We're delighted to share that Initia Risk has been shortlisted in two categories at the 2026 #RISK Awards, organised by GRC World Forums as the awards night of #RISK Expo Europe.
In short
Initia Risk is a finalist for Enterprise Integrated GRC Architecture. Founder Elliot Poublan is a finalist for Technology Innovation in GRC: SME.
- What - shortlisted, not yet a winner. The ceremony is 11 November 2026 at ExCeL London.
- Why it matters - independent recognition of the platform architecture and of the practitioner-led technology behind it, in the same week as our CIR Risk Management App of the Year shortlist.
- The problem we built for - GRC that lives in silos, and tools first-line teams will not use.
GRC World Forums published the shortlists today. Two of those lists have our name on them. That is independent recognition from the community that actually runs the framework - not a vendor round-up we wrote ourselves.
What the #RISK Awards Are
The #RISK Awards sit at the end of #RISK Expo Europe, Europe's main Risk, GRC, Security and RegTech expo. Organised by GRC World Forums, they recognise people, teams and products that are connecting disciplines that used to sit in separate rooms: cyber, privacy, operational risk, financial crime, and the GRC architecture that is supposed to hold it together.
The 2026 ceremony is on 11 November at ExCeL London, on day two of the expo. Being on the shortlist is not a win. It is a place on a list judged by the same profession that has to live with the tools afterwards.
Enterprise Integrated GRC Architecture
This category honours organisations and teams building end-to-end GRC architectures - technology, processes and workflows brought together so governance, risk and compliance are not three separate systems with three separate truths. Judges look for reduced silos, better visibility, and decision-making that is consistent across the organisation rather than rebuilt in a slide pack each quarter.
That is the job Initia was designed for. A live register the first line will actually complete. Controls, evidence and actions in the same place. Reporting that is a view of the framework, not a project. See how to create real risk ownership and board-ready risk reporting for the operating problems underneath that brief.
We are proud to be listed alongside Battleground, Mitratech, calQrisk and Investec.
Technology Innovation in GRC: SME
The Technology Innovation in GRC category recognises organisations, teams and individuals turning technology into GRC that actually works - not a feature list, but deployment that improves efficiency, insight and the quality of the decisions the framework is meant to support. The SME shortlist is the growing, agile end of that category.
Our founder, Elliot Poublan, is on that list. Initia was built by practitioners who had run the second line in regulated firms and were tired of tools that looked complete in a demo and then sat unused. The innovation we care about is unglamorous: language the first line recognises, workflows they will finish, and a reporting layer the second line does not have to rebuild every cycle.
Elliot is listed alongside Mandatry, Aspida Group, RiskSmart, CoreStream GRC, Behavox, LioraEngine and others on the SME technology shortlist. Congratulations to every finalist in the category.
A One-Year-Old Platform, Twice Shortlisted This Autumn
Most names on GRC awards lists have been in market for years. Initia has not. Earlier this month we were also shortlisted for Risk Management App of the Year at the 2026 CIR Magazine Risk Management Awards.
The two programmes ask slightly different questions. CIR is looking at the product as risk software. The #RISK Awards are looking at whether the architecture actually connects GRC, and whether the technology behind an SME platform is doing something the market needs. We did not build Initia for awards. We built it because RCSAs were still living in spreadsheets, first-line teams would not engage, and the board pack was a quarterly reconstruction project. See what an RCSA is and why most fail and Excel vs GRC tools for RCSA.
Being on both lists in the first year is a signal. The work does not change.
What Happens Next
Finalists go through to the 11 November ceremony at ExCeL London. We will share the result when GRC World Forums does. Until then, the job is the same: keep the platform honest against how risk functions actually run, and keep shipping for the firms already using it.
Thank you to our early clients and partners who have backed us from the start - including Davies, who chose Initia Risk as their risk and compliance platform, and COPA GRC, who use Initia as the digital platform behind their football GRC operating model. You can meet the team on our About page.