BusinessCloud’s long-awaited ‘101 Tech Start-Up Disrupters’ and ‘101 Rising Stars of Tech Start-Ups’ lists have been revealed, with the third 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.
North West (cont.)
DREAMR, MANCHESTER
This app developer is on a mission – to create the most innovative and thought-provoking products in the world. Dreamr is positioning itself at the cutting-edge of virtual reality, incorporating the technology into immersive experiences for phone, TV, and web.
FORMISIMO, MANCHESTER
The world of online retail is littered with abandoned shopping carts. Formisimo is here to stop that and improve sales for e-commerce companies.
LIVINGLENS, LIVERPOOL
Since its launch in early 2014, LivingLens has been translating human behaviour into insights. It provides video data mining technology for leading brands such as Unilever, Vine and Carphone Warehouse. The highly-rated market research disruptor has attracted significant investment, including a £1m funding package in 2015.
GNATTA, BURY
Led by fresh-faced CEO Jack Barmby, Gnatta has been entirely self-funded from its conception. The firm provides comprehensive customer technology to add efficiency and minimise cost at the point of contact. Its unique workflow and automation software has helped it capture big name clients, including online fashion retailer ASOS.
DIGITALBRIDGE, MANCHESTER
With the backing of investor Stuart Marks and retailer John Lewis, this mixed reality firm must be doing something right. Using a picture taken on a smartphone or tablet, it lets consumers see how furniture, wall patterns or flooring would look in their own homes before purchasing them, plugging the ‘imagination gap’ and increasing sales conversion rates, especially online.
DREAM AGILITY, RAMSBOTTOM
Dream Agility is developing a habit of turning retailers with no turnover into multi-million pound businesses. The award-winning adtech company provides clients with integration-free, cloud-based technology which optimises their data. Founded by Glyn Powditch and Elizabeth Clark in 2014, its search term matching adtech means a few can do the work of dozens, in minutes rather than weeks.
WONDRWALL, MANCHESTER
A Manchester firm with the most Manchester name possible, Wondrwall is all about smart living. It pioneers an intelligent solution for homes’ heating, lighting, security and safety, with voice control functionality – and without the need for any extra wiring.
AIRTIME REWARDS, MANCHESTER
This loyalty app rewards users with money off their mobile phone bill as they shop at selected retailers. Working in conjunction with all major network operators, it aims to target two million users by the end of 2017. The app has already been embraced by a number of high street chains including Caffé Nero, H Samuel and Pizza Express.
Yorkshire and Humber
TUTORA, SHEFFIELD
Tutora is attacking the £6bn private tuition industry in the UK. Its online database intelligently connects more than 6,000 tutors to students via its innovative ‘best-match’ algorithm. Aiming to become the largest company of its kind in the country, it arranged almost £1m (over 37,000 lessons) of bookings in 2016.
CUMULUS ENERGY STORAGE, SHEFFIELD
Large scale storage is essential to the future of energy. And Cumulus, based in Sheffield and San Francisco, delivers renewable power at the time it is needed. Aiming to be the leading manufacturer and developer of grid-level batteries, its low-cost storage has attracted significant funding, including £800,000 from the Government and a £25m B round.
FANFINDERS, BAILDON
Built on a network of more than 1.5m mums, FanFinders allows businesses to connect directly with customers. Consumers join its ‘clubs’ to benefit from relevant offers, and companies like Heinz, Ella’s Kitchen, Mothercare, and Pampers can create effective marketing strategies without coming across as spam. Founders Alec Dobbie, Raphael Marsh and Nick Hadfield refer to it as the “perfect value exchange”.
BIGCHANGE APPS, LEEDS
Manage a mobile workforce while saving time, money, and cutting out paper altogether. BigChange’s cloud-based tool can be used by businesses of any size, at any stage, from any sector. Supporting emerging firms, full implementation can be achieved in a matter of days, unlike the months and years associated with alternatives.
MHABITAT, LEEDS
Digital innovation in the NHS can be achieved by encouraging digital collaboration between patients, academia, SMEs and the health service. The human-centred mHabitat project facilitates this, allowing micro-businesses to enter the market and disrupt bigger health tech companies.
COCOON LABS, LEEDS
Home security is no longer a complex and expensive process thanks to Cocoon Labs. Its Subsound technology detects infrasound – sound waves below frequencies detectable by the human ear – created by intruders and avoids false alarms through machine learning. It has raised more than £5m, half from crowdfunding, and sold in more than 50 countries following its 2016 launch.
BIZDAQ, LEEDS
Making the process of buying and selling businesses fully digital, Bizdaq’s scalable online marketplace gives confidence to buyers and sellers through transparency and moderation. The firm also reduces cost, time and effort by removing the need for intermediaries. Founder Sean Mallon is already targeting markets in the US, India and Australia.
THE FLOOW, SHEFFIELD
South East/Oxford
PROLIFIC ACADEMIC, OXFORD
Prolific Academic is the world’s largest crowdsourcing community of people who love science. It’s part of the Oxford University Incubator and has grown sales impressively beyond £1m without raising investment. The aim is that by helping to eliminate failed predictions, dodgy statistics and dubious research practices, researchers of all kinds can source and manage participants for data collection more effectively.
POWERMARKET, OXFORD
PowerMarket is on a mission to tackle climate change by providing sustainable energy for all. Supported by Oxford University Innovation and European Space Agency Business Incubator, PowerMarket uses downstream satellite data and artificial intelligence to try and make solar easy and accessible.Abhinav Jain is the founder and CEO.
EMTEQ, BRIGHTON
Facial recognition technology is hot stuff and Emteq is merging artificial intelligence (AI) with wearable devices to deliver a virtual reality (VR) than can respond to an emotional state. Emteq believe their software can be used by everybody from brands looking for an emotional connection with the audience to health care professional working with patients suffering with strokes, depression or Parkinson’s.
THE OPUN GROUP, GATWICK
Taking the worry out of home improvements, Opun turns the process into a ‘revolutionary digital journey’. The disrupter helps customers find local contractors, and manages projects from start to finish using its own certified trade partners. Last year, it closed a funding round worth £5.5m and plans to expand internationally.
South West
IOTEC, PLYMOUTH
Adtech developed by iotec applies machine learning to identify consumer intent without any assumptions. Working with media agencies and directly with advertisers, it grew more than 600 per cent between March 2016 and 2017. The firm has been attracting massive investment, and offices in Germany and France are scheduled to open in the third quarter of this year.
YELLOWDOG, BRISTOL
If you need some extra computing power YellowDog can hook you up with a business who has some spare. It pays companies for their unused computing capacity and sells it to power-heavy organisations like animators and architects. Because of this YellowDog is building the world’s fastest supercomputer without actually owning any computers, and currently serves over 660 customers in 30 countries.
ULTRAHAPTICS, BRISTOL
Imagine moving your hand in mid-air while driving until you feel a sensation which you know corresponds to climate control – then swiping up or down to alter the temperature. It could be a reality this year as Ultrahaptics’s tech, which uses ultrasound to create ‘virtual’ buttons, is delivered to car manufacturers. The result of a seven-year PhD project at the University of Bristol, it secured £10.1m funding in 2015.
East Anglia
YAGRO, CAMBRIDGE
This cloud-based purchasing platform makes it cheaper for farmers to trade by allowing them to access fast quotes for farm supplies from a number of sources simultaneously. Based in the Eagle Labs incubator, it attracted $500k of investment in 2016 and is looking to expand into Australia.
FOCAL POINT POSITIONING, CAMBRIDGE
This firm’s cutting-edge positioning technologies could soon be deployed in smartphones and help prevent tens of thousands of deaths a year. They maintain a high level of GPS accuracy in complex indoor and urban environments, which could help emergency services locate the phones of stricken patients and also assist with the navigation of autonomous vehicles.