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In the UK, the tech community remains optimistic at a time when the country is facing one of the biggest political upheavals in its history. “Although the current political landscape is sub-optimal to say the least, Londoners are nothing if not resilient,” says Tessa Clarke, CEO of food-sharing startup OLIO.
“The fact that our political system is in a Brexit-induced meltdown has if anything given renewed fervour to the tech startup scene as we recognise that if we want change to happen, we're going to need to do it ourselves. Enormous problems such as the climate crisis or social inequity for example, aren't going to go away, and so entrepreneurs are doing what we do best, which is to innovate our way out of this.”
Regardless, the UK still ranks fourth in the world in terms of tech investment, after India, China and the US. The total venture capital investment in 2018 topped £6bn, more than any other European country. However, London’s place in the tech world is still highly dependent on the outcome of the British government's negotiations with the European Union.
"London has historically been one of the few hubs that tech talent has chosen in Europe, but this was changing even before Brexit,” says Bryce Keane, partner at Atomico. “Until recently, tech workers were ten times more likely to move country than the average citizen in Europe, but we've reached a new phase in talent where talent can and will build from home. Building barriers to movement, whether real or imagined, will simply compound these macro trends."
FiveAI
Founded in September 2015, FiveAI is building the alternative to the urban commuter car. The company began testing their cars at the Millbrook Proving Ground in Bedfordshire, in 2016. In 2018 it launched its first autonomous, end-to-end service route between Flitwick station and Millbrook. Since April 2019, it has been testing an autonomous prototype on London’s roads.
The goal? “For shared, autonomous, electric vehicle services to become widespread across Europe such that lives are saved, congestion is drastically reduced, journey times are cut, the air is cleaner, citizens save money and time and anyone can access it,” says CEO Stan Boland. His company has raised nearly $30 million (£24 million), and has offices in London, Edinburgh, Oxford and Bristol. “In short, we want to use the power of autonomy to transform Europe’s cities.” five.ai
Beautystack
“From the day I opened my nail salon 10 years ago, I realised how much time we spent responding to emails with screenshots of nail images,” says Sharmadean Reid. “Clients would ask, ‘What is this? Who did this? How much is it?' I was like, ‘Oh wow! A robot could do this.’ And anytime someone says that, you know you should build it.” What Reid built, in 2017, with co-founders Dan Woodbury, Chris Whittleston, and Ken Lalobo was Beautystack, a booking and social app that gives independent beauty professionals the tools they need to manage social media, customer support and bookings. In May 2019, they raised £4 million from Index Ventures.
“You look at cool apps that do things instantly, from Uber to Airbnb, but when it comes to the beauty industry, it like we’re still using software that was made in 1995. It’s just disrespectful to our industry,” Reid says. “I know firsthand what’s it like to be a 25-year old girl starting a salon business. The problem has been that, until recently, the gatekeepers who had the ability to build these systems were mainly male engineers who just didn’t understand what it was actually like to work on the shop floor and use these tools every day.” beautystack.com
LabGenius
This biotech startup has a team of synthetic biologists, data scientists and automation engineers developing EVA, the world’s first autonomous scientist. Traditionally, engineering antibodies and enzymes for the treatment of diseases or industrial applications still mostly relies on a lengthy and inefficient process of trial and error. EVA uses AI to predict which mutations have the right biological design and, using a bank of liquid handling robots, continuously runs its own experiments, learning and evolving as it learns the results. The startup has raised $3.6m from investors including Kindred Capital and Acequia, and had contracts with the UK Ministry of Defence. labgeni.us
Karakuri
Karakuri’s first prototype, a robot named Marley – 1.5 by 1.5 metres, with an arm and 12 ingredient dispensers – can serve up to 120 bespoke meals per hour, each customised according to portion size and nutritional content. “There’s been no shortage of press stories about the economic pressures on restaurants and other service providers and the huge waste problem the industry has,” Barney Wagg, CEO of Karakuri, says. “The genesis of Karakuri was born out of a realisation that the food service market needed an update. The emergence of lower cost robotics and machine learning systems has the potential to transform the ready-to-eat meal market.” In May 2019, Karakuri secured a £7m investment, led by Ocado, with Hoxton Ventures, Firstminute Capital and Taylor Brothers. Ocado expects to take delivery of the first Karakuri machine in late 2019. karakuri.com
Where to eat: Sunday, 169 Hemingford Rd, N1. This cafe located in trad Barnsbury serves brunch classics from smashed avocado to flat whites. No reservations, but you can look up their menu on Instagram while you queue.
Where to work: King's Cross, N1. Silicon Roundabout has been dethroned. From Google’s new HQ, designed by the studios of Bjarke Ingel and Thomas Heatherwick, to Facebook’s new offices, King’s Cross is the new tech hub in the capital.
Where to drink: Isabel's, 26 Albemarle St. “To eavesdrop on investors, grab a seat at the bar at Isabel's in Mayfair and order a cocktail,” Bryce Keane, partner at technology investment firm Atomico, tells me.
Vidsy
Founded in 2015, Vidsy’s network of 5,000 creators across 70 countries produces high-quality video ads for brands such as Sky, L’Oreal, Vodafone, Netflix and Amazon. Creators can respond simultaneously to briefs posted on the platform, meaning that brands don’t just get one video, but a variety that they can test and develop. Performance data is then used to get insights on ad effectiveness and creative ideas for future campaigns. “We could see the shift from traditional video advertising to mobile and digital video,” says Gerard Keeley, CEO of Vidsy. “We knew that the traditional models and processes would not be ready to create video at the speed and scale required to harness this opportunity. People didn’t believe that this new generation of creators would have the skills or quality to produce for the biggest brands in the world.” vidsy.co
Wagestream
Peter Briffett, CEO and co-founder of Wagestream, was inspired to launch his business when he read how Walmart was testing the idea of giving staff access to a percentage of their earned income on demand. “We thought it was a fantastic idea and we noticed nobody was doing it here,” he says. “We felt this new flexible approach to income didn’t just have massive benefits for the employer, as it would boost recruitment, staff loyalty and generally encourage workers to take on extra shifts. Crucially, it would improve the financial health of UK employees too.”
Wagestream’s get-paid-as-you-earn model was an instant hit when it was launched in November 2017. “More than half of the staff working at our partner firms enrolled instantly and have used it exactly as we wanted it to be used — as a way to cover unexpected costs,” he says – adding that Wagestream clients, such as Carluccio’s and David Lloyd Clubs, have seen employees do 22 per cent more shifts and double their job applications. wagestream.co.uk
Daye
“I suppose the idea for Daye started when I had my first period at age nine,” says Valentina Milanova. Daye’s first product is a tampon made of industrial hemp — more absorbent than petrol-derived plastic — infused with a high concentration of pharmaceutical grade CBD (cannabidiol). “The biggest challenge was convincing manufacturers to work with us,” Milanova says. “Tampon manufacturing is an incredibly restricted, conservative industry.
At the beginning I sent my first tampon prototypes, alongside handwritten letters, begging every manufacture I could find to give me a chance. Only one responded: it was someone whose daughters suffered painful periods – they could empathise with the issue my product was solving.” Daye has raised $5.5 million from Index, Kindred and Khosla Ventures. yourdaye.com
Olio
“I’m a farmer’s daughter, and so have always hated throwing away good food,” says Tessa Clarke, CEO of Olio. “This is because I know from first-hand experience just how much hard work goes into producing it.” In February 2015, with co-founder Saasha Celestial-One, she launched OLIO, a free app that connects users who have surplus food they don’t want with their neighbours. Users simply snap a picture of their items and add them to OLIO. Neighbours then receive customised alerts and can request anything that takes their fancy.
A million people have joined, sharing more than 1.6 million portions of food in 49 countries around the world. They also have 4,000 Food Waste Heroes who collect and redistribute unsold food from businesses such as Pret a Manger, Selfridges and Virgin Trains. Olio has raised £6.3 million from Octopus Ventures and Accel. “The future we envision is one where Olio enables an entirely new model of consumption – a circular, efficient one that connects billions of neighbours hyper-locally to share our most precious resources, rather than throw them away,” Clarke says. olioex.com
Wayve
Rather than relying on high-definition maps, expensive sensors and hand-coded rules, Wayve uses a different approach to teaching cars how to drive: they learn from data and machine learning. “We were working on deep-learning approaches to computer vision and reinforcement learning and became convinced this was the best approach to autonomous driving,” says CTO Alex Kendall. “Unfortunately the industry disagreed, so we set out to pioneer this technology and prove them wrong.” In March 2019, Wayve was behind the first demonstration of a car driving on roads it hadn’t seen during training and without a map of its environment. The startup is currently testing its software on the Jaguar I-Pace SUV. “We've shown breakthroughs that even one year ago experts laughed at us for trying,” he says. wayve.ai
Kheiron Medical
The Mammography Intelligent Assessment (MIA) – Kheiron’s first product – uses deep learning to analyse mammograms and assist radiologists in making decisions on whether to recall a patient for further evaluation. “Breast cancer is extremely hard to detect, which is why many countries mandate that every mammogram should be read by two radiologists,” says CEO Peter Kecskemethy.
“MIA acts as an independent second reader, directly supporting radiologists in the decision they need to make.” The software was the first product developed by a UK company to receive the CE mark (for European regulatory approval) for a radiology deep learning product. “In my childhood I spent many hours in my mother’s radiology department, and know first hand the stress, inefficiencies and extreme workloads that she and other radiologists face every day and the worry when deciding if a patient has cancer or not,” he says. kheironmed.com
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
