It’s already become clear that the technology industry in the UK has been booming lately with no intention to stop any time soon. What else is new? Well, statistics show a 60% increase in the number of founded startups comparing to previous years, which, in turn, has caused the UK dominating the European venture funding at £1.4bn. Let alone Europe, the US has also been majorly investing in the flourishing UK tech.
It takes a good idea and one little breakthrough for a startup, and investors begin to pile up on their own. Thus, there is quite a bunch of companies that we haven’t even heard about a few years ago. Now, they are already (or very close to) becoming huge in their industries. We’ve gathered a top ten tech unicorns and fast-growth startups that are making their breakthrough in the UK technology landscape.
1. Deliveroo
With just 5 years behind its belt, Deliveroo has just reached a unicorn status and we can’t imagine our lives without the restaurant food-at-your-doorstep service.
Headquartered in London, the company operates across 12 countries and has over 30 thousand riders on the team. In the last 5 years, it’s partnered with over 10K restaurants in the UK alone, and just last month, it has opened its first customer-facing restaurant in Hong Kong.
Deliveroo’s customer base has reportedly reached 6 million at the end of last year and a total of $956.6M in funding. The company itself was valued at $2 billion as of June 2018 - a truly skyrocketing growth.
2. Revolut
Featured in LinkedIn’s top list of startups to work for in the UK, Revolut eliminates the need for travel money with its “live” exchange rate debit cards. Revolut’s users are free (literally) to spend their transferred funds in 150 countries with absolutely no fees added.
The London-based fintech startup has grown a 2,5 million customer base since it was launched in 2015. Now, it offers new features like current accounts, insurance and even has a cryptocurrency option.
In three short years, the digital challenger bank has raised a total of $336.4M in funding and just last spring was valued at £1.2 billion, reaching a unicorn level.
3. Social Chain
Within four years after launch, Social Chain has become one of the most influencer social media agencies in Europe. Based in Manchester, they now have offices across London, Berlin and New York, too.
Keeping in the loop with the ever-changing world of social media, the disruptor agency has landed accounts with Amazon, Apple Music, BBC, Universal and a number of other giants around the globe.
With a total amount of funding as $2M, this early stage venture has launched seven brand-new creative studios in their Manchester hub late last year and are planning further expansion.
4. Darktrace
Led by a team with two female founders, Darktrace is a cybersecurity company that has developed its own artificial intelligence tech that detects and prevents all possible cyber attacks.
Three years after the launch, Darktrace has developed the “first-ever autonomous response technology”, a system built akin to a human immune system, called Darktrace Antigena, that reacts to a cyber attack in real time progress.
Founded in Cambridge in 2013, the startup has rapidly expanded into 40 offices worldwide. With $230.5 million of investment across 6 rounds of funding, and has been valued at $1.25 billion just last year, which got the company to the unicorn status.
5. AimBrain
With a unique platform that detects and prevent financial fraud, AimBrain is a Biometric-identity-as-a-service startup that does what it says on the box.
Based in London, AimBrain was founded in 2014 to help businesses verify customers’ identities.
Combining facial, behavioural and voice recognition in one brilliant piece of AI technology, AimBrain’s platform focuses on tech and fintech organisations as the main customer base. In addition to the main platform, the startup has launched an on-demand free-for-life platform in May 2018.
Overall, AimBrain has raised £4.4 million across four rounds of funding has announced the launch of a 100 additional new applications at the end of last year.
6. BenevolentAI
Another London-based AI-concentrated startup on this list just proves that UK has become the heart of Europe’s AI development.
With a research facility in Cambridge and additional offices in New York and Belgium, BenevolentAI was founded in 2013 and has since developed medicines for chronic diseases using its artificial intelligence. The startup claims to be the only company in the world with technology that allows the clinical development to be built from the early stages of discovery.
With a total funding amount of $207 million, BenevolentAI was valued at $2 billion last year, taking the company to the ranks of the largest pharmaceutical investments.
7. Blockchain
Backed by the leading investors in Silicon Valley as well as London and Wall Street, Blockchain has spread from headquarters in London to 140 countries during the explosion of the cryptocurrency market.
As one of the top startups to work for according to LinkedIn, Blockchain has developed a great workplace as well as one of the most popular bitcoin platforms with a count of 32 million wallets today (and counting!). Since it was founded in 2011, the platform has hosted $200 billion worth of transactions.
Providing an “easy and safe was to access cryptocurrencies”, Blockchain has investments from Google and Richard Branson, totalling in $70 million as of last year.
8. Elvie
After having launched a smart, app-connected Kegel trainer, Elvie has successfully designed a hands-free, wireless, silent breast pump also controlled with an app. And (surprise-surprise!) - they’re not planning to stop.
The London-based award-winning femtech startup is taking over the industry by putting trust into women’s tech interest. Contrary to the popular (male) belief, at Elvie, they are certain that women are “early adopters of good design and tech”, according to the co-founder Dr Tania Boler.
The revolutionising femtech has raised a total funding amount of £8.4M since it was launched in 2013.
9. Bulb
hough we mentioned it before, we can’t help but wondrous follow Bulb’s success. This London startup has begun to revamp the energy industry by offering completely renewable electricity and gas at considerably lower prices to the traditional energy providers. ‘Simpler, cheaper, greener’ are the values they live by.
Bulb has recently made it to the top of the #Startups100 2018 index and in the last year alone, the company has doubled its growth and is now supplying more than 300,000 households around the UK. Following its last round of funding, the company is worth a cool £400 million. And, according to Beauhurst research , it is now on course to reach its unicorn status within the next couple of years.
10. Medopad
This healthtech startup has been around for a little longer, but since 2011 they’ve not only raised over $32 million, but have also developed an artificial intelligence algorithm that can detect and predict threatening medical conditions based on patients history and vital signs. Medopad, they use various applications and devices to track patients’ conditions and connect them to the care they need.
They recently announced a partnership with Tencent to utilise AI for faster diagnosis, better prediction and more effective prevention of Parkinson’s disease and have also acquired Sherbit, a San Francisco based competitor. Making a breakthrough in the digital health scene, London-based Medopad has recently been named a $1 billion healthtech company by KPMG.