BusinessCloud’s long-awaited ‘101 Tech Start-Up Disrupters’ and ‘101 Rising Stars of Tech Start-Ups’ lists have been revealed, with the final 26 companies from the disrupters list being showcased today.
Every day this week we will showcase 25 of the most disruptive tech start-ups from across the UK, with the Rising Stars list coming next week. The companies are in no particular order and you can see the full list here.
All the companies on both lists have been invited to attend a prestigious half-day conference at UKFast’s Manchester campus on June 7th, where they will hear from the best business minds how to turn a big idea into big business.
To comment on Twitter on either list use the hashtag #BCloud101
The list is sponsored by office fit out and refurbishment specialist Overbury.
East Anglia (cont.)
THYNGS, NORWICH
Making it easy for charities, venues, and others to harness smartphone technology, Thyngs transforms passive objects and locations into connected experiences. Small, but with a bright future, the company provides user-friendly hardware and software. Products like QR codes and Bluetooth beacons are suddenly usable without expensive specialist knowledge and support.
GEOSPOCK, CAMBRIDGE
GeoSpock helps companies make the most of their data. It gives businesses real-time information from the huge amounts of data they usually leave in the dark. With significant funding GeoSpock helps companies predict what’s to come based on information they didn’t know they had. Initial indications show that the platform can halve companies’ monthly storage costs.
REPOSITIVE, CAMBRIDGE
Sharing research into human genomic data in an efficient and ethical way could save millions of lives. Repositive has raised £3.3m funding for its mission to aid the diagnosis of genetic conditions and support the development of precision medicines. The social enterprise aims to achieve this by enabling faster access to quality information.
CAMBRIDGE MEDICAL ROBOTICS, CAMBRIDGE
CMR is developing robots capable of performing up to 90 per cent of all keyhole surgeries, making them more universal and affordable. The precision of the system is said to have great potential for reducing recovery time, which would benefit hospitals should it gain the appropriate regulatory approval and come to market in 2018 as planned.
PROWLER.IO, CAMBRIDGE
Putting the intelligence into AI, Prowler builds self-learning bots for use in games and smart city simulations. The firm recently received a £1.5m funding boost to fund development of its sophisticated autonomous decision-making engine – revolutionising games industry techniques and thinking. Co-founder Vishal Chatrath was the first employee of VocalIQ, a speech-related AI company acquired by Apple in 2015.
Midlands
SPICA TECHNOLOGIES, BIRMINGHAM
SPICA specialises in building and delivering Internet of Things solutions specifically for the Estates and Facilities Management Industry, which is a manually-intensive, services-centric industry that will benefit hugely from connected device solutions.
AIR HR, BIRMINGHAM
After briefly finding fame in BBC’s The Apprentice, Nick Holzherr set about proving Sir Alan Sugar wrong. His firm Air HR provides smarter HR software and its mission is to make employees happier and businesses more productive. Simplifying the user experience and making powerful functionality possible, he aims to have 5,000 clients using the platform within 12 months.
CARSNIP, NOTTINGHAM
Putting the ‘engine’ in ‘search engine’, Carsnip says it lists more used cars than Auto Trader. The platform uses machine learning, big data and natural language search to make it easier for users to find their dream car, and unlike others lets sellers list for free.
North East
SOPOST, NEWCASTLE
From Newcastle to New York’s Empire State Building, SoPost is eyeing some serious international expansion. It helps some of the world’s biggest brands run product sampling activities online, with a focus on scalability, analytics and control – while reducing product wastage. Clients include L’Oréal, Mondelez, PepsiCo and Benefit Cosmetics.
REALSAFE TECHNOLOGIES, GATESHEAD
KONTAINERS, NEWCASTLE
Described as the ‘Expedia of shipping’, Kontainers is bringing the trillion-dollar ocean freight online. It allows users to digitally book shipping containers, has already reached one million sales, and in less than two years has gone live in the US. Founders Charles Lee and Graham Parker are disrupting a legacy industry used to transacting totally offline.
PROXISMART, NORTHUMBERLAND
Founded in 2014, ProxiSmart is researching and developing the potential of innovative beacon technology. Its ParkingPerx loyalty app rewards users with free parking – encouraging consumer spending in city and town centres. It also collects data on consumer journeys and city transport systems, and has sparked interest in Brazil and Spain.
LEAF.FM, NEWCASTLE
What does Newcastle offer that Costa Rica doesn’t? Gilbert Corrales moved music discovery platform Leaf.fm after winning the Northern Stars competition and has not looked back. The No.1 music app/website in Latin America with 2m+ users worldwide, its new marketing tool Leaf Grow allows artists to monetise their audience and improve ticket sales.
NORTHERN GAS & POWER, NEWCASTLE
The company helps users reduce their energy consumption, cutting down on both cost and carbon footprint. In just four years the company has become a leading energy service provider with a staff of 210, and also helps suppliers redesign their systems to become more efficient.
Northern Ireland
LOCATE A LOCUM, BELFAST
A matchmaker for pharmacists, Locate a Locum connects employers with employees. The firm was born out of necessity as co-founder Johnny Clarke struggled to get a pharmacy job after graduating from Queen’s University. Now used by the top four large chains across a network of over 8,000 pharmacies, it eliminates the need for recruitment agencies.
MOF TECHNOLOGIES, BELFAST
Metal Organic Frameworks are a form of nanotechnology useful in the development of clean energy which could reduce worldwide CO2 emissions. MOF Technologies’ novel technique for their synthesis could see them affordably deployed in a range of areas, such as powering vehicles with domestic gas supplies, and has attracted around £2m in investment.
SENSUM, BELFAST
Sensum can read your mind (kind of). A world-leader in skin sensor technology, it monitors the impact of marketing, essentially equipping users with the ability to assess the true effectiveness of adverts. But the innovative emotion-based software could also be used for market research, sports and performance and entertainment.
Scotland
KUMULOS, DUNDEE
Making it easy for app developers to package up features, Kumulos has customers in 18 countries. The Scottish firm delivers a monthly recurring service, bundled up as an integrated platform – which makes it 40 per cent faster to set up than competitors. On average, Kumulos’ white-label features create £6-£10 revenue for every £1 spent.
QPAL, ABERDEEN
Event organisers across the world are losing time and money thanks to inefficient and old-fashioned queues, wristbands, and cash-only bars. Qpal is using mobile technology to stop that. Founded by Craig Buchan, its app is aimed at gig-goers and gives time, money and big data insights back to the industry.
SPECIFIEDBY, EDINBURGH
The comparison site the construction industry has been waiting for, SepcifiedBy is a modern, digital research tool for architects. It replaces a fragmented and time-consuming offline research process for products and materials in a fast and cheap way. The firm already has the biggest database of products in the UK.
KYLOE PARTNERS, ORKNEY
As far north as this list goes, Kyloe Partners’ software is disrupting the recruitment industry – despite being based on a tiny island off the north coast of Scotland. Its Brandwatch Analytics platform gathers millions of online conversations every day and provides users with the tools to analyse them. It has ambitious growth plans.
Wales
ELIDIR HEALTH, BANGOR
Elidir Health is using technology to potentially save lives by reducing the time nurses spend on paperwork. Its ‘CHAI’ app puts important information at their fingertips, allowing them to spend more time with patients. Self-funded from revenues, it is now gearing up to take on investment to meet demand.
HOOWLA, SWANSEA
Spend five minutes with anyone in the property industry and you’ll probably hear them criticise the conveyancing process. Hoowla is using tech to make it more transparent. Its easy-to-use site keeps all parties involved in a house purchase up-to-date. Already working with 100 businesses, the firm is expanding into family law, wills and probate, personal injury, and more.
DEVOPSGUYS, CARDIFF
Founded in 2013, this Cardiff-based IT development and operations business counts government departments and blue chip clients among its main clients – including Admiral, ASOS, BAE Systems, Defra, Nokia, Fitness First, Waitrose and Travelodge. DevOpsGuys recently won a massive new contract with the DVLA worth more than £10m. It improves the speed, efficiency and quality of software no matter what the industry.
VEEQO, SWANSEA
Running an eCommerce business has never been easier. Veeqo allows retailers to manage orders, inventory, shipping and accounting – syncing up their retail store, website, eBay shop and Amazon Marketplace – from a single cloud-based platform, allowing them to focus on increasing sales. It has plans to open an office in North America this year.
Jersey
RACE NATION, JERSEY
Online registration and integrated fundraising platform for sports events Race Nation offers a white-labelled online registration platform boosting exposure for events, sponsors and charities. It also creates fundraising pages for entrants as they register for events, rather than making them visit another provider to create their fundraising page.