Founders: Stuart McClure, Mark Solomon, and Dave Bishop
Founded: 2015
Website: www.lovethesales.com

After coming in at 95 in the 2016 Startups 100, Love The Sales stormed up the rankings to 33 last year and now it’s back for a third and final appearance among our Startups 100 2018 top 20.

Founded by Stuart McClure, Mark Solomon, and Dave Bishop, Startups Awards-nominated Love The Sales aggregates sale products from more than 850 retailers, including House of Fraser, Radley, Michael Kors, All Saints, TM Lewin, Vivienne Westwood, and Currys,

With 30-50% of all retail products discounted every single day, that’s a lot of stock that retailers need to shift, and a lot of opportunities for consumers to get a good deal. This is where Love The Sales comes in.

Instead of hunting around various websites or stores, Love The Sales agreggates offers to make it easy for you to browse and buy goods, many of these often designer, at a greatly discounted price.

There are countless benefits for retailers too; enabling them to maximise revenue from their products rather than send them off to “deep discounters” or have the goods sitting in a warehouse, taking up valuable space. It also gives retailers the chance to offer discounts to a unique audience without being seeing as constantly on sale.

Since featuring in last year’s index, Love The Sales has multiplied overseas traffic and revenue by 12, and has focused on advancing and implementing its artificial intelligence technology strategy.

Advances in this technology means the business can now understand retailer metrics such as products of interest, products that are ignored, and retailers who convert. It can then use this data to “show the best products that consumers want most, from retailers that are effective at making fast, efficient transactions”, therefore providing the best shopping experience possible.

With a funding round on the horizon, as well as some exciting technological developments, the next year is set to be bigger than ever for the business as it looks to make everyone ‘love the sales’.

Founders: Christer Holloman, Fredrik Borgquist, and Anders Hallsten
Founded: January 2015 (launched September 2015)
Website: www.divido.com

Divido is one of few companies to hold the rare distinction of appearing in the Startups 100 not once, not twice, but three times.

The London-based fintech start-up was founded in 2015 by friends Christer Holloman, Anders Hallsten and Fredrik Borquist.

The business idea originated when Holloman – who set up Glassdoor.com in Europe, the Middle East and Africa – found his local independent furniture company was unable to offer him a monthly instalment finance plan like those offered by large retail chains.

Inspired, Holloman sought to build a solution. That solution was Divido.

Now used by more than 800 retailers, Divido allows companies to offer customers the option to pay for big ticket items in instalments.

It connects to multiple lenders who then bid for business, which drives competition and lowers the cost for both the merchant and the customer.

Divido charges a set-up fee as well as a monthly fee and then takes a fee for every consumer transaction. It claims its service can help to “turn browsers into buyers”, boosting conversion by 40% and increasing basket size by 12%.

The start-up operates an omni-channel platform across online, in-store and mobile. It also works across multiple currencies, meaning retailers can cover multiple markets with one integration.

Brands big and small are among its customers such as Lenovo, Simba, and BMW, with the latter rolling out Divido’s after-sales financing to more than 60 of its retailers throughout the UK last year.

After expanding to Germany just before Christmas 2017, Divido is set to expand to a further 15 countries in 2018 as it looks to build the future of payments.

Having been recognised by Google, Forrester and the UK government as leading innovation in the retail and finance industries, Divido has aspirations to become the world’s largest retail finance platform – and it seems like only a matter of time.

Founders: Simon Phelan and Andreu Tobella         
Founded: January 2016 (launched September 2016)
Website: www.hometree.co.uk

The home improvement industry is yet to fully realise the power of digital and Simon Phelan and Andreu Tobella found this to be especially true of the heating industry.

When Phelan, a former private equity investor for Jon Moulton, helped his business acquire Everest Home improvements he realised how “offline the industry was, and how the big players such as British Gas weren’t trying to leverage e-commerce best practices”.

This was to be a light-bulb moment and, in September 2016, Phelan and engineer Tobella (ex-head of product at Hive) launched Hometree.

A boiler installation company, Hometree leverages modern technology to deliver an installation service which promises to be unlike anything seen in the heating industry before.

So how does it work? For a £99 refundable deposit, Hometree asks you to answer a few simple questions over the phone and, at the end of the call, gives you a fixed-price quote and schedules your new boiler installation date.

If you’re worried about agreeing to a boiler after just one call, Hometree will set up a video call with a trained expert engineer to give you extra comfor that you’re getting the right advice.

Enabling homeowners to buy a boiler in minutes, Hometree has taken off in the UK. In its first year of trading, the business installed 1,500 boilers and it plans to install between 5,000 to 6,000 in 2018 – this would make Hometree the country’s third largest installer.

Backed by £5.3m from high-profile venture capitalists and angel investors including the former CEO of SSE; Ian Marchant, and the head of Goldman Sachs UK; Anthony Gutman, Phelan and Tobella are striving to make the business a pioneer in the energy and smart home industry. Not only that, but they want to “build one of Europe’s most successful start-ups”.

Having ranked in the Startups 100 2018 as one of the UK’s most successful start-ups, it’s a goal that’s well within reach.

Founders: Phil Blaydes and Chris Abbass
Founded: July 2015 (launched October 2015)
Website: www.talentful.co

While working as contractors in technology companies for high growth firms, Phil Blaydes and Chris Abbass realised that nobody was offering their kind of contract work on a business scale.

They wondered what would happen if companies could “parachute in” teams of specialists to solve imminent issues within a set time frame, and this set the wheels in motion for Talentful.

Featured in the Startups 100 2017, where it has since jumped from 28th to 14th position, Talentful provides interim talent solutions for tech companies.

Talentful’s 43-strong team work on-site as part of the client’s team so they can make themselves familiar with the company culture and find the right candidates for the job.

Its process enables clients to accurately forecast their recruitment spend ahead of actually hiring the contractors, and it doesn’t charge commission for successful candidate work; operating solely on a retainer basis.

At the time of launch in October 2015, Talentful’s first customers were Thought Machine and Audible – who Blaydes and Abbass were working for at the conception of the business. Today, the start-up boasts hundreds of customers including fast-growth businesses such as ZOPA, ClearScore, Trainline, Cortex, and Property Partner.

Blaydes and Abbass say they are proud to have “played a huge role” in the success of these business that have gone on to become leaders in their fields.

And its customers appear to be just as happy with Talenful’s service; 80% of its clients renew and 90% of its new business comes from recommendations and referrals.

With no problems finding new customers, Talentful is now focused on working towards a ‘full-stack’ talent approach by looking at the entire lifecycle of a hire, including on-boarding, retention and progression.

As Blaydes and Abbass accurately highlight “there’s no point in spending time and money hiring the best people if you’re not going to develop them well”.

Founders: Alexander Limpert
Founded: May 2016 (Launched August 2016)
Website: www.guestready.com

Rental property management is becoming an increasingly crowded marketplace, but GuestReady is already one of the largest of its kind.

Launched less than two years ago, GuestReady’s premium short-let property service is now in operation across the UK, France, UAE, Singapore, Malaysia, and Hong Kong with just under 500 active hosts.

The start-up was founded by Alexander Limpert – former managing director of Foodpanda in Taiwan and the Philippines – when he struggled to find someone to look after his rental home while he was travelling.

Intent on “unlocking the potential of real estate through innovative solutions”, GuestReady was borne.

Optimising Airbnb, Booking.com, and HomeAway listings, pricing and occupancy, the business takes care of everything from managing your listing to cleaning, laundry, maintenance and more, claiming to be able to increase revenues by up to 100%. TrustPilot reviews are telling with a star rating of 9.1.

Limpert says the start-up has been in “constant breakthrough mode” since starting in August 2016, quickly scaling up from a team of seven with one person in each city to new cities around the world within weeks. Today it has 71 employees.

What’s next on the cards for the intrepid, fast-growth business then? More growth of course, facilitated by the improvement of its website and technology.

Expansion into Portugal is a priority too, as well as launching in more cities in the UK and France and consolidating its recently launched cities of Dubai, Manchester and Cannes.

And to fund this growth? The business is being facilitated by a £2.3m investment round it secured in October 2017, led by Impulse VC (the fund backed by Roman Abramovich), XPonova, and Boost Heroes.

GuestReady may be one of the newest short-term property rental management services on the block but it’s certainly made a significant footprint in a short space of time. We look forward to seeing where it goes next.

Founder: Daniel Hegarty
Founded: January 2015 (launched April 2016)
Website: www.habito.com

When someone mentions getting a mortgage, what are the first things that come to mind? We can bet you they aren’t “the mortgage process is so fast and simple!”

Well, Habito wants to change all that and make getting a mortgage as easy and painless as possible.

Launched in April 2016 by Daniel Hegarty, the idea for Habito came about when Hegarty was applying for his own mortgage and found that the experience was “frustrating and took forever”. What’s more, his mortgage application was refused twice because of human error on the part of the broker.

Having rebuilt the mortgage brokering process, Habito’s innovative technology puts the customer at the centre of the process.

Its free online broker service gets you to answer simple questions about the type of mortgage you’re looking for and its technology is then able to analyse every mortgage on the market, from over 70 lenders, to find the best one for you in seconds.

Once you’ve found the right mortgage, Habito gives you a dedicated mortgage expert to keep you updated with the progress of your application from start to finish.

This new way to get a mortgage has proved an appealing one for home buyers and the business has, so far, helped 72,000 people to better understand their mortgage.

Investors have been just as keen, pumped £32.9m investment into the business. Much of this funding has supported Habito’s marketing activities with large-scale outdoor advertising across London on national rail, tube and buses, alongside radio, TV and traditional PR.

And the business is a hiring magnet too, with 77 employees “and growing every week”.

While Habito is already tackling a huge market to great success, Hegarty has set his sights on reducing friction in other aspects of the mortgage process, bringing Habito’s customer-first approach to home and life insurance.

The start-up is currently developing a suite of simple and transparent insurance products that are free of confusing industry jargon and tailored to the needs of mortgage applicants.

Hegarty’s overall mission for Habito? “To make mortgages as easy to switch as your broadband or car insurance from the comfort of your home, and something you do in moments, not weeks.”

Founders: Scott Parsons and Roheel Ahmad
Founded: January 2015
Website: www.forsythbarnes.com

Scott Parsons and Roheel Ahmad are the “right people to find the right people”.

Both had successful careers in recruitment, with Ahmad growing a complete business unit as the youngest ever member of a senior management team, and Parsons leading the fastest growing and most profitable division within the business he worked at.

In January 2015, the pair joined forces to create an antidote to the recruitment industry standard of businesses being led by quantity and KPIs ahead of quality.

Coming in at 16 in last year’s Startups 100 and making its last appearance in the Startups 100 2018, Forsyth Barnes is an executive appointment consultancy that uses profiling, mapping and technology to place candidates either on a retained or contingent basis.

It also provides interim consultancy staffing solutions across the UK and internationally, primarily to aid the delivery of large scale change and transformation programmes.

On the retained model, the business receives a fee for search and delivery, but only takes a fee upon the delivery of a candidate for the contingent model.

Three years since launch and Forsyth Barnes  – nominated in two categories at the Startups Awards 2017 – now works with over 145 clients including several tech start-ups, large financial services organisations, consumer goods businesses, and sport companies.

This fast growth has enabled the business’ to ramp up its headcount from just two employees to more than 30 and has led to the opening of three offices in London, Leeds and Nottingham over the last two years.

What’s in store for the next 12 months? Founders Parsons and Ahmad say this year could be the one where the business makes its first leap beyond UK shores with one of its longest standing member of staff already scoping out the potential for a new office in New York.

While recruitment is a hugely competitive industry, Forsyth Barnes has built an early reputation and this look to only be further cemented in years to come.

Founders: James Jenkins-Yates, Tom Jones and Daniel Scott
Founded: February 2015
Website: www.airsorted.uk 

When James Jenkins-Yates put his home on Airbnb, he realised that while there’s lots of money to be made from short-lets, there’s also lots of work involved for the host.

At the time, no one was providing services to help streamline the process – such as cleaning, laundry, guest communications and pricing – and so Jenkins-Yates decided to create the solution himself.

It was Boxing Day 2014 and inspired to give it a go, Jenkins-Yates built a website landing page offering hassle-free Airbnb management and spent £50 on a Facebook advert. This process took him less than 30 minutes to do.

He then brought on board Daniel Scott (who had experience in the industry with One Fine Stay and was looking for new opportunities), and Tom Jones (who he’d met in New York working for investment banks), and Airsorted was born.

Since that time a number of start-ups have arrived with a similar mission to make Airbnb hosting hassle-free – check out number 13 on our list – but where AirSorted differentiates itself is with its tech offering.

Its automated systems help to streamline operations and build client dashboards that can be used to monitor performance and drive profitability. AirSorted says this has enabled it to charge lower commissions than rivals and provide better value.

The start-up has managed more than 3,800 homes to date and is already live in London, Edinburgh, Dublin, Sydney, Brighton, Bristol, Brisbane, Auckland, Melbourne and Paris.

It’s planning on expanding to nine new cities this year, with a target of being open in 38 cities by 2019.

It’s now also diversified beyond short-lets, running flexible letting cycles of anything from two nights to 12-month tenancies.

The company tell us that its “ambition is to become the globally dominant home-stay management company” and it has a “desire to build things that will make life easier and more rewarding for our clients”.

Who knows where that will take Airsorted next…

Founders: Jon Hulme and John Burke
Founded: January 2015
Website: www.craft-clubs.co.uk

The UK has a renewed love for gin.

From mother’s ruin to modern tipple, we’ve seen UK gin sales soar to more than £1.3bn in the last year so it makes sense that a start-up delivering the most exclusive gins directly to your door would be a massive hit with consumers.

The creator of gin subscription boxes, the Craft Gin Club sends one of the world’s finest small-batch gins – often extremely rare or hard-to-find editions – to its members every month along with tonics, mixers, food treats and a copy of its club magazine Ginned!.

Launched in January 2015 by Jon Hulme and John Burke, the start-up has witnessed phenomenal growth over the past three years to become the UK’s largest subscription club for gin lovers.

It now has over 230,000 newsletter subscribers and more than 450,000 fans on social media. Serial entrepreneur Sarah Willingham is also a fan, having invested in Craft Gin Club when it appeared on Dragons’ Den.

However, it hasn’t been all plain sailing for this boozy business.

In 2017, Hulme and Burke made the decision to close their other vertical Bubble Club; a champagne subscription box company.

The duo explain that, with Craft Gin Club growing “rapidly thanks to brand awareness [such as Dragons’ Den]”, they “needed to focus most of their cash and internal resource on growing the business.  At its peak, Bubble Club – which traded from 2016 to 2017 – had 1,700 members and over 100,000 Facebook fans; healthy numbers but minute growth in comparison.

Ultimately, Hulme and Burke’s decision to shift the focus to Craft Gin Club has been the right one.

Jumping from 14th place in the Startups 100 2017, the business’ rising customer numbers are reflected in its revenue figures – it generated over £6.5m in revenues last year and expects to hit sales of £11.6m by year-end 2018. A big cheers all round!

Founder: Norris Koppel
Founded: October 2013 (launched September 2015)
Website: monese.com

When Norris Koppel moved from the UK to Estonia without proof of address or UK credit history, his local bank wouldn’t let him open a bank account.

Struggling to secure a place to live and a salary as a result, Koppel’s transition into UK life was anything but smooth.

Keen to help people who’d be, or been, dismissed by the legal policies and bureaucracy of traditional banks, Koppel started Monese – a challenger banking app which enables anyone to set up an account easily, no matter who you are, where you live, or what your credit history looks like.

Promising to be the world’s most inclusive banking service, Monese is providing the answer to a problem that, for many people, is much-needed. In under three years, the start-up has attracted 350,000 customers in 20 countries, with 1,000 new people signing up every day.

Investors have recognised the start-up’s value too, and it has raised an impressive total of $16m investment which includes a $10m Series A round in January 2017.

This funding has helped fuel the business’ international growth and it now operates a team of 100 across both London and Estonia, and harbours plans to expand into more markets.

With a tiered pricing structure that enables customers to either use the service for free and pay for selected transactions or pay a monthly fee that covers all of their banking needs, Monese aims to offer “such an amazing experience that users will have no reasons to use a traditional bank again”.

Beyond its current success, Koppel’s ultimate vision for Monese remains the same as it was on day one of starting up:

“I want to help people on their journeys from exclusion to inclusion anywhere in the world, and to lower the cost of banking to free or near free.”