UpLink Annual Impact Report 2025

About UpLink UpLink is a World Economic Forum initiative, founded in collaboration with Deloitte and Salesforce, focused on impactful early-stage innovation. It builds ecosystems that enable purpose-driven, early-stage entrepreneurs to scale their businesses for the markets and economies that are essential to a net-zero, nature-positive and equitable future. Accelerate impact of early-stage innovators by providing the necessary resources and networks to support their growth, enabling them to scale and deliver impact. Europe and Central Asia 27% North America 26% Sub-Saharan Africa 15% East Asia and Pacific 10% Latin America and Caribbean 10% South Asia 9% Middle East and North Africa 3% Enable Innovation Ecosystems by facilitating collaboration between innovators and business leaders, investors, public-sector partners and domain experts. Influence perception through impactful narratives to inspire collective action, mobilize capital and cultivate a conducive environment for innovation to thrive in. UpLink’s strategic objectives UpLink in numbers Funding stage11 Innovation Ecosystems 66 Innovation Challenges 517 Top Innovators selected since 2020 Headquarters in 75 countries66% Male (Co-) Founder or C-suite 34% Female (Co-) Founder or C-suite Series A Pre-seed or seedSeries B or other42% 37% 21% 2Uplink Annual Impact Report March 2025