Meet the entrepreneurs keeping innovation alive.
Launching a startup is challenging at the best of times – but 2022 proved particularly testing for the entrepreneurs of tomorrow. In stark contrast to the technology boom of the past few years, there was a noticeable shift in the venture capital market. Rising inflation left VCs much more wary of the risks they take, and they more carefully considered which new companies were worth adding to their portfolios.
Nonetheless, it’s clear that a winning combination of innovation and determination remains the bedrock of successful businesses – with startups across a range of industries continuing to climb the ranks. And that’s exactly what this list shows.
We’ve brought together the top 50 scale-ups currently taking the world by storm. Working in partnership with leading research analyst Ying Van de Walle, our shortlist was drawn from a pool of more than 700 UK-based, VC-backed, privately owned companies in the tech sector.
In the SaaS industry especially, it’s clear that there’s rising demand for productivity solutions – with logistics, banking, and healthcare companies all reaping the benefits. Fintech is another sector with a glowing future – with various initiatives designed to modernise the banking industry as we know it, and attracting millions of pounds from investors in the process.
Indeed, the UK is a thriving hub of entrepreneurial activity and a rich source of investment opportunities. It’s Europe’s leading tech hub, after all – raising £24 billion in 2022 alone. So, who are the scale-ups in this space that you should be paying attention to? Read on to find out.
Thomas Wynne
Co-founder and CEO at Capsule
Altruistiq
Minimising our carbon footprint isn’t just an environmental issue – it’s a data issue. At least it is according to Altruistiq, the SaaS startup that generates super-granular, super-precise impact analyses to assess the effect that businesses have on the environment and how they can reduce it. Pioneering a carbon abatement model, Altruistiq’s team aims to improve accuracy, transparency, and quality around business decisions – accelerating corporations on their journey towards net zero. Established in January 2021, it already has leading British meal kit provider Gousto in its list of customers as well as £15 million raised from a funding round led by Molten Ventures. Founder Saif Hameed is an ex-partner of McKinsey, where he also helped implement more sustainable practices.
Anything World
The future of AI and machine learning is an exciting one – especially with startups like Anything World at the helm. A platform designed to empower developers to unlock a new wave of 3D creation, this tech startup has been making moves in the metaverse since 2018. Using the latest in AI technology, Anything World generates immersive environments that can be used in AR and VR experiences. Its latest $7.5 million funding round gained the support of Acrew Capital and Alumni Ventures – as well as entertainment giant Warner Bros. So far, Anything World has worked on a Snapchat filter with the Ministry of Sound as well as on Ubisoft’s Rabbids video game franchise.
Banked
Internet banking has transformed the way we handle our finances – and here to take things a step further is Banked. Self-defined as ‘a global payments network built on modern banking rails’, Banked is committed to creating a better way to make and take payments based on API access for businesses, consumers, and banks. Founder Brad Goodall is Australian-born and London-based – a prominent figure in the UK tech scene, and a trusted authority on the global digital banking movement. In November 2022, Banked topped up its $20 million Series A round led by Bank of America with an additional $15 million led by Insight Partners. The capital raised will be used to further establish its US presence beyond its Palo Alto office.
BankiFi
BankiFi describes itself as ‘a fintech that’s not really a fintech’ – but what does this mean? It’s simple really – it puts banks and financial institutions back where they belong, at the heart of business. By designing a range of services to specifically fit the unique ways in which SMEs operate, BankiFi partners with banks to help them provide the best experience. Founded by Manchester University alum Mark Hartley and operating from the North West of England, BankiFi has secured investments from the Greater Manchester Investment Fund and Praetura Ventures – totalling £8.1 million to date.
BeZero Carbon
A company literally named for its vision, BeZero Carbon is a global rating agency dedicated to bringing a greater level of transparency to the Voluntary Carbon Market, where you can buy credits to offset emissions. It’s an evolving space that’s been predicted to be worth more than £40 million by 2030. And, as this market grows, so do the risks surrounding it – that’s why BeZero Carbon plans to oversee the industry and eliminate greenwashing, helping to build effective ecosystem markets and ultimately accelerate the net-zero transition. In one of the biggest Series B funding rounds of 2022 in UK climate tech, co-founders Tommy Ricketts and Sebastien Cross secured $50 million from investors including Quantum Energy Partners and Hitachi Ventures.
Bike Club
Kids are always outgrowing things. Some of them are a relief, like sucking their thumb or wetting the bed. And then there’s the things you wish you didn’t have to replace so fast – like clothes, shoes, and of course… bikes. So what if there was a bike that grew when they did? Bike Club has the next best thing – a bicycle subscription service designed to make bicycles more affordable and sustainable. Part of the circular economy movement, Bike Club is chaired by Fitness First founder Mike Balfour – and reported to be looking at a projected IPO of £150 million within the next couple of years. Circularity Capital played an integral role in helping it raise £36.8 million in 2022.
Birdie
Birdie is the caretech platform revolutionising the digital healthcare sector. Founder and CEO Max Parmentier was moved to address the care crisis after watching his own grandfather struggle under the impact of residential care. The platform itself aims to transform elderly care at home by putting preventative measures at the forefront.
Powered by digital tools like IoT and machine learning, Birdie’s platform enables care teams to book and manage services, deliver personalised care, operate more efficiently, and connect with family and GPs. June 2022 saw the B Corp generate $30 million towards its cause – with Sofina and OMERS Ventures among the leading investors in the Series B round. Its next goal is to expand into the European market.
Bother
Need to stock up on household items? Why Bother? That’s the question this AI grocery delivery startup is asking. But what sets Bother apart from existing supermarket giants and food delivery companies is that, in the words of its founder Douglas Morton, Bother isn’t a shop but ‘a household management tool’. Using state-of-the-art technology dubbed the ‘Bother Brain’, the platform learns what essentials each customer needs and when. Bother preempts orders, places them in the customer’s basket to approve or decline, and then delivers them right to their door. It’s a new take on convenience: slower but smarter. Since launching in 2020, the B Corp has raised £15 million from investors, including Stride.VC and Hoxton Ventures.
Causal
Dreaming of the day you can wave goodbye to Excel spreadsheets forever? It might be sooner than you think. SaaS startup Causal has developed a business planning platform that lets you effortlessly build revenue and headcount models and connect them to your data – with easy-to-use dashboards and stunning visuals. Since launching in 2020, it has already gained the trust of leading brands like Philips, as well as Accel (who list Bumble and DocuSign among those it has supported). Causal’s latest $20 million in investment capital will enable its recruitment and expansion plans.
Cleo
An app designed to help Gen Z make wiser financial decisions, Cleo has been disrupting the fintech space since 2015. Unlike other banking apps, Cleo speaks to zoomers in their language – with a chatbot feature that uses a ‘hype’ mode to motivate users and a ‘roast’ mode to keep them in check. The app has attracted Millennials, too – with one million people across the UK, US, and Canada logging in every week. It’s no wonder its turnover increased by more than 70% to £8.5 million in 2021. Cleo’s most recent Series C funding round raised $80 million from VCs including Sofina and Balderton Capital, which it plans to channel into furthering its growth across the pond.
Code First Girls
Closing the diversity gap is essential for tech companies if they want to appeal to the modern user – and here to accelerate the process is Code First Girls. A social enterprise in the education sector, Code First Girls was designed to equip women and non-binary individuals with the skills, confidence, and inspiration they need to succeed in the tech world. The innovative platform provides free coding courses to people across the UK and connects tech companies with newly trained developers.
Code First Girls’ Series A funding attracted £4.5 million from Active Partners (the investor behind Leon and Soho House) – as well as a number of angel investors. Led by entrepreneurial trailblazer Anna Brailsford, the goal is to provide one million free opportunities to learn to code by 2027. To date, Code First Girls has delivered over £60 million worth of tech education, and taught 3x more women and non-binary people to code than the UK’s universities.
Daye
Meet the team responsible for reinventing the tampon. Part of the menstruation-tech sector, Daye is bringing CBD-infused period products to the market. Backed by scientific research, Daye’s sustainable and organic tampons have pain-relieving properties to prevent your period from ‘cramping your style’. It also offers a range of women’s healthcare services – including at-home STI screening. Led by female founder Valentina Milanova, the startup aims to bridge the gender pain gap. Its latest funding round added £10 million to its £15.5 million pot from the likes of Hambro Perks and MassMutual Ventures, which will kick-start its US expansion.
DELLI
Founded by Depop creator Simon Beckerman and appropriately dubbed ‘the Depop of food and drink’, DELLI is a consumer internet startup championing local indies. A sustainable, community-led app, DELLI works by enabling individuals and independent restaurants to sell food on the platform through a drop model – meaning anyone with a kitchen can be a maker. In addition to ushering in a new generation of UK food producers, DELLI aims to help combat food waste – all the while making it easier for vendors to manage delivery and cash flow.
Since launching in 2021, the DELLI team has raised £8.5 million in total from the likes of Balderton Capital and HV Capital – whose portfolios include Betfair and HelloFresh, respectively. What’s more, a number of established brands are already using the platform – like Sonora Taquería and Kold Sauce.
Gravity Sketch
Meet the tech startup taking the AR and VR sectors by storm. Gravity Sketch brings creatives, product developers and conceptual artists into a digital 3D landscape via VR headsets to visualise their ideas. And leading brands like Adidas, Volkswagen, and Ford already use it to bring concepts to life. The founding team is made up of Oluwaseyi Sosanya, Daniel Thomas, and Daniela Paredes Fuentes – the latter recently named one of the most innovative women in the UK. Since its launch in 2014, the company has continuously reached new heights. In 2022, it achieved a record 4x revenue growth and raised £25 million in a Series A round led by Accel.
Hadean
Making big moves in the big data sector is Hadean – a deep tech startup developing record-breaking metaverse infrastructure technology. Hadean’s cloud-first operating system allows applications to dynamically scale without the need for additional input from data scientists. Since first setting out on its mission back in 2015, Hadean has raised £47.8 million in venture capital – with Tencent and In-Q-Tel among its supporters. The end goal? To enable the brightest minds to tackle humanity’s greatest challenges, from climate change to education inequality. To date, Hadean has worked with the likes of Microsoft, Minecraft, Epic Games, and Sony – and it’s just getting started.
Hofy
Work isn’t somewhere you go – it’s something you do. More and more, teams around the world are adopting hybrid working models or going completely remote. Helping to further this shift is Hofy, the SaaS startup that can ‘equip a new hire anywhere in the world in 1 click’. Founded by Sami Bouremoum and Michael Ginzo, Hofy helps businesses set up remote teams by supplying, managing, and maintaining IT equipment and furniture. Currently, it operates in more than 100 countries – and it plans to use its latest $15 million in venture capital to expand its offering to even more. Notable investors include CNP and Stride – the latter of which also supports Deliveroo and Zoopla.
Hokodo
‘Buy now, pay later’ options are becoming increasingly popular on eCommerce platforms – offering consumers a flexible financing plan when they want to purchase something but don’t have the money immediately available. Ambitious fintech Hokodo’s BNPL solution is tailored specifically to the B2B market and allows business customers to benefit from instant, frictionless, interest-free payment terms. Its Series B funding round raised $40 million from Notion Capital, Mundi Ventures, and more, and the capital will further its efforts to become the B2B BNPL leader in continental Europe.
Hoxton Farms
The farming revolution has arrived in the form of foodtech innovator Hoxton Farms. Founded in July 2020, the Hoxton Farms team has combined cell biology and mathematical modelling to develop a sustainable and cruelty-free animal fat that looks, cooks, and tastes like the real deal. The startup has commanded the attention of Forbes, Wired, and the Financial Times – as well as £22.3 million in venture capital from investors including Collaborative Fund, Impossible Foods, and Sustainable Food Ventures. Could this be the future of farming? Watch this space.
Immersive Gamebox
Technology has transformed the gaming space in recent years, with people demanding more and more from their entertainment. Where gaming was once a niche hobby, it’s now one of the most popular forms of escapism available – and where an immersive experience used to be a fun bonus, it’s now an expectation. Meeting this expectation is Immersive Gamebox – the AR gaming company using projection mapping, motion tracking, and surround sound technology to unite people through shared play.
Founded by Tough Mudder creator Will Dean – and backed by Harlan Capital, JamJar Investments, and Index Ventures to name just a few – this London-based interactive gaming trailblazer managed to raise $20 million in venture capital this year. Together with more than $90 million in global franchise deals, this will allow it to open 250 locations in EMEA over the next three years and further its international expansion.
Incident.io
If you run a company, the chances are that something will go wrong at some point. And when things do go wrong, how you respond to them can make or break your success. Luckily, here to make things easier when that time comes is Incident.io – a platform that positions itself as an affordable and effective way to bounce back from a security incident, founded by Stephen Whitworth and Chris Evans (previously an engineer and Technical Director at Monzo, respectively). It empowers global companies to rapidly learn from and resolve mistakes by reporting them via Slack. Its supporters include Index Ventures – who also back Dropbox, Etsy, Discord, and Squarespace – and its latest $34.2 million funding round will help it break America.
Jiminny
Named after Pinocchio’s conscience, Jiminy Cricket, Jiminny is the fly on the wall for all your sales conversations. Using conversation intelligence software, the SaaS platform records, transcribes, and analyses calls and meetings in real time. And leading names who have bought into this fresh approach to sales include Just Eat and Informa. August 2022 marked Jiminny’s most successful funding round to date, attracting £13.5 million from Kennet Partners – a firm dedicated to helping SaaS and technology companies take the next big leap. We can’t wait to see where CEO and founder Tom Lavery steers the company this year.
Let’s Do This
Running. Cycling. Swimming. Climbing. Sports alone is great – but doing it with others is even better. Endurance events marketplace Let's Do This allows sports enthusiasts to discover, book, and participate in thousands of competitions and experiences across the UK and US. In June 2022, the startup raised $60 million in a Series B funding round led by Craft Ventures and Headline, with further participation from the likes of EQT Ventures, NFX and Y Combinator, and Morpheus Ventures. The new capital will fund the platform’s ongoing expansion in the US and UK as well as additional social features.
Lightyear
Investing capital doesn’t come without its risks, but Lightyear is here to make it even easier. From a team that brought us Wise (formerly TransferWise), Revolut, and Robinhood, the stock trading mobile app is designed to make investing globally simple and approachable, removing unnecessary barriers and trading fees. Just under 12 months after launching, the platform raised $25 million in a funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with supporting investment from Richard Branson's Virgin Group. At the same time, it also launched in 19 new European markets.
Lottie
Care for the older generation is often overlooked – and Lottie is here to put it firmly at the top of the agenda. The London-based digital marketplace connects people to the best care and retirement living homes in the country. After raising £2.5 million in February 2022, the comparison platform went on to raise a further £6 million in a funding round led by General Catalyst, with earlier backing from Monzo founder Tom Blomfield, Lendable co-founder Victoria van Lennep, and former Airbnb and Facebook director Caroline Hudack. The new capital will fund its expansion in the UK.
Minimum
Understanding and managing carbon emissions is a challenge for any business – especially big, complex enterprises seeking to prepare for the future. Minimum's solution gives enterprises total visibility of their emissions, and total control over carbon management, throughout the Net Zero journey. In June 2021, the Y Combinator-backed startup raised $2.6 million in a funding round led by Octopus Ventures, with further participation from Clocktower Technology Ventures, Dutch Founders Fund, Plug and Play Ventures, and AGO Partners.
Moneyhub
Moneyhub is revolutionising how finance, retail, and telecom brands manage their accounts. The market-leading data and payments fintech provides tailored open banking, open finance, and open data solutions designed to meet the needs of their customers. In fact, it was the first to provide payment initiation services and offer secure, true open banking integrations powered by APIs. At its helm is Samantha Seaton of Open51 fame, an organisation that promotes women in open finance who are driving the new digital economy.
The award-winning technology provider recently secured an additional £15 million in funding from Phoenix Group after a £35 million raise from Legal & General and Lloyds Banking Group, as well as an additional £5 million flexible debt facility thanks to Shawbrook Bank. This total investment will enable the Bristol-based startup to further expand beyond its existing markets, as well as develop its financial solutions with pensions, wealth, payments, affordability, and data-as-a-service.
Noala
Waiting lists for speech and language therapy can be endless. That’s why Noala, founded by Emilie Spire, is on a mission to make these crucial treatments more accessible for all. The digital health startup recently raised $4 million in a seed funding round led by LocalGlobe, with further investments from Cocoa Ventures, BlaBlaCar, Kry, Mirakl, and Peak. The funding will allow the startup to continue developing its life-changing services and grow its teams in the UK and US – particularly in growth, tech, project management, and operations.
Nothing
Consumer tech startup Nothing is on a mission to make technology fun again, offering flawlessly connected products such as its earbuds and ‘Phone (1)’ smartphone to challenge the likes of Apple and Samsung. The company – founded by OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei – is backed by EQT Ventures, C Ventures, GV, co-founder of Twitch Kevin Lin, and co-founder and CEO of Reddit Steve Huffman. Its total raised to date? Around $145 million. The London-based startup is currently launching its phone in the US as part of a beta testing programme.
OLIO
Global food waste continues to rise, but OLIO is here to change that – one share at a time. The local sharing app, founded by Tessa Clarke and Saasha Celestial-One, enables individuals and businesses to list food items, clothing and household goods for people within the region to borrow, purchase, or pick up free of charge. Its last funding round – a Series B led by VNV Global in September 2021 – saw the B Corp-certified startup raise $43 million, with the participation of Lugard Road Capital, Accel, Octopus Ventures, Rubio, and Delivery Hero Ventures. The investment is being used to accelerate its international expansion in Latin America, Northern Europe, and Asia.
Otta
Otta is reinventing the way people discover jobs in tech. The recruitment platform connects talent with tech startups from around the world, showcasing relevant roles based on job preferences, and displaying company insights such as values, total funding, and benefits – all in a single place. Founders Sam Franklin, Theo Margolius and Xav Kearney used to work together at modern estate agents Nested. In January 2022, they raised $20 million in a Series A funding round led by Tiger Global Management. Otta plans to use the funds to expand its presence across the pond, and double its production and engineering team in London.
Oxwash
Ever thought about the impact that washing your clothes has on the environment? Now you don’t have to. Oxwash is reinventing dry cleaning and laundry services, providing on-demand, sustainable wet and dry cleaning solutions in Oxford, London, and Cambridge. Its mission? To reduce emissions, save water, and remove plastic waste from our waterways. Since Kyle C Grant (who used to be a space engineer at NASA) founded it in 2018, the consumer internet startup has secured £16.3 million from investors including Holly and Sam Branson, co-founder of Twitter Biz Stone, and the Untitled Ventures. Oxwash is now a certified B Corporation.
Papercup
Papercup is here to ensure everyone can enjoy content in their native language – or any language for that matter. The technology harnesses emotive cross-lingual AI dubbing to make videos and audio accessible to all, and is used by media giants including Sky News, Discovery, and Business Insider. In June 2022, the company raised $20 million in a Series A funding round led by Octopus Ventures, with participation from Sands Capital, Sky, GMG Ventures, LocalGlobe, Entrepreneur First, and BDMI. This investment takes its total funding to $30.5 million. No doubt co-founder and CEO Jesse Shemen’s VC background helped it there!
Patchwork
Designed by healthcare professionals for healthcare professionals, Patchwork is reimagining the delivery of care through innovative technology and the experience of NHS workers who know the pressures of temporary staffing first-hand. The SaaS platform provides insights into staffing metrics and user behaviours, allowing NHS teams to make data-driven decisions and meet their targets. August 2022 marked its most significant funding round to date, raising £20 million in a Series B led by Perwyn, with backing from Praetura Ventures, KHP Ventures, and Monzo founder Tom Blomfield.
Rooser
The seafood industry is prone to waste – but Rooser is here to change that. It was founded by Nicolas Desormeaux and Joel Watt, who between them have over 25 years of experience in the sector. Their Edinburgh-based SaaS startup is working hard to tackle the ongoing issue by providing a platform that reduces friction for buyers and suppliers, combining stock management, sales tracking, and a private marketplace.
In April 2022, Rooser raised $23 million in a Series A funding round led by Index Ventures – with backing from GV and Point Nine, as well as CEO and co-founder of Figma Dylan Field and CEO and co-founder of sennder David Nothacker. The funding will allow the business to expand its reach in other countries across Europe, and continue to develop the platform with features like enhanced quality control tools, supply chain finance, and business intelligence and analytics.
Sequence
Fintech Sequence is setting the standard for dynamic billing and B2B payments. In 2021, co-founders Riya Grover and Eamon Jubbawy (who you might recognise from Feedr and Onfido) set out to build the financial operations platform of the future, developing a solution that enables companies to drive intelligent finance automation. Sequence’s recent $19 million investment from Andreessen Horowitz, Salesforce Ventures, firstminute capital, Fin Capital, Dig Ventures, Passion Capital, Crew Capital, Luno Expeditions, 9Yards Capital, and 20 founders of some of the fastest growing unicorn companies will allow it to hire more talent, continue development, and eventually launch.
SideQuest
Deloitte has dubbed 2023 the year of virtual reality, predicting that the market will grow by 50% on 2022’s figures – and SideQuest is taking the technology to a whole new level. Founded by husband-and-wife duo Shane and Orla Harris in 2019, the independent VR app store allows developers to build their own experimental games – from shooters and racers to workouts – or play existing ones on Meta Quest headsets. The Belfast-based startup recently raised $12 million in a funding round led by GV and founder of Oculus VR Palmer Luckey, which will be used to continue to support developers, and expand its team in Ireland and beyond.
Super Payments
Founded by Samir Desai CBE (former CEO of Funding Circle) and backed by Accel, LocalGlobe, and Union Square Ventures, Super Payments is transforming the online payment and shopping experience. The fintech startup believes that customers and retailers are underserved by the current financial system, and aims to eliminate high online payment fees and help businesses scale as a result.
The online payment alternative to PayPal, Klarna, and Apple Pay raised £22.5 million in one of the largest pre-seed funding rounds in Europe, and is backed by the investors behind the likes of Monzo and Stripe. This capital means it’s able to continue to offer free payments to businesses, and provide instant cashback to shoppers.
Sylvera
Forward-thinking organisations with net-zero targets rely on Sylvera to deliver on their carbon neutral commitments. The SaaS startup is here to help corporate sustainable leaders, traders, and asset managers confidently evaluate and invest in high-quality carbon credits and offsetting projects – all with the help of machine learning technology. Bain & Company and Delta Airlines are among its customers, and it has raised a total of $39.5 million in funding from Index Ventures, Insight Partners, Salesforce Ventures, LocalGlobe, and several angel investors to further fuel its expansion – with a larger team and universal coverage.
Tesseract Energy
Big energy companies are powerful – and they need to be stopped. Enter Tesseract Energy, the cleantech startup appealing for people to join its mission to generate renewable power that’s easier on your purse strings and the planet. Co-founders Alan Chang and Charles Orr were early employees of Revolut – the fintech giant that disrupted the industry to the tune of $33 billion. Now, they’re planning to do the same with the energy sector. And it looks like they’re well on their way. Founded in March 2022, they’ve already managed to secure $78 million in investment, with support from Balderton Capital and Lakestar. Other investors include Formula One World Champion and sustainability entrepreneur Nico Rosberg.
Thirdfort
Service firms are at risk of security breaches every day. That is, unless they use Thirdfort. The FCA-authorised Fintech startup reduces financial and reputational risks for legal, property, and finance businesses with automated ID and source-of-funds verifications as well as AML compliance. Oh, and it’s a certified B Corp too. The risk management platform raised £15 million in a recent Series A funding round led by Breega, with investments from Element Ventures, ComplyAdvantage, Tessian, Fenergo, Fidel, R3, and Funding Circle. The funding will allow the startup to further develop its services to protect its clients and expand into other sectors.
Toqio
Fintech is taking over the finance world – and Toqio is up there with the best. Founded in 2019 by Eduardo Martinez Garcia and Michael Galvin, the low-code platform provides businesses the opportunity to build and deliver fully branded banking and financial solutions in a matter of weeks rather than months. The SaaS company recently secured a €1.3 million grant as well as €18.7 million in a Series A funding round led by AlbionVC with investments from Speedinvest Fintech, Aldea Ventures, Seaya, SIX FinTech Ventures, and Chemo’s Leandro Sigman. The funds will help the platform expand into Germany and France.
Treecard
A sustainable future requires everyone to play a role, and Treecard is certainly playing its. The London-based green fintech startup offers a recyclable, sustainably sourced wood alternative to plastic debit cards. The best part? Every time you spend, it uses a portion of the interchange fee to plant trees on your behalf. But that isn’t all – 80% of its profits are donated to reforestation efforts. It’s no wonder it raised $23 million in its Series A, with investments from PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures as well as World Fund, EQT Ventures, Seedcamp, Episode 1, and other angel investors.
Tumelo
Tumelo is another startup changing the fintech game. The Bristol-based, impact-focused firm is on a mission to allow pension members and retail investors to create and benefit from an interactive investment system. Not only does it reveal exactly which companies their money is going to, but also ESG issues like CEO pay, gender equality, emissions, and board diversity. Founded by Georgia Stewart, Will Goodwin and Benjamin King, it has raised $19 million in a funding round led by Treasury, with further investments from Legal & General Capital, Fidelity International Strategic Ventures, Nucleus Adventure Capital, and founder of IHS Markit and co-founder of BeyondNetZero Lance Uggla. The capital will be used to grow the platform into the US and Australia, and build more partnerships.
Unlikely AI
AI is changing the world as we know it, and Unlikely AI is taking an ambitious, fresh look at the technology. The London-based venture – founded by the brains behind Amazon Alexa William Tunstall-Pedoe – is developing products that do things previously considered impossible for computers. While most haven’t been announced yet, one example of a project it has worked on is an AI that solves and explains cryptic crosswords. The startup has caught the attention of big investors and raised $20 million in a recent funding round led by Amadeus Capital Partners and Octopus Ventures, with backing from Cambridge Innovation Capital and Skype founder Jaan Tallinn’s Metaplanet.
V7
V7 is also blazing a trail in the AI sector, counting Cancer Research and MIT among its users. The AI data engine is designed to help organisations solve labelling tasks 10x faster with automated labelling capabilities, image and video annotation, dataset management, document processing, and more. In November 2022, the startup announced that it secured $33 million in a Series A funding round led by Radical Ventures and Temasek, with investments from Air Street Capital, Amadeus Capital Partners, and Partech. The capital raised will allow V7 to further expand into the US market and grow its team.
Vira Health
On a mission to make women’s lives happier, healthier, and longer, Vira Health offers personalised digital therapeutics for those experiencing menopause. The digital health startup – led by Andrea Berchowitz (previously of McKinsey & Company and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) and behavioural scientist Dr Rebecca Love – combines best practice, behaviour change, and data to alleviate the symptoms that affect billions of people worldwide.
Vira Health recently closed a second round of funding, securing $12 million from Octopus Ventures and Optum Ventures – with previous funding from LocalGlobe, MMC Ventures, Amino Collective, and other angel investors. The capital will go towards building out its Stella app’s care pathway, and launching the app in the US.
Weavr
Weavr is disrupting the current banking-as-a-service model with its plug-and-play financial solutions. The platform seamlessly embeds financial services into existing software (say, paid ad campaign management within an applicant tracking system), allowing its customers to unlock new capabilities and generate more revenue. In February 2022, the technology provider closed a $40 million Series A funding round led by Tiger Global Management, with additional backing from QED Investors, Anthemis, Mubadala, Latitude, Headline, Seedcamp, Force Over Mass Capital, and UFP Fintech. The funding will accelerate the development of the platform and its international expansion plans – starting with an official launch in the US.
Worldr
The cloud environment is particularly vulnerable to cyber attacks. That’s why Worldr is on a mission to ensure security, privacy, and compliance on Microsoft Teams, Slack, and WhatsApp by adding zero-trust architecture – enabling businesses to protect their most sensitive customer data. The London-based startup secured $11 million in a seed funding round led by Molten Ventures in November 2022, with support from the likes of IQ Capital, Playfair Capital, Pretiosum Ventures, Navigate Ventures, MD One Ventures, and industry-specialist angels. The capital will allow Worldr to meet the growing demand for its products.
Yonder
Founded by ClearScore alumni Tim Chong, Harry Jell, and Theso Jivajirajah, Yonder is a rewards credit card designed for expats and immigrants without a UK credit score. The fintech startup is here to eliminate the complexity and stress of credit card access, and offer transparent fees for those looking to borrow money. Its recent Series A funding round led by Northzone and LocalGlobe saw the business secure £20 million, with backing from Rio Ferdinand, Oliver and Alex Kent-Braham, Sharmadean Reid, and other angels. It will use the capital to expand in Bristol, Edinburgh, Manchester, and Liverpool.
ZOE
When it comes to nutrition, everyone’s different. That’s why digital health startup ZOE is on a quest to help people eat with confidence – rejecting the traditional ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach. It harnesses the power of scientific research, software engineering, and artificial intelligence to help people live life to its fullest, providing personalised nutrition programmes based on unique test results. In May 2021, it initially closed a $53 million Series B round, before extending it to raise an additional £25 million led by Accomplice in December 2022.