London is the third-largest tech hub in the world and a leading startup hub in Europe. It’s become synonymous with startup development, with entrepreneurs attracted to the high capital, international talent, government support and access to funding. Many-a-great startups have been born in London. And with new startups constantly entering markets within every sector, the London startup scene continues to thrive. Here are 10 London startups that should get your attention in 2023 and beyond.
London Startups to Watch - Fenton & Co.
Disrupting The Traditional Jewellery Market
Fenton & Co. – The wave of digital-first startups has hit just about every industry. Fenton & Co. is a fine jewellery brand that uses the power of digital channels, such as Instagram, to drive its direct-to-customer model. It was founded in 2018 by Laura Lambert in a bid to disrupt the traditional engagement ring market. And disrupt they have.
Fenton & Co. has raised over £1.7m in funding efforts that have been led by key angel investors. The startup has big plans to invest these funds into new technology, as well as marketing and their ever-growing product line. You might have your own ring with ethically mined gemstones and recycled metals on your finger or in a box waiting to get down on one knee soon.
London Startups to Watch - Edgify
Changing The World of AI Training
Edgify - Founders Ofri Ben Porat and Nadav Israel have created a distributed and collaborative framework for AI training. It utilises deep learning and machine learning in a unique way, whereby there’s no need to extract any data to a server or pay the network costs of model building. Genius. They call this “self-training AI”. This is set to redefine the meaning of privacy by giving any edge unit the ability to run training locally. The tech startup has raised over £9m in funding in a total of five rounds and is set to continue to grow.
London Startups to Watch - Electric Noir Studios
Interactive Entertainment at Your Fingertips
Electric Noir Studios - A BAFTA-nominated London-based studio with a difference. Electric Noir Studios was founded in 2017 by Nihal Thardoor and Benedict Tatham. It combines film-making with video game design to produce interactive experiences. You might have heard of their flagship series Dead Man’s phone. This interactive crime drama has been nominated by BAFTA for EE Mobile Game of the Year 2020. In this mobile game, users play the detective and investigate murders through the victim’s smartphone. Electric Noir Studios are currently developing an entire interactive entertainment platform for mobile. So watch this space.
London Startups to Watch - Lean
The Fintech Gateway
Lean is a Fintech platform with three aspirations: to empower consumers, enable developers and support financial institutions. The company was founded in 2019 by Hisham Al-Falih, Aditya Sarkar, and Ashu Gupta who have raised $3.5 million in a recent seed round. Their Consumer Consent Portal allows users to share financial data with their favourite Fintech apps, without having to compromise on privacy - empowering consumers to be in control of their data. They build developer-friendly APIs. Whilst enabling financial institutions to leverage the power of digital transformation. A true triple threat.
London Startups to Watch – Limbic
Using AI to Decode Biology
Limbic – The limbic system is a complex set of brain structures that control a variety of physiological and psychological functions including emotion, behaviour, motivation etc. So when Ross Harper and Sebastiaan de Vries decided to move forward with their idea of decoding biology to understand emotion, it seemed appropriate to call it Limbic. Today Limbic is developing an AI-powered patient reporting tool, composed of a mobile app and a software platform. Backed by behavioural psychology, the app generates routine health questionnaires, keeps track of the user’s mood, sends personalised insights and has all this data ready for the therapist in a single dashboard. WHO states that mental disorders affect one in four people. It’s time things changed.
London Startups to Watch – Qured
Bringing Healthcare Home
Qured – With the motto “Bringing healthcare home” Qured started its story back in 2017. Today, it is the go-to platform for patients looking for fast and affordable healthcare services. With a touch of a button, Qured delivers doctors to your chosen destination around the clock, offering easier, quicker and hassle-free access to primary healthcare. Qured’s services fall under three categories: medical advice, muscular rehabilitation services and vaccinations. Qured are currently operating in most areas of Greater London, with expansion plans underway. Without a doubt, digitization will shape the future of healthcare and solutions like Qured are the perfect method to revolutionise the patient experience.
London Startups to Watch – Coconut
The Ultimate Accounting and Tax Tool for Self-Employed People
Coconut – The gig economy has altered the way that people view and perform work. Coconut has responded to this shift by introducing an app-based, smart current account, combining banking and accounting services for freelance and self-employed workforces. With taxes being the number one concern for freelancers, Coconut automatically tells users which transactions are tax deductible, provides guidance about the tax rules, forecasts tax bill and fills out tax return automatically.
Sounds too good to be true, right? In addition to this, it categorises business expenses, notifies users on received payments and helps them create, fill in and send invoices. Backed by the leading tech accelerator, Techstars, and a successful Crowdcube campaign, the startup has raised around £2 million to further develop this banking commodity.
London Startups to Watch – Howsy
Property Management Made Easy
Howsy – Being a landlord is no cakewalk. Inevitable repairs, proper maintenance, and problematic tenants are just some of the hassles that arise. If only someone could do this for us. This is exactly what Calum Brannan thought when he founded Howsy back in 2016. Set on a mission to make renting better for everyone, Howsy offers an online property management platform, with features ranging from tenant search through to repairs management, rent collection and renewals. The digital platform eliminates traditional agents, brings down the cost of managing a property and delivers a 24/7 customer service.
Can it get better than that? Backed by the latest investment of £5 million in September 2019 and the acquisition of online letting agent, Urban.co.uk, Howsy is destined to bring a radical change in the world of renting. It’s also set to close its crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs, having raised over £2.3 million from nearly 600 investors.
London Startups to Watch – Sideways 6
Helping New Ideas Come to Life With The Help of Software
Sideways6 – Fact: great ideas can come from anyone, anywhere, at any time. So next time you are looking for the next big thing, why not turn to internal crowdsourcing within the company? Sideways6 can help you with that. In 2014 the startup introduced a SaaS with the goal of collecting and capitalising on employees’ ideas and feedback. By leveraging the tools employees already use and integrating their favourite project management tools, Sideways6 has all the features needed to find and track the best ideas and analyse trends in the data.
Simply put, it taps into the pool of unused knowledge and brings new ideas to life. British Airways, Diageo, Walmart and Ikea are already harnessing the power of idea generation and giving employees the voice they deserve with Sideways 6.
