Brilliance Awards Winners 2025

In 2025, we issued six honorary Brilliance Awards in recognition of incredible innovation, success and performance to organizations and leaders in South Korea, Brazil, Pakistan, Poland, Lithuania, Spain and rest of Europe.

Awarded to HBL (Habib Bank), Pakistan

In 2025, Pakistan’s largest commercial bank finalized its complete evolution into a tech-first financial ecosystem. By aggressively expanding its digital product suites, HBL fully integrated localized agricultural supply-chain financing and AI-driven micro-loans natively into its mobile apps. This massive architectural transformation successfully brought millions of rural, previously unbanked citizens directly into the formal digital economy, completely modernizing the country’s retail banking landscape.

Awarded to Thomas Plantenga, CEO, Vinted, Lithuania / Europe

In 2025, Plantenga successfully engineered Vinted’s transition into a highly profitable digital ecosystem powerhouse, driving user acquisition past 100 million members across Europe. By prioritizing frictionless in-app digital shipping integrations and low-barrier automated mobile payment networks, he transformed second-hand marketplace infrastructure. His strategic direction capitalized on the circular economy, scaling the app into Europe’s dominant peer-to-peer fashion platform through automated, high-volume transactional growth.

Awarded to Stark Bank, Brazil

Stark Bank wins under the framework of redefining what is possible in digital business. They created an entirely API-first corporate banking infrastructure that lets companies fully automate payroll, credit card issuance, and global transactions natively inside their own software. They achieved exceptional digital scalability, enabling fast-growing enterprises to fully automate corporate card issuance, payroll, and instantaneous high-volume corporate transactions through custom, frictionless software integrations.

Awarded to Allegro, Poland

Allegro optimized its marketplace performance by deploying a real-time, AI-driven ad bidding web portal for its third-party merchant ecosystem. The automated platform tracked shifting search trends to instantly adjust on-site product placements, maximizing sales visibility during peak shopping windows. This system boosted merchant conversions while ensuring high ad relevancy for everyday shoppers. Their data strategy allowed the regional e-commerce giant to protect its market share against massive global competitors.

Awarded to Samsung Electronics, South Korea

Samsung Electronics secured top digital innovation standing by launching the SmartThings web and app interface, connecting home devices into a visual control center. Their mobile ecosystem used edge computing to securely manage consumer habits, adjust energy use, and automate household tasks. This system balanced personal data privacy with convenient, cross-device cloud connectivity. By transforming standalone home appliances into an intelligent network, they improved daily resource management. This large-scale roll-out represents a major milestone in consumer electronics, product engineering, and internet-of-things innovation.