Tech Nation has announced the finalists for its Rising Stars programme.
The UK’s largest pitch competition for B2B startups seeks to connect founders from across every region of the UK to resources, networks and opportunities to help them grow.
The winning tech startups from the regional heats will compete at the grand finale held at London Tech Week, where finalists compete for £1 million worth of investment.
Representing every region of the UK, this year’s cohort demonstrates how each UK region is home to flourishing tech ecosystems with distinct strengths. Bristol, for example, has emerged as a DeepTech powerhouse, Birmingham is leading in advanced manufacturing, and Leeds and Edinburgh are becoming unique centres for FinTech.
Despite the UK’s longstanding excellence at startup creation, founders outside London and the South East continue to face significant challenges in securing investment, building networks, and scaling their businesses. In 2024, founders outside London raised seven times less funding than their counterparts in the capital, leaving significant potential to boost the entire UK economy untapped.
To help address this challenge, Rising Stars provides startups nationwide enhanced visibility and direct access to investors and funding.
To date, Rising Stars alumni have collectively reached a total valuation of $2.3 billion and employ over 4,500 people. Rising Stars is led by Founders Forum Group and supported by – and in partnership with – Rigby Group (SCC), Haatch, Wealth Club, HSBC Innovation Banking, Amazon Web Services and British Business Bank.
Chantelle Young (pictured), head of early stage programmes at Tech Nation, said it was “proud to spotlight these founders and to play a part in connecting the dots between innovation, investment and opportunity”.
She added: “Supporting startups at this stage is not only about celebration. It is about building a more inclusive, competitive and representative future for UK tech. We hope this report inspires you to champion early-stage founders, wherever they are based, and to recognise the value they bring to our shared future.”
The Rising Stars finalists
Data Wollet – the first consumer centric data wallet to make sharing data as easy as paying with Apple Pay
sAInaptic – an AI model to automate the marking of free-text responses, helping teachers save time while ensuring students receive accurate and consistent feedback
Volunteero – a platform to save time managing volunteers whilst improving volunteer engagement and retention
Inploi – a platform to enable world-class candidate experiences while enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of talent and recruitment teams
Uhubs – data and intelligence platform to help B2B companies better, ramp faster, and develop and optimise their sales teams
QuestPrehab – AI-enabled patient optimisation platform that addresses the problem of spiralling cost of providing healthcare to an ageing population
Stamp Free – AI patented tech to allow postal customers to send parcels, letters & returns just by using their phone – stamp or label free
JurnyOn – a blockchain-based and AI-driven ticketing company, leveraging its own proprietary LLM to optimize pricing, demand forecasting, and customer experience
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