In anticipation of a world dominated by artificial intelligence (AI), Bloomberg has once again compiled a list of 25 promising UK startups.
Venture capital investment, which had been stagnant since 2023, has started to grow, and AI mania is still alive and well in the UK, inspired by the US Open AI that created a sensation with the introduction of the conversational AI ChatGPT two years ago.
London-based self-driving company Wayve, which is on the list, raised $1 billion this year in a funding round that included SoftBank Group, Nvidia, and Microsoft.
Investors weren’t the only ones praising Britain’s technological advances. Scientists at Google DeepMind, an AI research institute founded in the UK, won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for a model that helped them solve the 50-year-old challenge of predicting protein structures.
Hundreds of appeals were received from across the UK, including Cardiff, London, Bristol and Southampton. We selected startups that are working to solve the problem of “How can we put technology to practical use?”
１．Algreen
- Entrepreneurs: Zhixuan Wang, Roderick Thackray
- Established: 2020
- Business: Green solutions to plastic pollution
２．Allye Energy
- Entrepreneurs: Jonathan Carrier, Lorenzo Bergamaschi, Jack Levy
- Established: 2021
- Business: Development of batteries to cope with aging power grids
３．ANNA
- Entrepreneurs: Boris Diakonov, Eduard Panteleev
- Established: 2017
- Business: An app that helps small businesses complete tasks like taxes and accounting in 10 minutes a week
４．Rounded
- Founder: Will Blyth, Rob Underhill
- Established: 2023
- Business: Military AI tools and software aimed at improving communication between sensors, robotics, and autonomous systems used in the defense industry and the humans monitoring them.
５. Audiomob
- Entrepreneurs: Christian Facey, Wilfrid Obeng
- Established: 2020
- Business: Audio advertising on games. The sound is not too intrusive for gamers and they receive messages while continuing to play the game. The company is expanding into non-gaming apps and podcast advertising.
６．Basecamp Research
- Entrepreneurs: Glen Gowers, Oliver Vince
- Established: 2019
- Business: AI model for gene therapy drugs. The company’s platform model, Basefold, uses the largest database of ethically obtained biological information. They believe this will allow them to “fully reproduce the complexity of biology on a supercomputer.”
７．A widow
- Entrepreneurs: Aidan Rushby, Amy Rushby, Roman Sumnikov, Igor Gordiichuk
- Established: 2021
- Business: Providing speedy car loans. Designed app to provide quick pre-approval financing for used car purchases
８．Circus
- Entrepreneur: Douglas Johnson-Poensgen
- Established: 2017
- Business: Supply chain transparency. The coronavirus pandemic has caused shortages of everything from semiconductors to toilet paper, highlighting just how complex modern supply chains are. The company’s technology aims to bring traceability to these complex networks, helping companies reduce emissions and improve efficiency.
９．Cleo
- Entrepreneur: Douglas Johnson-Poensgen
- Established: 2016
- Business: A witty money management app. With edgy humor, it offers tools to help users track their spending and reach their savings goals. The London-based company has 7 million users, but is currently only available to users in the United States
10. CloudNC
- Entrepreneurs: Theo Saville, Chris Emery
- Established: 2015
- Business: Precision manufacturing using AI. The company’s products use software to speed up the programming of CNC machines that operate factory equipment, solving a problem whose complexity has become a bottleneck for the industry.
11. CuspAI
- Entrepreneurs: Max Welling, Chad Edwards
- Establishment: 2024
- Business: Algorithm development for designing new materials
12. Data Maran
- 創業者：Marjella Lecourt-Alma、Jérôme Basdevant、JP Lecourt
- Established: 2014
- Business: AI-powered risk management platform. Customers include Kraft Heinz, Dell, Deloitte, and PepsiCo.
13. Electron
- Entrepreneurs: Jo-Jo Hubbard, Nicola Waters, Paul Ellis
- Established: 2018
- Business: End-to-end market for low carbon energy grids
14．Flo Health
- Entrepreneurs: Dmitry Gurski, Yuri Gurski
- Established: 2015
- Business: Menstrual cycle/fertility tracking app. Approximately 70 million monthly active users, approximately 5 million paid members
15. Hurr
- Entrepreneur: Victoria Prew
- Established: 2018
- Business: Online fashion rental market to compete with fast fashion
16．iComat Ltd.
- Entrepreneurs: Jo-Jo Hubbard, Nicola Waters, Paul Ellis
- Established: 2019
- Business: Lightweight materials for spacecraft, automotive and defense sectors
17. Immersive Labs
- Entrepreneur: James Hadley
- Established: 2017
- Business: Cybersecurity practical training
18. Isometric
- Entrepreneur: Eamon Jubbawy
- Establishment: 2022
- Business: Examination of the carbon offset industry. With a growing number of startups claiming to be removing carbon from the atmosphere, we aim to become a registry that sheds light on what they are actually doing.
19. LabGenius
- Entrepreneur: James Field
- Established: 2012
- Business: Using machine learning antibody discovery platform to develop therapeutic drugs that identify and kill cancer cells.
20. ORCA Computing
- Founder: Richard Murray, Josh Nunn, Ian Walmsley
- Established: 2019
- Business: Quantum Computing for the Real World. Founded as a spin-out of the University of Oxford, ORCA develops full-stack optical quantum computing systems.
21. Sano Genetics
- Entrepreneurs: Patrick Short, Charlotte Guzzo, William Jones
- Established: 2017
- Business: Improving the efficiency of clinical trials
22. Secondmind
- Founders: Aleksi Tukiainen, Vishal Chatrath, Dongho Kim (founders have already left the company)
- Established: 2016
- Business: A platform that helps engineers design better cars
23. Sibstar
- Entrepreneurs: Jayne Sibley, Marty Orton
- Established: 2023
- Business: Debit card and app for families of dementia patients
24. Skin Analytics
- Entrepreneur: Neil Daly
- Established: 2012
- Business: Speeding up skin cancer screening
25．Wayve
- Entrepreneur: Alex Kendall
- Established: 2017
- Business: Autonomous driving under new circumstances. Developed an AI for self-driving cars called “embodied AI” that can learn from situations that do not follow strict rules, such as the unpredictable behavior of drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists.
Original title:These Are the UK’s Top Startups to Watch from 2024 (Correct) (excerpt)
