How Eddie and Done, two pre-launch startups with no funding and no company, won AwardX Europe 2026
AwardX Europe 2026 is a free startup pitch competition run by the LaunchX Entrepreneurship Program and sponsored by Friends of Bata, open to high school and university students across Europe. The 2026 edition was won by Eddie, an on-demand marketplace connecting personal trainers with clients, and Done, a consent-gated AI assistant that automates tasks across Gmail, GitHub and Slack. Neither founder had a launched company at the time of applying. The judging panel was provided by Triple B, through Friends of Bata's network, and included Thomas Bata, Jordy Johannes and Jean-Michel Deligny.
Two Ideas, Zero Companies, One Room That Didn't Go Easy on Anyone
Most competitions reward what founders have already built. AwardX Europe was designed to test something harder to fake: whether an idea, on its own, can survive a real conversation with people who've actually built and sold companies.
This year, two ideas did exactly that.
AwardX Europe 2026 is run by LaunchX Entrepreneurship Program, and Friends of Bata sponsors it every year for one reason. It's a rare space where a student with no company, no funding and no team can put an idea in front of judges who normally don't have time for pitches that aren't already working.
This year, that judging panel came straight from our own network: Triple B, represented by Thomas Bata, Jordy Johannes and Jean-Michel Deligny. Between them, Nike, Aldo, KPMG, PwC and three decades inside technology investment committees. Not judges brought in to be encouraging. Judges brought in to ask the same questions a real investor would ask.
Two founders had answers.
Eddie: Uber, But for Personal Trainers
The idea is easy to explain, which is usually a good sign. Booking a personal trainer today means scrolling Instagram DMs, hoping someone replies on WhatsApp, or settling for whoever's free at the gym. Trainers, meanwhile, sit on empty gaps in their own schedules with no way to fill them.
Eddie matches the two in minutes.
What stood out to the judges wasn't the concept. It was the sequence. Before writing a single line of marketing copy, the founder had already built a 160-person waitlist and interviewed 18 personal trainers to understand exactly where the current system breaks down.
Proof before product. That's the part worth remembering.
Eddie had already validated the model once before, winning the Tetr Launch Labs competition against judges that included a YC alum. AwardX Europe confirmed it wasn't a fluke.
Done: An AI Assistant That Waits for Your Yes
The second winning idea sits in a very different category, and answers a problem the AI industry has been avoiding in public.
Done is an AI assistant that plans actions across the tools people already use, Gmail, GitHub, Slack, and more. Ask it to send a file or book something, and it doesn't just act. It shows the plan, and waits for a yes before anything executes.
That single design choice is a direct answer to a year where AI agents had their best moment and their worst one, back to back. One open-source competitor went viral, then had over 135,000 installs found exposed and hackable. Another solved the safety problem but priced it at $50 a month, out of reach for most of the people who'd actually use it.
Done's founder is fifteen years old, and has already shipped two Chrome extensions before this one, each one a lesson in exactly where automation tools fail. That experience shaped a simple rule: build the safety in from day one, instead of retrofitting it after a crisis, which is exactly what the competitor had to do.
The Real Takeaway
Neither founder had a company when they applied.
A viable idea was enough. That was always the point.
Eddie's founder didn't guess that trainers had a scheduling problem. He asked eighteen of them before building anything. Done's founder didn't assume safety could wait. He built the version of the product where that trade-off disappears entirely.
That's what AwardX Europe is designed to surface, and it's the reason Friends of Bata keeps bringing judges like Triple B into the room. Not to hand out trophies. To ask the hard questions early, while an idea can still change shape.
Congratulations to both teams. This is exactly the kind of outcome we sponsor AwardX for.
See you at the next edition.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is AwardX Europe?
AwardX Europe is a free entrepreneurship competition created by the LaunchX Entrepreneurship Program for high school and university students across Europe. Applicants do not need a launched startup, only a well-researched and viable business idea.
Who sponsors AwardX Europe?
Friends of Bata sponsors AwardX Europe and provides the judging panel through its network, Triple B.
Who won AwardX Europe 2026?
The 2026 edition of AwardX Europe was won by Eddie, an on-demand marketplace for booking personal trainers, and Done, a consent-gated AI assistant that automates actions across Gmail, GitHub and Slack.
Who judged AwardX Europe 2026?
The judging panel came from Triple B and included Thomas Bata (Executive Director, Triple B), Jordy Johannes (CIO/CFO, Triple B, formerly KPMG and PwC) and Jean-Michel Deligny (Head of the Triple B Investment Committee).
What is Eddie (the personal trainer app)?
Eddie is an on-demand marketplace that connects people looking to work out with nearby available personal trainers in minutes. It lets trainers monetize empty gaps in their schedule instead of relying on Instagram, WhatsApp or word of mouth to find clients.
What is Done (the AI assistant)?
Done is an AI assistant that plans and prepares actions across everyday tools such as Gmail, GitHub and Slack, but does not execute anything until the user explicitly confirms. It was built as a safer, more affordable alternative to existing AI agent tools.
What is Friends of Bata?
Friends of Bata is an international entrepreneurship community that connects Gen Z founders with mentors, investors and industry judges through programs such as Founders of Tomorrow, the Pitch Lab Podcast and sponsored competitions like AwardX Europe.
