Founder: Jonas Almgren
Founded: March 2013
Website: www.artfinder.com

During his 20-years working for start-ups in Silicon Valley and New York, Jonas Almgren found himself immersed in the world of high-end art. Research led him to discover that there were an estimated “eight million starving artists in the world” and many more people who don’t think they could afford art.

In a bid to overcome the perception that art is elitist and unaffordable, he wanted to create an online marketplace to connect these “starving artists” with art lovers all over the world: Artfinder.

Artfinder takes its moniker from an earlier business of the same name that aimed to act as a gallery of all the famous art in the world, enabling people to buy posters of the work they liked. After completely pivoting and with a brand new team and business model, the start-up re-launched with Almgren at the helm.

Charging a 30% commission on every sale, today the platform has more than 500,000 users globally; selling everything from paintings and printmaking to sculpture and digital art.

The next year will see the company open an office in the US – its second biggest market. The business also plans to build an app that provides an automated shipping solution for its artists, making it easier for them to deal with the hassle of shipping costs, including different duties and taxes in different regions.

With Sherry Coutu on the board, and an experienced entrepreneur at its helm, Artfinder seems to have really found its feet the second time around…

Founders: Jack Tang and Giles Williams
Founded: February 2014
Website: www.urbanmassage.com

Wouldn’t it be great if you could have a qualified therapist come to your home within the hour to give you a relaxing massage? Wouldn’t it be even better if you could also book this therapist to come to your office or even, hotel? Well look no further because Urban Massage has made this all possible with its marketplace service.

Launched in February 2014 by Young Guns-to-watch Jack Tang and Giles Williams, Urban Massage enables users to book a ‘spa-quality’ massage experience online or via its app with real-time availability and promises that the massage therapist will arrive in under an hour.

A tech start-up at its core, the business has built its own online infrastructure which enables therapists to upload their availability and confirm or extend an appointment. It has also included built-in GPS tracking in the therapist’s app to ensure a safe working environment.

Dubbed the ‘Uber of massage’, the London-based start-up has already delivered thousands of massages across the capital and regionally (in locations such as Manchester and Glasgow) as it looks to shake-up the “out-dated” massage industry.

Since featuring in the Startups 100 index last year, the business has grown to a team of 25 and has expansion on the cards with its ultimate ambition being to both deliver an “unparalled experience” and “empower therapists”.

Having already scaled and sold their first venture – thestudentjob.com – to Jobsite in 2013, serial entrepreneurs Tang and Williams look set for even greater success with Urban Massage.

Founder: Mark Wright
Founded: January 2015
Website: www.climb-online.co.uk

Having worked for a number of other marketing agencies, Mark Wright had spotted holes within their business model and service offering – specifically in regards to customer service, lack of brand, culture and likeability.

He decided to rectify this, and with a little help from Alan Sugar thanks to a winning appearance on The Apprentice, Wright launched his own digital marketing agency: Climb Online – providing SEO services, pay-per-click, social media advertising and web design. The business draws in revenue from multiple sources including monthly retainers, a management fee for paid search and payment in full for website design.

Despite some early online criticism, in its first year of trading, Climb Online has done a pretty good job of proving people wrong, achieving £1.5m in turnover – which it’s set to double this year – and securing over 200 clients across the UK such as Groupon, Company Check and Be Wiser Insurance.

Wright also has big plans for the next year, including the launch of the business’ Manchester operation and the commencement of international expansion. Ultimately, the entrepreneur’s ambitions extend even further to “become the largest and most desired digital agency to work with in the UK and overseas”. If the last 15 months are anything to go by, that dream now doesn’t seem so far-fetched.

Founders: James Brown and Fraser Doherty
Founded: May 2013
Website: www.beer52.com

Already an illustrious name on Startups, this is the third appearance in the Startups 100 for craft beer subscription service Beer52, which also clinched the overall prize at the 2014 Startups Awards.

Founded by Young Guns James Brown and Fraser Doherty (known for starting jam brand SuperJam), Beer52 sends its subscribers a selection of eight handpicked beers for £24 a month. Brown was inspired to start the company after developing a love for the huge variety of craft beers he tried on a road trip from Edinburgh to Faro on the back of his dad’s Harley. With more than 1,700 microbreweries in the UK, Brown decided to help other beer lovers discover their unknown products – in turn helping breweries with small marketing budgets get their name out and acquire new customers.

Three years later, Beer52 has more than 15,000 full paying subscribers, sourcing exclusive beers from over 12,000 microbreweries around the world and was recently named ‘Best independent retailer of the year’ by SIBA X, the trade organisation for independent brewers. The company plans to scale to achieve revenues of £7m a year over the next 12 months, creating five new employee positions and acquiring a competitor.

Having just closed a “six-figure” funding round from a number of investors, including Skyscanner co-founder Gareth Williams; Secret Escapes co-founder Andrew Bredon, and Funkin Cocktails founder Alex Carlton, Beer52 is sure to be the name on every beer lover’s lips.

Founder: Nakul Sharma
Founded: December 2013 (Launched July 2014)
Website: www.hostmaker.co

In 2012, Nakul Sharma and his wife Deepti became hooked on Airbnb during trips to Rome, Rio and Jaipur – charmed by the hospitality of their hosts and their engagement with the local community. They decided to give hosting a go and bought their own home in London. It didn’t take long before they realised what hard work it was…

Spotting some market potential, Sharma launched Hostmaker, a hospitality management company offering two types of service: ‘hands-off homes’ and pay-as-you-go. The former deals with everything on behalf of the host including flat design photography, writing the listing, pricing, reservations, guest communication, housekeeping, linen rental, check-in and maintenance, with the company taking a percentage of the monthly revenues. The later allows guests to book services online when needed, such as housekeeping, linen and check-ins. Hostmaker currently supports more than 500 hosts across Europe, with 150 homes using its complete management solution in London and 80 across Rome, Paris and Barcelona.

The 50-strong business is currently working towards a Series A funding round following an initial £250,000 raise last year, which led to a second £1.5m funding round. On the back of this, Hostmaker plans to expand to more cities around the world. Since launch, rival companies such as Startups 100-featured airsorted have been established, but with Airbnb available in 34,000 cities around the world, the company has a huge potential market to take advantage of.

Founder: Rohan Sinclair Luvaglio
Founded: 2013 (Launched in May 2014)
Website: www.bizzby.com

A number of apps and platforms have sprung up in recent years offering on-demand access to particular services, but rather than limit itself to one, 2015 Startups 100-listed Bizzby gives its users access to “any” professional service “at the tap of a button”.

Through the app or website, users simply input their postcode and what they require to receive professional services – including everything from plumbing and electrics to health and beauty, personal training and gardening – to their door within 60 minutes.

Professional individuals and businesses also benefit from Bizzby by partnering with the platform to open up new opportunities for work and revenue – the company claims to now be helping more than 10,000 small businesses every week find new jobs. Previously only available in London, the team of 15 launched across the UK in May 2016 and has increased its supplier network from just 500 to more than 25,000.

Currently focused on reinvesting all its profits into technology and growth, founder Rohan Sinclair Luvaglio says the firm is building a number of partnerships with big retailers and property companies to offer them access to its services. With the on-demand sector continuing to grow, Bizzby’s broader approach makes it a clear standout in an increasingly crowded space.

Founders: Nicholas Bransby-Williams, Antony Pink, Dominic Perks and Edward Relf
Founded: April 2014 (Launched January 2015)
Website: www.laundrapp.com

Using their three decades of experience as digital entrepreneurs, Dominic Perks, Edward Relf, Antony Pink and Nicholas Bransby-Williams saw an opportunity to disrupt the outdated laundry and dry cleaning industry the same way Uber and Airbnb had disrupted theirs.

They launched Laundrapp, an app that allows users to organise collection, cleaning and return of their dirty laundry from their phones at a time and place that suits them – with prices ranging from £2.50 per kg. The service – that came in at 29 in the Startups 100 2015 – claims to be expanding at a rate of one new location every week and is now available in more than 100 of the UK’s towns and cities including London, Bristol, Edinburgh, Manchester and Nottingham. To date, Laundrapp has cleaned over 750,000 items for everyone from young professionals to students.

The Startups Awards Rising Star of the Year finalist continues to evolve – most recently with the addition of a shoe repair and cleaning service and an “Uber style” real-time driver tracking service. Next on the cards is international expansion, as well as expansion through franchising and technology licensing. A start-up that continues to innovate and grow, the ambitious business expects one day to be one of the world’s “most valuable” on-demand technology companies.

Founders: Maximilian Vollenbroich and Peter Baumgart
Founded: May 2015 (Launched August 2015)
Website: www.carspring.co.uk

Carspring is the latest in a line of companies that have sprung up in the last few years to disrupt the second-hand car market – which has traditionally been lacking in transparency and put the consumer second. For Maximilian Vollenbroich, his own experience of buying a first car and analysis of the automotive retail market led him to believe there must be a more efficient way.

Alongside Peter Baumgart, his colleague at management consultancy firm McKinsey & Company, he started Carspring to enable UK consumers to buy and sell AA-inspected used cars online. The company – which delivers every car purchased straight to the buyers doorstep – claims that the customer pays the exact price confirmed on the website, taking a small fee from each deal completed. The platform sees around 90 “high-value” basket customers each month (twice as many as last year) as well as 2,000 customers applying for cars through finance per month.

Now backed by €5m after securing €3m Series B in July last year, Carspring is on the cusp of expanding to provide the same service in the area of automotive aftersales. However, its main focus will be on selling more than 200 cars a month and launching in two new EU markets.

Founder: Daniel Gandesha
Founded: 2014 (Launched January 2015)
Website: www.propertypartner.co 

Proptech is a rapidly growing sector in the UK, and last year’s Startups 100 number 36 Property Partner is one of the companies disrupting the antiquated industry.

The idea for the platform came to founder Daniel Gandesha in 2013 when he and his wife were struggling to afford a flat in Putney. With a background in financial services and investment, he realised the property market could be more like the stock market – and set to work building residential property crowdfunding site Property Partner. The platform enables investors to own part of a property, receive dividends and exit at a price that reflects the value of their asset. The business charges a one-off transaction fee of 2% on the purchase of investment, as well as an industry standard rate of 10.5% of rental income for advertising, letting and property management.

Property Partner caters for investors of all sizes with a minimum investment of £50. On average, users invest £4,000, but some have invested over £750,000. To date, Property Partner has seen more than £29.6m invested through its platform from 6,941 active investors into 184 properties.

Having closed a £15.9m Series B in March, the company plans to grow its customer base, expand its 38-strong team and introduce new products such as shared ownership.

Founders: Tim Phillips, Simon Dennis, David Holliday and Alex McEvoy
Founded: June 2013
Website: www.gateone.co.uk

In the past, large organisations have typically turned to the ‘Big 4’ consultancies for advice and delivery support but a lot of corporations are now looking for better value for money and innovative solutions. Gate One is helping to cater for this rising demand with its management consultancy service offered at a more attractive price point.

Launched by former consultancy specialists Tim Phillips, Simon Dennis, David Holliday and Alex McEvoy in June 2013, Gate One provides big brands with a small team of experienced consultants (referred to as ‘transformation entrepreneurs’). The team operates ‘hand in hand’ to tackle their clients’ most difficult transformation challenges and permanently change the way businesses work for the better.

Using the latest in cloud-based technology, and with its consultants operating remotely across the UK, Gate One says it not only offers companies “exceptional value for money” but provides innovation and expertise not available at bigger and older firms.

Determined to “build a world-class consulting firm which changes the rules”, the start-up has almost doubled in size since appearing in last year’s Startups 100 index with a team of 41 employees and revenues up 113%.

Over the next 12 months, it plans to add at least three more blue-chip clients to its portfolio and will also be investing in the digital transformation side of the business.

Despite the challenges of sourcing the right quality of consultants to work with its clients, Gate One believes it is well on its way to becoming the “new standard by which consultancy firms are built and measured.”