Founder: Tom Hatton
Founded: March 2014
Website: www.refme.com

Founder of RefME Tom Hatton was frustrated with the tedious but necessary process of referencing while studying at Oxford Brookes; finding existing tools to be outdated and often incorrect.

The beginnings of his simple solution was an app that scans barcodes from books or journals, which then blossomed into RefME, a web and mobile tool to help students easily generate citations, reference lists and bibliographies. An instantly appealing proposition for any student, the young entrepreneur knew he was onto something when he overheard students recommending the app to each other on a bus – and since launch last year, the business has seen explosive growth. Claiming faster growth than Twitter and Pinterest in their first years, the app has also overtaken Spotify and eBay in the download charts, with an estimated 800,000 users to date.

At just 24, young entrepreneur Hatton is CEO of a company with 36 employees that was recently selected by the London Mayor’s Office and UKTI for a trade mission to the US. He is confident the app can hit five million users by the end of 2015, and says his ultimate goal is to “remove the search from research”. With the global publishing market worth an estimated $150bn, this young start-up is in prime position to exploit it.

Founders: Bethany Koby and Daniel Hirschmann
Founded: April 2012
Website: www.techwillsaveus.com

A business with a noble story, husband and wife team Bethany Koby and Daniel Hirschmann were driven to launch Technology Will Save Us after finding a fully functional laptop in their communal waste bin. Realising that society was gradually becoming increasingly disengaged with the products they were buying, the founders wanted to create something that would get people to build and fix devices, and to reconnect with their technology and think about where it comes from, who built it and finally where it ends up.

Launched in 2012, the aptly named start-up provides customers with kits to construct a variety of gadgets from scratch, such as speakers; or materials to combine with your own gadgets and software to create a new and unique product.

By encouraging users to return to their more artisanal natures and re-engage with products, the start-up hopes to spark a movement and tackle the social and environment problem of mass production and waste. And they have seen huge support and growth since starting out; raising £450,000 investment, named as a Silicon Valley Comes to the UK potential scale-up and landing partnerships with schools nationally, as well as the iconic Museum of Modern Art, The Prince’s Trust and the BBC (which is collaborating with the team to create a MicroBit kit, due out later this year).

This social start-up could transform the way we view and treat technology forever…

Founder: Rachel Verghis
Founded: May 2013 (launched January 2014)
Website: http://www.gooeyhq.com/uk

A former art collector, Rachel Verghis’ vision is to “blend creativity with the latest digital case technology” and this vision has been realised with goo.ey.

A manufacturer of innovative phone skins that can be attached to glossy surfaces such as glass or a mirror, goo.ey is becoming one of the must-have products for young people that are passionate about tech, art and fashion, and its smartphone skins are now sold in 23 countries.

Verghis came up with the idea after looking for a way to attach her iPad Mini to a nursery window so that her parents in Australia could watch her baby playing, and 18 months since launch her idea has developed into a fast-growing business.

The company recently teamed up with high-profile fashion designer and Young Gun Sophia Webster for a collection of ‘speech bubble’ mobile cases, and her collaboration with Chinese artist Ai WeiWei has received praise for cases which combine art with activism – mobile skins include images of Martin Luther King and Edward Snowden.

With £250,000 of private equity investment, goo.ey is already profitable and turnover is set to almost quadruple by the end of this year. Looking to the future, Verghis is eying up expansion in the US and says she’s already in talks with the likes of Walmart and Target. Could this be the next big product start-up to come out of Britain?

Founder: Will Neale
Founded: March 2012 (launched September 2013)
Website: http://about.grabyo.com

Angel investor and entrepreneur Will Neale is no stranger to business success, having previously launched mobile payments and Sunday Times Tech Track 100 listed-business Fonix back in 2006. And it was while working in the digital media industry that the idea for Neale’s latest venture began to form.

After recognising that social TV apps were failing because they were trying to move consumers away from social media, Neale realised that a better way to drive engagement would be to let broadcasters share TV clips instantly on Facebook and Twitter.

Launched in September 2013, Grabyo does just that. The real-time video sharing platform allows broadcasters to instantly share TV clips with integrated sponsorship and advertising assets. Brands pay a fee to sponsor the shared clips, which in addition provide opportunities for commercialisation.

Less than two years after launch Grabyo has already secured partnerships with Facebook and Twitter and counts ITV, Sky, Wimbledon, Ryder Cup and the Brit Awards as customers. As a relatively new concept, the challenge the company faces is educating its market, but this has the added advantage of there being no direct competitors. With $2m investment and the backing of big names in the sports world including Thierry Henry and Robin Van Persie, the platform sees opening a US office as its priority for the next year.

Founders: David White, Matt Painter and Andrew Fogg
Founded: June 2012 (launched September 2014)
Website: www.import.io

The internet is the largest source of data in the world, where people are constantly updating their personal information. The ability to break down and analyse this information grants organisations unrivalled insight into consumers, but many lack the technical ability to properly exploit its benefits.  

import.io is seeking to change this by offering tools that enable anyone to transform a website into a table of data or structured Application Programme Interface (API). From there they can harness the power of this raw data to inform product development and improve sales. The company’s customers choose between free tools or Import Data, a “bespoke affordable solution” for those who want live data directly. Since appearing in the Startups 100 last year, the company has seen tens of thousands of users, including a long list of Fortune 500 companies, benefit from its services.  

With backing to the tune of $4.5m led by Wellington Partners, import.io is all set to open a second office in the US this year, and will continue to develop its pioneering product, to keep up to date with the ever changing demands of the digital world.

Founders: Jack Horton and Freddie Reid
Founded: October 2012
Website: www.whitesfx.com

Up next is another fintech company hoping to disrupt the self-serving foreign exchange and financial industries – Whites Technology Group offers customer driven, flexible financial services. Starting life as a payments company and featured in our index last year, founders Jack Horton and Freddie Reid decided to combine their experiences in London’s financial sector to develop cost saving technology solutions for international currency transactions and investment management.

The Nottingham-based company caters primarily for small businesses, fund managers and third party foreign exchange providers, deriving revenue from commissions on transactions and license fees for its technology. Not just a faceless service, Whites cites a shared vision with clients, and commitment to creating technology that meets their needs, as its main assets.

The company will focus on helping its recently opened office in Singapore grow, as well as re-developing its existing software to fit into its larger business model over the next 12 months. Already processing some hugely impressive figures thanks to a shift in its offerings last year, it will be interesting to see how its latest developments impact its revenue growth in 2015.

Founders: Brian Jamieson and Tony North
Founded: May 2014 (launched January 2015)
Website: https://centtrip.com

From the ashes of the financial crisis, the financial technology industry has risen, with many UK start-ups springing up in recent years offering consumers an alternative to tired, traditional services. Centtrip is one of a number of prime examples on this list – a Shoreditch-based fintech start-up, disrupting the foreign exchange market in a big way.

Founded by Brian Jamieson and Tony North, the company provides a pre-paid MasterCard, offering 14 currencies with direct access to the interbank rate to avoid markups, commissions and spreads. Targeted at high-net-worth individuals travelling or buying property abroad, the service can be managed online through the multi-currency account and platform – with Centtrip simply charging one upfront annual fee.

The two founders previously enjoyed success with their company Schneider Foreign Exchange, where they achieved an annual turnover of $15 billion, were ranked by Bloomberg as one of the world’s foremost forecasters of currency and sold for $100m in 2012. Centtrip is a continuation of North and Jamieson’s journey to redefine the international currency payments arena.

After being selected as one of our top new businesses of 2014, and taking home Tech Business of the Year at the Startups Awards, we’re expecting even bigger things from the fresh faced tech firm in 2015.

Founders: Alex Letts and Stephen Woodford
Founded: November 2012 (launched October 2013)
Website: www.ffrees.co.uk

An estimated three million British adults do not have any form of bank account; four times more than pre-recession estimates in 2008 – meaning they can’t access essential money management and financial services. Founders of Ffrees, Alex Letts and Stephen Woodford, are striving to change this with their specially designed digital current account, which includes a prepaid Visa debit card.

Ffrees distinguishes itself by its non-judgemental attitude to its customers, allowing everyone access to the same tools, regardless of income. The company generates revenue through what it says is a “fair customer charging model”, with no unauthorised overdrafts or bounced payments. At a time when people are losing faith with the traditional banking sector, it’s clear people are responding to Ffrees alternative approach, with the service attracting 50,000 customers in just 18 months, and currently processing 100 applications a day.

The next 12 months will see the company expand its offering with a number of product launches including direct debits and contactless facilities, as well as mobile apps for Android and iOS. A financial service that seems to genuinely want to support its customers, acting as “a financial buffer against needing to borrow or get in to debt”, is one people will want to support.

Founders: Joshua Cook and Hyrum Cook
Founded: March 2013
Website: www.zevenmedia.com

Photo booths have been a fixture of events and shopping centres for decades, but their traditional box shape and cheap materials can make them an eyesore. Brothers Joshua Cook and Hyrum Cook saw their rising popularity in the US and decided to storm the UK market with a stylish and contemporary update.

With contactless payment, and the ability to instantly upload photos to social media, it’s not just the aesthetics that have been upgraded. The booths are available to rent for events or for long-term lease, and can be branded to match the client. The company also offers long term installations with contactless payment, where revenue is shared with its customer – offering an appealing guaranteed revenue stream for clients.

After an early cold call to Selfridges, the department store is still one of their clients, amongst a host of other impressive names including Harvey Nichols, Adidas, DKNY, The Shard and events such as V Festival and the BRIT awards.

At just 24 and 22 these young entrepreneurs to watch have already secured £50,000 backing from Deborah Meaden after a successful appearance on Dragons’ Den. Meaden will help the duo as they attempt to break into new markets and expand the business to cope with increasing demand over the coming year.

Founder: Nigel Greenaway
Founded: January 2013
Website: www.greenawayscott.com                

After acquiring a wealth of experience and knowledge in the sector, Nigel Greenaway wanted to do away with the typical frustrations clients experience when instructing solicitors, and create a law firm run like a commercial business – with a focus on client satisfaction.                                     

Tailored towards fast-growth life science and technology companies, which are either acquisitive or looking to raise funds, Greenaway Scott is a business advisory law firm which charges fixed fees and aims to treat its clients fairly at every stage of the process. And as a limited company instead of a partnership, the firm can avoid the usual politics that hamper the decision making process.

The firm sees that a member of the legal team spends time on site with clients to gain an in-depth knowledge of their businesses, and employs a commercial team that are dual qualified in law, and either maths or science, so that everyone is “speaking the same language”.

With just over two years of solid trading, Cardiff-based Greenaway Scott is looking to expand over the next 12 months, targeting tech hubs along the M4 corridor and elsewhere, and has plans to acquire small, specialist firms that share its ideal to offer complementary services. With a belief that lawyers who understand their clients’ needs are far more useful than the “standard arms length third party advisory model”, this unique law start-up looks set to have a big impact on the sector in the near future.