of working.”

By Mark Adair – Correspondent, Bdaily

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