Tech Nation has revealed the latest companies to join its Future Fifty programme.
During UK Fintech Week, it said more than a third of the companies joining this year’s programme – eight out of 22 – are FinTechs and InsurTechs.
The companies – PrimaryBid, Liberis, Monese, Moneybox, Tide, Bought By Many, Marshmallow and Tractable – have raised $769m between them to date.
Future Fifty is Europe’s leading late-stage growth programme, designed to bring together, empower and accelerate the growth of the most successful tech companies in the UK.
Programme alumni include Monzo, Starling Bank, Darktrace, among others. 131 companies have taken part in the programme since its inception, collectively raising $11 billion, with nine companies going on to IPO.
The 22 companies joining the programme are driving the growth of UK tech. Companies hail from across the UK, and from a broad range of tech sub-sectors, including FinTech, EdTech, HealthTech and eCommerce.
On average, new companies in this year’s cohort are growing by more than 1,029% year-on-year, a 140% increase on last year, with average annual revenues at a staggering £23m, 305% higher than in 2020.
Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer, said: “The UK tech’s sector is set to be the cornerstone of UK economic growth after the pandemic, and the companies in this year’s Future Fifty cohort are a shining example of our nation’s innovation, entrepreneurship and resilience.
“Nurturing the growth of these scaling companies at such a critical stage is a national priority, as these are the businesses who are already shaping our future both locally and globally.”
Data suggests FinTechs are on track for strong growth this year. While investment into FinTech dipped in 2020 to $4.5bn, in the first quarter of 2021 UK FinTechs have already raised $6bn, more than the whole of 2020, and matching record investment seen in 2019.
FinTech adoption remains rapidly on the rise in the UK, with the recent growth of FinTech scaleups accelerated by more traditional companies’ embracing new technologies.
As set out in the Tech Nation Report 2021, the UK is Europe’s biggest FinTech hub by employees and investment, second only to the US globally.
The 2021 Future Fifty cohort
PrimaryBid
Fintech | Founded in London in 2016 | Series B | 110 employees
PrimaryBid’s mission is to empower individual investors in the public markets by removing obstacles to their participation in corporate fundraisings, enhancing fairness and transparency. In partnership with the London Stock Exchange and Euronext, PrimaryBid’s technology enables individuals to join corporate fundraisings on equal terms with institutional investors. PrimaryBid has delivered retail inclusion to a number of landmark UK FTSE capital raises in 2020, including Compass Group, Taylor Wimpey and Segro, and following a $50 million Series B fundraise in October 2020 is expanding internationally. In 2021, PrimaryBid launched its digital IPO product used in the Community and Customer Offers for Deliveroo, Parsley Box, Cellular Goods and Pension Bee.
Moneybox
Fintech | Launched in London in 2016 | Series C | 200 employees
Moneybox is the award-winning app on a mission to help everyone save and invest for their future. Launched in 2016 by co-founders Ben Stanway and Charlie Mortimer, the company has experienced rapid growth, and today has over £1 billion in assets and a community of more than 500,000 customers. Offering a range of saving and investment products including Stocks & Shares ISAs, savings accounts and pensions, Moneybox enables customers to set money aside in the way that suits them best using round ups, regular deposits or one-off payments, whilst popular tools such as the Time Machine help them keep their savings on track.
Liberis
Fintech | Founded in London in 2007 | Series B | 120 employees
Liberis is the only embedded business finance platform provider with a proven record of working with partners in the UK and across the globe. It is their mission to end the SME funding gap via our embedded flexible finance solutions which have helped 16,000 SMEs with more than £500 million in funding. Their API-powered platform enables acquirers, marketplaces and software providers to quickly and easily embed finance solutions within their existing ecosystems, enabling intuitive and accessible finance experiences for SMEs across the globe.
Tide
Fintech | Founded in London in 2015 | Series B | 600 employees
Tide is a business banking platform on a mission to save small business owners time (and money) on their banking and admin. The Tide business bank account is connected to a number of tools to help small businesses make payments, manage expenses and invoices, and conduct their accounting quickly and easily.
Monese
Fintech | Founded in London in 2015 | Series B | 247 employees
Monese is a mobile app alternative to banks, with an account you can open quickly and easily. Monese’s accounts are multi-currency, multilingual and localised. Monese is available across Europe and was launched in 2015 by Norris Koppel.
Bought By Many
Insurtech | Founded in London in 2012 | Series C | 250 + employees
Bought By Many creates unique, quality pet insurance cover to help pet parents take care of their pet’s health. Founded in 2012, the insurtech launched its market-leading pet insurance policies in 2017 with the mission to create a better kind of insurance experience for pet owners. Bought By Many now looks after almost half a million pets in Europe and the US.
Tractable
Insurtech | Founded in London in 2014 |Series C | 170 employees
Tractable develops artificial intelligence for accident and disaster recovery. Its market-leading AI solutions use photos to automate damage appraisal, allowing insurers to improve accuracy, reduce turnaround time, and deliver a revamped customer claims experience. Tractable has processed hundreds of thousands of auto insurance claims, positively impacting people’s lives across the world, and the company is backed by $55 million in venture capital, with offices in London, New York and Tokyo.
Marshmallow
Insurtech | Founded in London in 2017| Series A | 100 employees
Marshmallow is a licensed insurance carrier, powered by technology. They’re rebuilding insurance for good and offer their customers cheaper, faster and fairer insurance by utilising the latest technology, data and AI.
MyTutor
Edtech | Founded in London in 2013 | Series B | 166 employees
MyTutor offers one-to-one tuition that’s proven to boost teens’ grades and confidence. The tutors are all subject experts, and handpicked from UK universities – just 1 in 8 who apply make it onto the platform. Lessons are offered in over 30 subjects from Key Stage 2 through to A Level, and give teens the chance to review tricky topics, fill in learning gaps and be coached in exam technique by tutors with recent exam experience.
Luminance
Artificial intelligence | Founded by mathematicians from Cambridge University in 2015 | Series B | 100 employees
Luminance is a market-leading artificial intelligence platform for document review. Using a combination of supervised and unsupervised machine learning to read and form an understanding of legal documentation in any language or jurisdiction, Luminance is able to identify clauses, anomalies and a range of key data points. Luminance vastly expedites and improves insight during document reviews across a wide range of practice areas, from assisting corporate lawyers to helping in-house teams and litigators. The technology is used by over 300 organisations in 55 countries worldwide, including all four of the Big Four accountancy firms and over one-fifth of Global Top 100 law firms.
Immersive Labs
Cybersecurity | Founded in Bristol in 2017 | Series B | 200 employees
Immersive Labs is empowering organizations to equip, exercise, and evidence human cyber capabilities. With Immersive Labs, organizations can align their human assets with actual cybersecurity risks, battle-test teams against real-world threats and crises, and track and report cyber skills. Immersive Labs are backed by Goldman Sachs and Summit Partners, and their customers include some of the largest companies in the world across financial services, healthcare, government, and more.
Global App Testing
Software Development Tool, Founded in London in 2014 | Series A | 85 employees
Global App Testing provides best-in-class functional web and app testing for engineering and QA teams at companies such as Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and many more. Global App Testing uses a blend of crowdtesting and intelligent automation to help their customers release high-quality software anywhere in the world.
Peak
Decision Intelligence and Artificial Intelligence | Founded in Manchester in 2014 | Series B | 180 employees
Founded in 2014, Peak is helping the world’s smartest companies put the power of AI at the centre of all commercial decision-making, with Decision Intelligence, a brand new category of AI-driven software and services. Peak is already helping the likes of AO, ASOS, PepsiCo, Speedy and Aludium unlock the value of their data to start bringing certainty to their decision making, powered by AI.
Sorted
Retail tech | Founded in Manchester in 2014 | Series B | 114 employees
Sorted is a global SaaS company, giving retailers full control of their delivery management – whether that’s optimising checkout delivery options, enhancing carrier management in the warehouse or providing market-leading post-purchase CX. Sorted’s software is live in 19 countries around the world, offering access to a carrier library of 1000+ services.
Attest
Data Analytics & Business Intelligence | Founded in London in 2015 | Series B | 130 employees
Great companies put consumers and data at the heart of every decision. Attest makes this possible for every business, continuously, at global scale. Through Attest’s SaaS platform, hundreds of companies access audiences of over 100 million consumers across ~45 countries to learn about consumers’ needs, understand live trends, enter new markets, validate decisions, develop new products and services, measure brands, track competition, and ultimately – grow.
Echo
Healthtech | Founded in London in 2015 Series A | 300 employees
Echo helps over 450,000 NHS patients manage their medicine, with easy ordering, free delivery and regular reminders.
Ultraleap
Interactive Technology | Founded in Bristol in 2013 | Series C | 160 employees
Ultraleap develops solutions that allow people to engage with the digital world naturally. Their core technologies are hand tracking that tracks your hand in 3D space and allows you to interact with digital content, and mid-air haptics that use ultrasound to add the sense of touch in mid-air. These technologies enable touchless and hygienic solutions that are applicable to a range of industries, including extended reality (VR & AR), digital signage, kiosks, automotive, industrial automation, consumer electronics and entertainment.
Pure Planet
Entech | Founded in Bath in 2015 | Series A | 165 employees
Pure Planet is Britain’s first digital green energy supplier. Pure Planet is a Which? recommended energy provider 2020, and the first domestic supplier to offer 100% renewable electricity and 100% carbon offset gas.
Tharsus
Robotics | Founded in Blyth, Northumberland in 2007 | 204 employees
Tharsus is a designer and manufacturer of game-changing advanced machine and robotic solutions – Strategic Machines. Its technology tackles steep automation challenges, solves tough business problems, and drives real ‘strategic’ impact for customers, helping them to gain competitive advantage in the automation age. Tharsus has delivered robust and progressive automation solutions for some of the best businesses around the world, including DHL, Ocado, BMW and Small Robot Co.
Push Doctor
Healthtech | Founded in Manchester in 2013 | Series C | 75 employees
Push Doctor’s mission is to empower people to engage with health on their terms. They work in partnership with NHS practices, PCNs and CCGs across the country to provide the platform and technology to allow safe and secure video consultations with NHS GPs. Push Doctor’s partnership approach empowers patients and clinicians to leverage the benefits of our digital solution, and their technology fully integrates with NHS clinical systems to ensure a continuity of patient safety and care.
Streetbees
Data Analytics & Business Intelligence | Founded in London in 2014 | Series B | 138 employees
Streetbees reveals how people behave, and why, by analysing real-life moments collected from its worldwide users. Over 3.5 million users – or ‘bees’ – across 190 countries worldwide use the chat-style Streetbees app to share moments from their daily lives via videos, photos and text. Through applying advanced natural language processing technology to the results, Streetbees uncovers not just what they do, but also why they do it, and what drives them – and predicts what they may do next.
Depop
Ecommerce | Founded in London in 2012 | Series C | 350 employees
Depop is the fashion marketplace where the next generation buy, sell and get inspired. Depop is headquartered in London, with offices in Manchester, New York, Los Angeles and Sydney. Depop is a team of nearly 300 people, all dedicated to their company’s mission of empowering the next generation to transform fashion.