UK tech start-ups are on a remarkable growth trajectory, which was highlighted in 2021 as a huge £19.1bn was raised by UK start-ups in the technology industry alone. This is a vast increase compared to the £8.56bn raised in 2020 – a 123% surge in investments! Therefore, for this month’s market insight, I explored 5 fast-growing tech start-ups to keep on your radar as more start-ups are continuing to be on the rise than ever before.
First on the list is Oddbox. Founded in 2015, Oddbox offers a fruit and vegetable delivery service providing misshapen produce which is mostly rejected. The company was created as the founders discovered that 40% of UK produce is wasted before leaving farms as it is not aesthetically pleasing
Oddbox has featured on NatWest’s SE100 high-growth list for the UK’s top social enterprises. It has raised £7.89m over three rounds of funding.
Next is Cleo, a money app founded in 2016 which helps people track their spending. It was created to improve financial health and has helped 3 million people improve their relationship with money through simplicity and a sense of humour.
Cleo has raised £63.7m across four rounds of funding.
HeyGo provides live stream tours of tourist locations, allowing guides to share their favourite places with a global audience. Users explore the world together and can interact with their guides in real-time. The platform is home to over 1,000 guides from 910 locations.
The company’s platform is free to join and funded by tips, with users encouraged to tip whatever they can afford after a tour. The tech startup has raised £30.4m over two funding rounds.
Nous helps households understand how their finances will be impacted by the cost-of-living crisis. Households provide their address and bank details, and its tool tracks prices and inflation to identify the increase in costs the user will experience. Nous then generates a free, personalised report which has steps the user can take to mitigate these changes.
Nous has raised £6.62m through one funding round. Investors include Mosaic Ventures and Tom Blomfield (Founder and CEO of Monzo).
Supermarket shopping is a time-consuming chore but Lollipop is aiming to change that, by creating an AI-assisted platform for people to do their grocery shop. Partnered with BBC GoodFood and Sainsbury’s, Lollipop’s online platform is recipe-led, with the idea of speeding up the process by automatically suggesting and assembling a shopping basket.
Beyond speeding up shopping, Lollipop’s artificial intelligence technology also aims to reduce food waste and promote healthy eating. Its investors include JamJar and Speedinvest, with the company securing £5.87m so far, across two funding rounds.
Please reach out if you would like to discuss the market in more detail or have any plans to hire in this space in 2022.
Jasmine Day
Jasmine.Day@goodmanmasson.com
+44(0)207 019 8879
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