HedgeHog Financial Wellness wins 2025 Learnovate and AWS EdTech Accelerator in Dublin

The Learnovate Centre at Trinity College Dublin and Amazon Web Services named HedgeHog Financial Wellness the overall winner of their 2025 EdTech Accelerator on June 25, 2025. The startup, which runs interactive financial wellness workshops for students, received $100,000 in AWS cloud credits. Ten Irish early-stage companies took part in the eight-week programme, which followed a 2024 edition of the accelerator.

The other nine participants were Future Learning, Rocket Learning Rewards, Mantra Strategy, Anytime Creativity, IntegrityIQ, Cobblestone Learning, iAir Academy, ScenarioWorx and WorkJuggle. According to TechCentral, judges selected HedgeHog for its evidence-based response to financial misinformation among young people and pointed to its teaching approach and potential reach beyond Ireland. Co-founder Caitlin Hafer described the credits as a major boost for the company.

When it opened applications in April 2025, Trinity College Dublin said the programme would run from April 29 to June 17 and include seven full-day workshops at AWS offices in Dublin. Participants received mentoring on product and business development, cloud architecture, regulation, data privacy, cybersecurity, pilot studies, public procurement and investor readiness, together with AWS credits and free access to certified AWS training. Eligible companies had to be registered and based in the Republic of Ireland and working on a digital answer to a defined education or learning problem, with a product meant to improve learner outcomes, streamline workflows or lower the cost of learning. All participants presented at a closing demo day, where Learnovate, AWS and industry judges chose the winner.

Learnovate is a research centre at Trinity focused on the future of work and learning, and AWS is a patron member. The 2024 edition was won by ALPACA, which builds game-based tools designed to spot children who may later struggle with reading; judges at that pitch day came from AWS, Atlantic Bridge, Learnovate, SOLAS and Terminalfour. Learnovate director Nessa McEniff said the centre would keep supporting the growing community of edtech start-ups in Ireland.