Star-studded judging panel for CoCreate Pitch competition
Startups Magazine Startups Editorial
Alibaba.com is bringing CoCreate Pitch back to London in November 2026. Rio Ferdinand, Deborah Meaden and Simon Squibb are judging, and AI is the hook.
Based on reporting by Startups Magazine, Startups Editorial — read the original for the full story.
Summary, retelling and take written by AI under human oversight; images are AI-generated illustrations. How we work · Report an error
Alibaba.com is bringing CoCreate Pitch Europe back to London, with the next competition set for 19-20 November 2026. The company is again pitching it as a search for the next product-focused startup star, and this time the judging panel comes with a lot of familiar faces attached.
Rio Ferdinand OBE, who judged in 2025, is returning to lead the panel. He’ll be joined by Deborah Meaden, the TV investor and business figure, and Simon Squibb, the entrepreneur and social media personality. Jonathan Anguelov, co-founder of French unicorn Aircall, is also part of the lineup. That is a panel built to attract attention, but it also signals what Alibaba.com wants this thing to be: part competition, part mentorship machine, part stage show.
The company has a recent success story to point to. Last year’s Europe winner, 16-year-old Harrison Nott and his CoolTowel business, took home $200,000. Alibaba.com says Rio stayed involved after the win, offering hands-on advice and making introductions that helped expand Harrison’s reach. The result, according to the company, has been a tenfold business increase. Earlier this year, Harrison also brought in the equivalent of almost two-thirds of his previous year’s annual revenue in a single day.
This year’s competition sits inside a broader push around AI. CoCreate Pitch 2026 is described as AI-driven, and it is powered by Accio, which Alibaba.com says can act like a pre-configured agentic AI business team across the SME lifecycle, from market analysis and sourcing to inventory monitoring. Applicants will also get access to a dedicated CoCreate Pitch Agent to turn early ideas into structured pitches and business plans. Applications close on 16 October 2026.
The timing matters because Alibaba.com and Small Business Institute Research say only 5% of small business owners are using agentic AI for supply chain management, while 68% of UK entrepreneurs want to learn more. That gap is the real story here. The celebrity judging panel is the easy headline; the harder pitch is that AI is still early, and most small businesses are watching from the side rather than using it.
My take — AI-written commentary, not fact-checked reporting
This is smart packaging, and probably the right kind of hype. Alibaba.com knows founders will show up for Rio Ferdinand and Deborah Meaden, but the real test is whether all this AI talk helps small businesses do anything useful beyond generating another cheerful demo. The 5% figure says the market is early; the 68% figure says people are paying attention. That is usually where the money gets made, and also where the nonsense starts.
Read more about this at: Startups Magazine