Founder: Andrew Needham
Founded: April 2015 (Launched October 2015)
Website: www.headbox.com

It was at his previous company, social data analytics business Face, that Andrew Needham first noticed the difficulties of booking creative space. His team member struggled against an endless barrage of phone calls, emails, forms and contracts. There had to be a “better, simpler, faster way of doing it”, he thought.

And this early thought eventually led to him starting HeadBox, an online marketplace for creative, inspiring and offsite spaces, enabling guests to instantly search, book and pay all in one place. Similar to fellow entrant Vrumi (although not using homes), the service offers spaces for a range of needs including co-creation workshops, brainstorms, meet-ups, product and business launches, company meetings and get-togethers, as well as research, training and photography shoots. HeadBox charges the host 10% for every transaction and is completely free for guests. Currently, the platform features more than 2,000 spaces across London, with companies such as the BBC, Sony and Santander booking iconic locations including Searcy’s Somerset House, the Shangri-La Hotel and smaller “hidden gems”.

Currently growing at a rate of 1,000 spaces every month, HeadBox plans to capitalise on this success and roll out its platform across the UK and other international cities. The company has had a truly stellar six months or so – long may it continue.

Founders: David and Gareth Atkinson
Founded: June 2013 (launched March 2014)
Website: www.theymco.com

Set up by father and son team David and Gareth Atkinson, The Yorkshire Meatball Co. (YMCO) was founded on a simple (but apparently well-researched) belief: that meatballs were invented in Yorkshire.

Claiming to be the UK’s first and only specialist meatball company, 2015 Startups 100-featured YMCO is on the frontline in “leading the fight against average, tasteless meatballs” from its flagship restaurant in Harrogate and second franchised-location in York. Inspired by the casual dining scene of foodie hotspot New York, the restaurants serve a range of meat, fish and veggie balls, made from locally sourced ingredients and all washed down with craft beers and ciders.

The company has clearly been a local hit – within four weeks of opening its doors it was nominated, and went on to win, a local tourism award. To add to its string of successes, YMCO also took home Restaurant Business of the Year at the 2015 Startups Awards.

And this is just the beginning for the two year old business. After securing a £130,000 crowdfunding campaign on Crowdcube, YMCO is set to roll out a fully-fledged franchise model across the UK and (slightly later than planned) has secured talks with four of the major retailers to launch into more than 300 stores nationwide.

Founder: Nicholas d’Adhemar
Founded: February 2013 (Launched August 2014)
Website: www.apperio.com

Legal fees can be a complex and murky business. Having experienced them as both a lawyer and a client, Nicholas d’Adhemar knew how they could cause problems for both parties – with clients unable to budget properly and facing surprise bills, and firms subjected to low recovery rates and an average cash collection period of more than 150 days.

On the back of this experience, he decided to build a platform that would help everyone make better decisions. His solution was Apperio, an analytics dashboard that gives both law firms and businesses real-time transparency on legal fees and identifies areas for improved efficiency. Working on a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model, businesses pay a monthly fee depending on the volume of fees monitored and law firms pay per user per month.

Since launch in August 2014, Apperio has secured 15 corporate clients, including Octopus Investments, Simply Business and Brandwatch, and formed partnerships with 17 major law firms such as Dentons, Olswang and DAC Beachcroft. It also claims to have monitored an impressive £20m in legal fees.

Following on from some early angel investment, the fast-growth company closed a £1.7m seed funding round in March 2016, and now plans to ramp up customer acquisition and bolster its team in the coming months, as well as investing in refining its core product. Injecting some transparency back into a notoriously opaque market and with some impressive partnerships already lined up, this is certainly one to watch.

Founders: Benjamin Dyer and Chris Barling
Founded: January 2012 (Launched in April 2013)
Website: www.powerednow.com

This is not the second, not even the third, but the fourth appearance for trade industry administration platform Powered Now in the Startups 100. We just can’t get enough of it.

Founded by Benjamin Dyer and Chris Barling, the app combines payments, scheduling, finance and document storage to help tradesmen such as builders and decorators provide a more professional and punctual service – in turn winning more work and getting paid quicker.

Since its last appearance, Powered Now has had a stellar 12 months, more than doubling the number of registered users and significantly increasing the number of paying subscribers, whilst launching a range of new features including a free version of its platform. At the same time the company has grown to a team of 12, opened a second office in Portsmouth, and is experiencing strong growth overseas – especially throughout the USA. This has partly been fuelled by a £574,770 crowdfunding campaign on Crowdcube, which closed last September.

For the future, the business has teased a partnership agreement with a FTSE company to help with distribution, but is unable to reveal who for now… A company that continues to innovate and grow, we look forward to really seeing Powered Now scale in the next year or so.

Founder: Nelson Sivalingam
Founded:June 2015
Website: wonderush.com

A ‘first of its kind’ discovery platform, Wonderush allows its monthly subscribers to experience a variety of the ‘weird and wonderful’ with activities ranging from soap making to aerial yoga, pottery to salsa and cocktail making to hot tub dining.

Connecting hard-to-sell last minute spaces for classes with consumers actively seeking different things to do in their city, the Wonderush Unlimited subscription lets customers book unlimited classes and experiences for £29 a month.

Founded by award-winning filmmaker and serial entrepreneur Nelson Sivalingam, the lightbulb moment came for Sivalingam when he attempted to create a better work life balance for himself – only to find that opportunity beckoned.

Revenue generating from day one, the subscription service already boasts nearly 10,000 users and works with over 3,000 classes and experiences across London. Started by Sivalingam in a coffee shop using just his phone, Wonderush has gone on to receive £500,000 from investment fund and incubation studio Fuel Ventures – and is now growing its userbase by an impressive 30% month-on-month.

The next 12 months will prove to be exciting times for the business as it looks to secure increased funding while expanding into different cities. Having recently launched its iOS app, Sivalingam and his seven-strong team plan to bring Wonderush to Android users later this year.

Founder: Asesh Sarkar, Dan Cobley, and Daniel Shakhani
Founded: June 2015
Website: www.salaryfinance.com

Shocked at the amount of interest his son’s nanny was paying on her credit card, former financial services consultant Asesh Sarkar was inspired to find a way to help others in a similar position cut the cost of their own debt repayments.

Together with co-founders Dan Cobley (ex-MD of Google UK) and Daniel Shakhani, he created an employee benefit scheme that allowed anyone – even those with a poor credit rating – to consolidate their debt into a low-interest loan repaid via their payroll. SalaryFinance was born.

Free to use for employers, the service integrates with existing payroll processes and generates revenue from the interest repayments on the loan with a fixed rate of 7.9% APR. The company claims this is one third of the market average. In February this year, SalaryFinance announced a new partnership with employee benefits provider Benefex, the platform used by M&S, E.On, The AA and Centrica, making its service available to one million people across the country.

After raising $6.1m from Brightbridge Ventures in November last year, the fintech firm – which at present claims to have no direct competition – will embark on a campaign of expansion across the UK, with a goal of having 100 large UK companies signed in a year’s time.

Sarkar has an ultimate ambition for SalaryFinance to “become as mainstream as other employee benefits such as pensions and the cycle to work scheme”. And with consumer debt reaching alarming levels and clear benefits for employees, it’s a goal that may very well come to fruition…

Founders: Joseph Munns, Anna Bridgen and Elaina Mickelburgh
Founded: May 2013 (launched June 2013)
Website: www.bakedin.co.uk

After one too many requests for her sticky toffee pudding recipe from sweet-toothed colleagues, Anna Bridgen decided enough was enough – alongside friends Joseph Munns and Elaina Mickelburgh she set up Bakedin: a subscription service that delivers monthly baking kits with unique recipes.

“The Baking Club invents a new recipe every month in collaboration with legendary chef Michel Roux and sends out boxes containing the required ingredients to subscribers for just £7.99.

Unlike other recipe box subscription services, Bakedin doesn’t just rely on this one revenue stream. It also sells bake-in-a-mug, micro-baking and baking kits in Lakeland, Selfridges and Wholefoods, as well as online via Amazon and Ocado. Last year the company was named in The Independent’s top 15 food subscriptions alongside brands such as Graze, Hello Fresh and Pact Coffee.

So far backed by £160,000 angel investment, Bakedin is currently seeking funding on crowdfunding platform Seedrs to help fund further expansion. Bridgen and Mickelburgh stepped away from the day-to-day running of the business in 2015 but remain as shareholders. Now with Munns managing the business full-time, the next 12 months should see the brand start exporting its wares and investing in customer acquisition to increase the number of subscribers.

Founder: Ross Mendham
Founded: November 2011 (launched March 2013)
Website: www.barenakedfoods.co.uk

On a diet and unable to eat pasta and rice but frustrated with the lack of other options, Ross Mendham decided to create his own. Fast forward to 2016 and low-carb alternatives have become big business, with gluten-free food brand Bare Naked Foods one of the companies leading the charge.

The business specialises in low-carbohydrate, gluten-free noodles, pastas, rice and ready meals and currently sells its wares in Morrisons, Holland & Barrett, GNC, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Musclefood and even exports to Dubai and South Africa. In 2011, Bare Naked Foods received a boost when it successfully secured £60,000 investment from Peter Jones on Dragons’ Den to gear up for its official launch in early 2013.

The noodles are derived from the Konjac plant – a type of yam that’s naturally low-carb, gluten-free, sugar-free and low calorie – and so are not just good for dieters but also for those with a gluten intolerance or diabetes.

Mendham has big plans for the next 12 months including the launch of a new range of ready meals featuring a “patented pouch design” and trying to secure distributors in the US, Canada and Europe. Currently on course to achieve £1m in revenues for 2016, the entrepreneur is targeting £5m, with £1m net profit in three years’ time. Driven by a founder with a story many can relate to and who’s clearly hungry for success, Bare Naked Foods is one to watch.

Founder: Ben Lloyd
Founded: June 2013
Website: www.purecommercialfinance.co.uk

During his eight years working in commercial finance for Barclays, Ben Lloyd noticed that most commercial or investment properties or plots of land don’t fit with traditional lending models – meaning people often end up with an unsuitable deal.

He spotted a gap in the market for something a bit more specialist: a broker that offered tailored finance packages around a property or deal. Charging clients a fee for funding their deal, as well as taking commission from the lender, Pure Commercial helps businesses, property developers and property investors find finance that works for them. The business offers services ranging from commercial mortgages to buy-to-let mortgages and invoice, bridging and development finance.

To date, the company has helped more than 100 clients secure funding and is set to double turnover to £1.6m in 2016. Lloyd says he and his team of 10 have started to “fund some very large deals” from some major property professionals including raising £8m for a plot of land in London and more than £5m for a hotel.

Having grown organically, Pure Commercial plans to build on this success over the next year, taking advantage of its growing reputation in the marketplace and returning clients to work on bigger, more complex and more lucrative deals…

Founder: Caner Veli
Founded: January 2014
Website: www.liquiproof.co.uk

Constantly ruining suits, ties and shoes thanks to a combination of accidents and inclement English weather, pharmaceutical science graduate Caner Veli found other (usually toxic) aerosol protectors lacking – so he set about developing a better solution.

Featured in Startups 100 2015, Liquiproof produces eco-friendly, nontoxic, non-hazardous, non-flammable and non-aerosol protective, waterproof coatings for shoes and clothing, which it claims are “far more effective” than any other rivals on the market. Selling directly to consumers and wholesale retailers, the company’s products are stocked in more than 210 stores across the UK including Office, Urban Outfitters, Oi Polloi, Birkenstock and Lock & Co Hatters. This nationwide trade will help Liquiproof hit £2.4m in turnover for 2016, netting a significant profit.

Back in January of this year, Veli made an appearance on Dragons’ Den, where a successful demonstration of the product’s potential helped him secure £100,000 in funding from retail mogul Touker Suleyman for a 50% stake of his business.

Veli says that since the show aired, the exposure it garnered has already helped Liquiproof achieve “massive growth”. Having been approached by a number of major brands across the fashion and hospitality sectors, you could be seeing additional Liquiproof clothing and accessories coming to a store near you very soon…