"As someone always on the go at work and who trains hard in the gym this product is great; tasty, healthy and easily digestible."
Shortlisted Finalist in the UK StartUp Awards 2026...
We couldn’t believe it when we found out…
RED-Scue has been shortlisted as a regional finalist in the UK StartUp Awards 2026 — selected from over 2,000 entries — in the Young Entrepreneur of the Year category, representing the South West.
That number still doesn’t fully land.
Over 2,000 businesses. Over 2,000 founders building, creating, experimenting, surviving, rebuilding, trying again. And RED-Scue is one of them.
It’s one of those moments where something you’ve been building in the background suddenly becomes visible. Where something that started as an idea, then a frustration, then a problem you couldn’t ignore… is suddenly placed into a national conversation about entrepreneurship.
And you’re left trying to catch up to it emotionally.
The UK StartUp Awards
The UK StartUp Awards celebrate the UK’s rapidly growing startup ecosystem — one that saw around 832,000 new businesses registered in 2025 alone.
This year, over 900 businesses have been shortlisted across ten nations and regions. Together, these founders are estimated to have created nearly 5,000 new jobs and generated over £150 million in annual sales.
When you step back and look at that scale, it becomes something bigger than an awards list.
It becomes a snapshot of a generation of people choosing to build instead of wait. Of people turning uncertainty into action. Of people trying to create something better out of what they’ve experienced, seen, or struggled through.
To be placed within that feels both grounding and surreal at the same time.
Why RED-Scue exists
RED-Scue was founded in 2025 at the intersection of FoodTech and HealthTech, with a focus that is simple on the surface but deeply layered underneath:
Underfuelling and overtraining in sport and everyday life.
We produce gut-friendly energy bars designed for athletes and active individuals who are underfuelled, fatigued, struggling with recovery, or unknowingly not eating enough to support the demands of their training and lifestyle.
But RED-Scue didn’t start as a product idea.
It started as lived experience.
It started long before there was a name, or packaging, or a brand.
It started with not understanding what was happening to my own body.
From D1 to everything changing
I was set for a D1 athlete.
On the outside, everything looked like momentum — training, competing, pushing, chasing performance. I was doing what I thought I was supposed to do in sport: work harder, eat “cleaner,” stay disciplined, keep going.
But over time, my body started to break in ways I didn’t fully understand at the time.
Torn Achilles. Meniscus injuries. Appendicitis.
And eventually, the loss of my D1 scholarship.
At the time, it felt like separate, unlucky setbacks. One after another.
But looking back now, I understand the pattern.
It wasn’t random.
It was chronic underfuelling known as Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S). And that became the inspiration behind the name RED-Scue (Rescue from RED-S).
It was the cumulative impact of not giving my body enough energy to match what I was asking of it — physically, hormonally, mentally.
And by the time I realised that, the damage had already been done.
The problem I couldn’t ignore
RED-Scue came from a gap I couldn’t unsee once I understood it.
The more I looked at fuelling in sport and everyday life, the more I saw extremes.
On one side:
heavy, hard-to-digest foods for sensitive guts
ultra high protein, low calorie nutrition
products that were sticky gels or artificial
On the other:
low-calorie “clean eating” snacks that didn’t actually fuel anything
restriction disguised as discipline
messaging that praised eating less as being “in control”
and an increasing cultural obsession with protein as a solution to everything
And in between all of that… a gap.
A missing middle.
Something simple. Something functional. Something you could actually tolerate before a run, session, or busy day. Something that didn’t hurt your gut but gave you sustained energy.
RED-Scue was built to sit in that space.
Not as an extreme.
But as a baseline.
A way to fuel before, during, and after training — and in daily life — without overthinking it, restricting it, or second-guessing it. The first bar built with fufu flour, a natural vitamin and mineral superfood used in West Africa.
A personal turning point
“This is such a milestone and testament to the story behind RED-Scue,” said Florence Sargent, Founder & CEO.
“Tearing my Achilles and losing my D1 scholarship from unknowingly underfuelling changed the trajectory of my life. At the time, I didn’t have the language for it. I just knew something wasn’t working.
I genuinely did this for so long that I’m surprised I got away with what I did. Looking back, it could have ended very differently.
But that experience became the foundation for everything I’ve built since.
RED-Scue exists so that other people don’t have to learn that lesson the hard way.
We are incredibly proud to have reached the regional final — especially from over 2,000 entries — and the opportunity to compete at the national final at Ideas Fest in September 2026 is a huge motivation for the team.”
What’s happened since
Since launching, RED-Scue has started to gain momentum within the sports nutrition and wellness space.
One of the early milestones was being selected for Co Create 2025 at the O2, pitching infront of Rio Ferdinand and Sara Davies.
That experience was significant — not just in visibility, but in validation. It placed RED-Scue in rooms where the conversation around sport, performance, and wellbeing is actively evolving.
But more importantly, it reinforced something we had already begun to see:
The issue of underfuelling is not niche. It is widespread. It is misunderstood. And it is often hidden behind “healthy habits” and fitness culture.
Where we’re going next
RED-Scue is still early.
But the direction is clear.
Right now, the focus is on:
expanding access and distribution
building a referral and ambassador community
increasing education around RED-S, LEA, and underfuelling
helping athletes and active individuals understand how they fuel, not just how they train
Because this has never just been about bars.
It has always been about something bigger:
Changing the way we think about energy.
A final note
There is something surreal about building for so long, and then suddenly being seen.
But more than anything, this moment feels like validation of something deeper.
That the problem we’re addressing is real. That people feel it. And that it matters.
We couldn’t believe it when we found out…
But we’re incredibly grateful that we did.
RED-Scue fuels training, thinking, performing, and living fully: Fuel without Fear.
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UK Startup Awards 2026 Finalist - Use code FINALIST2026 on your 1st purchase
