BusinessCloud’s long-awaited ‘101 Tech Start-Up Disrupters’ and ‘101 Rising Stars of Tech Start-Ups’ lists have been revealed, with the second set of 25 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.
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.
London (cont.)
MOOLA
The clue’s in the name. Moola provides easy-to-understand financial advice to more than 5.5m Brits.It was founded by FinTech entrepreneur and consumer champion Gemma Godfrey, who was advisor to Arnold Schwarzenegger on The New Celebrity Apprentice.Her company’s focus is on being simple without the usual jargon that surrounds investment and savings services.
HIYACAR
Billed as ‘Airbnb for Cars’, HiyaCar lets car owners rent out their vehicles when they’re not being used.Providing access over ownership, it brings environmental and economic benefits as part of a wider sharing economy.The company is now expanding into the world of short term hires by the hour using its innovative keyless technology.
OPPORTUNITY NETWORK
A digital business network that gives SMEs and private investors access to the benefits of globalisation normally only available to large corporations.Funded entirely by private investors and business partners, ON makes anonymous introductions for members who meet strict financial requirements and are looking for deals of $1m or more.Last year it was valued at $100m.
NUROLE
Nurole is a digital, board-level hiring platform which aims to match top talent with senior roles. It flips the traditional search process by empowering individuals to put themselves forward for roles which match their interests and competencies.
PRIVITAR
Privitar has been catching the eyes of some big backers. It has raised £4m in funding after developing a technique for anonymising sensitive user data, while preserving useful parts for analysis. Rapid growth in Europe, Asia and the US is planned.
LANDBAY
Although Britain’s online property industry is at risk from a market slowdown, Landbay has lent £44m on £65m-worth of prime residential since 2014. The proptech firm is the only specialist buy-to-let lender using a peer-to-peer funded model – offering everyday investors a chance to access robust returns of the buy-to-let mortgage market.
SETTLED
Started by brother and sister duo Paul and Gemma Young, Settled helps homeowners sell their homes quickly without an estate agent, saving them on average £5,000.It does this by empowering users with technology. Could this be the end of estate agents?
EXPRESSLY
Expressly lets shoppers buy with one click by getting their details from other shopping sites in its network – increasing sales leads for the stores. Set up by two ex-McKinsey consultants and helping eCommerce sites increase conversion by 10 times.
POBBLE EDUCATION
Taking tech to the classroom, Pobble allows teachers to find the best learning resources and gives pupils a global platform. It is now the world’s largest bank of children’s handwritten work. After raising more than £1.5m from angel investors, its first international markets have been earmarked as Australia, UAE and Malaysia.
LUXTRIPPER
Using tech to disrupt your holidays, Luxtripper is changing the way the world books travel. Built around the ethos that luxury doesn’t have to be expensive, users are matched to destinations and properties around the world in seconds.
DIVIDO FINANCIAL SERVICES
Divido lets customers spread the cost of any purchase over a period of time – while the merchant gets paid in full right away. The platform is aimed at independent businesses who can’t afford to offer the finance options of bigger companies. Currently only available in the UK, by the end of 2017 it will be live in eight more countries across Europe.
LIVE BETTER WITH
Live Better With improves the quality of life for people living with cancer by developing products that have been recommended by those that have experienced it – other patients, families, nurses, doctors and charities.
BABY2BODY
More than 500,000 mums worldwide receive expert advice in wellbeing, nutrition, fitness and beauty via Baby2Body’s app and email subscription service every day. They can get the company’s daily insights, support and advice throughout pregnancy until their child is three.
ENTERPRISEJUNGLE
Set up by siblings Emma and James Sinclair, EnterpriseJungle now works with some of the biggest companies in the world. Their HR solution helps large businesses manage alumni and retirees to increase talent pools and reduce internal costs. It is the first platform of its kind, and provides users with access to discount offers and events.
SABERR
Utilising online data collection, sophisticated algorithms and AI, Saberr predicts and improves team performance. After identifying the underlying causes, sales teams with high Saberr scores typically perform 1.9 times better than low-scoring teams. It has raised more than £2m from angel investors.
TAMOCO
This London-based start-up uses the Internet of Things to offer location-based targeting to brands and advertisers. Its model allows businesses to partner with small hardware vendors and mobile apps, enabling them to scale quickly all over the world. Founder Sam Amrani still owns a majority and was named in the Forbes 30Under30 list for his work.
PLENTIFIC
Using tech to take the stress out of home improvements, Plentific has been digitising the process of finding trade professionals since 2013. It recently signed a partnership deal with Zoopla to launch new ‘find a pro’ service, and in the summer of 2016 closed a £2m seed funding round.
WEFARM
Farmers of the world, unite. WeFarm is an information service connecting global agriculture. ‘The internet for people with no internet’, it uses simple mobile phones to connect some of the 500m smallhold farmers around the world; many are offline, cut off from information, and miles from the nearest village. Completely free, 191,000 users in Kenya, Peru and Uganda have sent more than 5.2m texts, asked 57,000 questions and received 97,000 answers.
GRABYO
Initially launched in partnership with Sky, Grabyo has come a long way since 2013. Last year, the social video platform generated over 15bn impressions and 2.1bn views. It has forged strong partnerships with Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter, while clients include the Premier League, LaLiga, BT Sport, Real Madrid, and Wimbledon. Grabyo has just launched first international office in NYC.
North West
HELLO SODA, MANCHESTER
Hello Soda’s analytics software can verify someone’s identity within five seconds through unstructured data such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google. Used to combat fraud, assess risk and connect brands and their customers on a more personal level, it is also helping people with little credit history to access financial services. With a customer base spread around the world, it already has an office in the United States and plans to become a £100m business.
NOW HEALTHCARE, MANCHESTER
Now Healthcare is using tech to make it easier for patients to get GP consultations – assuming they’re willing to pay. Its Now GP app connects users with a doctor via a video call within 15 minutes and also delivers prescriptions to their door.
DUECOURSE, MANCHESTER
Cashflow fuels business. DueCourse’s software technology unlocks money tied up in unpaid invoices, giving clients control over finance, empowering them to meet ambitions. Very popular with SMEs, a £6.25m investment last year was the largest seen outside of London for a fintech company. Backers include the founders and investors of Zoopla, LoveFilm, TransferWise and LinkedIn.
LEARNING HEROES, WARRINGTON
‘Saving the world from boring e-learning!’ is the firm’s motto and it goes about that by creating fun online training courses for the likes of Mercedes, Specsavers and Sainsbury’s. Its conversational style includes animation and helped it quadruple its client base in 2016 to more than 300, while also launching in the US and Australia.
VIBE TICKETS, LANCASHIRE
Entrepreneur Luke Massie is a smooth talker and a snappy dresser. He describes himself as. ‘giving life “a really good go” and he’s doing just that. Vibe Tickets is a free marketplace where real fans can exchange spare tickets for live events.Launched in 2013 he raised £1.1m in first round of funding and is working on the next round. He employs 16 people out of Lancaster. Around 60,000 customers are regularly buying and selling on the app.
VST ENTERPRISES, MANCHESTER
A scannable symbol technology bearing a resemblance to QR codes, VCode has the potential to be deployed across a wide range of sectors.VSTE’s tech is currently used in areas as diverse as fraud prevention, car parking payments and benefits entitlement in India.