Technologies are driving the modern world forward. The potential of the tech sector is particularly underlined by the surge of unicorn companies — startups worth $1 billion or more. They focus on implementing innovative technologies to build new products or services that address real-life issues. And many of these startups were founded in London, UK.
Admittedly, London is the second largest technology hub in the world, along with New York, second only to Silicon Valley. It is the only European city to make the global tech top 10. According to the Startup Genome report, despite the Brexit and COVID-19 pandemic, London’s startup ecosystem has demonstrated resilience, securing the second spot for the third year in a row.
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More unicorn startups and billion-dollar exits have been created in London than in any other European hub. Before it was a cradle to 18 000 startups, 87 of which became unicorns. It is more than the next three European centers (Berlin, Stockholm, Paris – 78 unicorns). In 2022-2023 list was expanded by seven new unicorns, including Paddle, Forterro, Payhawk, Marshmallow Insurance, Tripledot Studios, Accelerant, and Learning Technologies Group.
The Global Startup Ecosystem report also rated London highly for its access to finance. London tech hub attracted $11.3 billion in technology investment last year, more than double that of Berlin and Paris combined.
Major funding rounds have confirmed the reputation of the British Capital for some of its fastest-growing tech companies in 2022-2023, including a $312 million Series G for London-based fintech, GoCardless; a $200 million series D for software payment provider Paddle; and $100 million for the online recipe kit store Gousto.
It’s not just investment and unicorns that have made London a top tech hub. You’ll find some of the world’s most active angel investors, leading university commercialization teams and accelerator programs for small businesses and tech startups in London. London also ranks highly for talent, infrastructure, connectivity, and knowledge; it has more than earned its sterling reputation as a powerhouse of technological superiority.
We have selected 20 London-based tech startups and categorized them according to the tech sector. These fast-growing technology companies headquartered in the city are implementing next-generation technologies and actively raising equity capital.
Artificial intelligence is continuously growing in popularity. Undoubtedly, some very innovative companies in the UK are emerging in the space doing really interesting things and at least trying to make the world a better place. These are the most dominant AI startups in London:
This artificial intelligence startup is a breakthrough in budgeting and finance management, offering a smart assistant to help users manage their finances. Not only does Cleo provide personalized budget and spending breakdowns for its users, but it also offers budgeting tips and help with bills.
What users truly love about Cleo is the assistant’s personality—sometimes it is funny, and sometimes it will roast you for spending too much money on things you don’t need. Most importantly, Cleo employs world-class security practices so people can track their spending without worrying about data breaches.
Signal AI is an artificial intelligence startup dedicated to transforming the world’s information into accessible, actionable business knowledge. With so much news published daily, it has become almost impossible to identify the most worthy pieces that provide valuable information and help us make informed decisions. Signal AI uses artificial intelligence to curate news better for different business sectors.
The AI extracts knowledge from more than five million news articles and other documents and makes connections that users cannot. Having access to such valuable information can significantly boost our decision-making.
Diffblue developed a unique product that uses an AI engine to automate traditional coding tasks. In other words, this AI startup developed software that can automatically write unit tests for Java developers.
Diffblue recognized the greatest bottleneck for DevOps—software testing. This lengthy process often leads to regressions and lost developer productivity, slowing the team’s development velocity and reducing product quality. Diffblue ensures automation at all phases of the CI and DevOps process and increases the automation of the CI pipeline.
Concured is one of the youngest AI startups in London. However, its achievements in intelligence-powered content generation are astonishing. The company developed a solution that applies advanced artificial intelligence technology to content marketing, creating a platform that leverages AI opportunities to validate content ideas.
Concured’s AI analyzes multiple content sources, generating insights on competitors’ strategies, relevant topics, and factors affecting content performance. This information allows brands to create data-driven content that is consistent and perfectly targeted.
Artificial intelligence is driving the development of robotics and automation, allowing them to develop faster and more efficiently. Today we look at some of the most revolutionary robotics startups shaping the future of robotics in London.
It is a startup that develops software for autonomous vehicles. Oxbotica’s software solutions allow cars to navigate, understand and act in their specific environment. The company’s engineers are developing autonomous vehicle control systems, self-driving vehicles, and fleet management solutions using computer vision and machine learning approaches.
Founded in 2016 by young farmer Sam Watson Jones and entrepreneur Ben Scott-Robinson, the Small Robot Company was created to address declining agricultural yields. This UK-based firm provides Farming as a Service (FaaS) agri-tech robotic services. The company offers robotic hardware services that digitize agricultural activities, such as crop and soil monitoring robots and precision drilling and planting robots.
It is a robotics startup in London focusing on revolutionizing food prep and the restaurant kitchen. The company developed the world’s first fully customizable food preparation system that combines robotics, automation, and machine learning. The main idea behind Karakuri is to reduce food waste, improve food choices and quality, boost staff well-being, and enable healthier eating. Karakuri is gradually paving the way to a world where freshly-made, healthy food is as convenient as fast food.
Last, on our list of robotics startups in London, Automata was founded in 2015 to make robotics affordable and usable. The company employs the Robotics-as-a-Service (RaaS) business model by integrating robotics into everyday processes and workflows. The main idea behind Automata is to create automation solutions that remove repetitive tasks from humans so that they can focus on more important ones. They strive to do it at a price most companies can afford.
The UK is establishing its position as an incubator for cybersecurity innovations, with more tech companies appearing almost daily. Adopting innovative technologies by fintech companies to prevent cybercrime and financial fraud provides further impetus to market growth. Keep reading to discover the most competent cybersecurity startups in London!
Email is the most common form of communication for employees and companies. More often than not, email users share sensitive information. For that reason, it is necessary to protect that data.
Tessian, one of the most advanced cybersecurity startups in London and worldwide, is dedicated to protecting employees’ emails. The company launched a unique product called Human Layer Security Intelligence years before. Tessian provides unparalleled visibility into human risk and automatically prevents security threats while continuously driving employees toward safe email behavior.
Panaseer uses big data technology to develop custom enterprise security solutions. The founders of this cybersecurity startup created an innovative platform that can unify IT and security data, establishing total visibility and automating reporting processes.
The company’s position in the market for high-tech cybersecurity solutions is rather steady. The Panaseer platform enables a thorough assessment of risks, threats, and vulnerabilities by applying advanced analytics to security and business data. The organization can develop more effective protection methods by using large-scale analytics with the assistance of security technologies.
Many companies are choosing online commerce as their operating method, but with so many threats online, it is essential to keep your business safe and protect your customers. Ravelin’s mission is to provide companies with reliable fraud detection services and make online commerce a safe place to do business.
Ravelin developed a cybersecurity solution that allows companies to target specific fraud issues their business faces. By combining machine learning, a graph database, a rules engine, and a consortium database, Ravelin transforms online commerce into one of the most reliable ways to do business.
The fintech sector was valued at more than $194.1 billion in 2022 and will surpass$492.81 by 2028 at a CAGR of 16.8%. As the industry is on the rise, it is attracting stable investment in fintech development. The UK’s fintech startups are similar. Keep reading to find out which fintech startups are dominating the industry.
It is a fintech and banking company founded to give time to business owners, so they can finally get back to doing what they love the most. Tide is dedicated to supporting small and scaling businesses and provides various business account plans for its users.
Tide’s current account is packed with features designed to save time and money. From auto-categorization to syncing with accountancy software, Tide is establishing itself as one of the leading fintech startups in London.
Revolut is the UK’s financial super app, designed as a digital banking alternative for instant payment notifications. Revolut launched in 2015, offering free international money transfers and global fee-free spending.
This banking platform has dozens of financial products, allowing users all over the globe to complete transactions. From transferring money at excellent exchange rates to giving users access to smart budgeting tools, Revolut is transforming the fintech sector.
A startup created a cash management system for small and medium-sized enterprises. The solutions provided are based on machine learning and data science, and they provide the best currency rates by continuously monitoring and evaluating the market.
Users love Akoni because the system gives them a single view of all their cash accounts and Akoni savings. In addition, the platform allows users to track, analyze, compare, and effectively manage all their cash deposits from one location.
The worldwide interest in VR is growing stronger with many new companies emerging, and the UK is no exception. Check out the virtual reality startups in London that are set to dominate the industry.
Can you imagine combining virtual reality with therapy? That is what Oxford VR does. The company builds psychological treatments with the help of virtual reality technology to help resolve common therapy issues.
Since its launch in 2016, the company has made significant progress using virtual reality and a cognitive-behavioral therapy method. Patients can learn new ways of thinking and behaving with the help of automated treatments provided by a virtual coach tailored to each ailment.
Although people usually associate virtual reality with games, this technology significantly contributes to the healthcare industry. In particular, FundamentalVR has developed the leading medical education platform in surgery. The Fundamental Surgery platform provides HapticVR – tactile stimulators, creating a safe, measurable, and reproducible space for surgeons to improve their skills.
The startup provides a comprehensive platform for developing virtual and augmented reality apps. Improbable SpatialOS allows the creation of complex, feature-rich virtual landscapes for simulators and games. The platform uses cloud computing to run its services and makes resource provisioning and scaling cost-effective and straightforward.
The UK has seen a surge in blockchain adoption, ushering in a new era of secure payment and operations in fintech. On the other hand, the underlying blockchain technology can also revolutionize various industries beyond fintech. These are the most prominent UK blockchain startups:
Blockchain.com has created an online crypto wallet that allows users to acquire tokens instantly and on the go using a debit or credit card. This platform also provides various cryptocurrency search tools, statistics, and charts. Blockchain.com established itself as one of London’s most popular blockchain startups, allowing users to buy securely and store and trade Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other top cryptocurrencies.
Appii is a London-based firm that uses blockchain technology to perform employee background checks and CV verification. Job searchers can create profiles with verified credentials, highlighting qualifications and other personal information. These credentials are validated in a completely secure manner with businesses and educational institutions.
Everledger is a company that develops technology to improve supply chain transparency worldwide. The firm developed a solution that provides an immutable ledger for diamond identification and transaction verification. As Everledger explains, the company’s primary goal is to bring more clarity and confidence to markets where transparency is a strategic requirement.
Private equity firms and venture capitalists are lining up to support a new generation of innovators in London, UK, known as one of the best tech ecosystems in Europe.
So if you’re thinking about making London the home of your next tech startup, you’re on the right track. But to win recognition, you need an idea and working software that only a highly skilled team of specialists can create. And this is where Relevant can help you.
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