Founders: Mark Berstein
Founded: December 2013 (Launched August 2016)
Website: www.wearable.technology

Mark Bernstein is a veteran of the technology sector, with 20 years’ experience building start-ups around the world, five IPOs under his belt and strategic partner investment from companies including IBM, Motorola, BT, Sky and Dixons.

His latest venture capitalises on a very much emerging area of technology – wearables.

The aptly-named Wearable Technologies reduces risk and increases industrial safety using Bluetooth-enabled environmental sensors.

Bernstein realised that several companies were using this technology in clothing and decided to introduce it to personal protective equipment (PPE). Its washable electronic networks are embedded into the existing jackets of a workforce with sensor devices that deliver real-time data to its online dashboard.

These smart devices can be used for automatic incident and event monitoring, environment monitoring (gas, noise, dust, vibration), physiological monitoring, and accident prevention. This data can then be stored for future reference.

Now in the process of piloting its service with customers in the oil and gas, and construction, transport and utilities sectors, the start-up hopes to have an additional five major industrial customers secured within the next 12 months.

As the business continues to ramp up its sales efforts and roll out its product road map,Berstein’s goal is to grow Wearable Technologies into the world’s best real-time connected worker platform that will be used across all industries to reduce risk and increase worker safety.

Founders: Charlie Pool and Joey Scully
Founded: February 2016 (Launched August 2016)
Website: www.stowga.com

While Charlie Pool was working with a company that owned warehouses all over Europe, one of the warehouse managers asked if a temporary client could fill a warehouse during the empty summer lull as a sort of “Airbnb for warehouses”.

Pool did some investigating and realised that his client had hit upon a huge potential market.

Alongside Joe Scully, he launched Stowga, an on-demand marketplace to help companies find and book warehouses with surplus space.

Stowga charges on a commission basis, taking a percentage of the fees for every successful transaction.

Despite the property world arguing that “the market is supply constrained”, Pool explains that Stowga was “built on the premise that the exact opposite is true”. He says that whilst this constraint might be true from a tenancy perspective, it doesn’t apply from a lease perspective.

And with 4,000 warehouses on its database and customers including Asda, BT, KFC, Nature’s Bounty, Vimto and DHL, his theory seems to be right.

These companies can use the platform to increase fluidity in their supply chains, scale their warehouse space up or down rapidly to fit their business needs and hedge against volatility.

Many of these household names were secured through real estate fund Gazeley. Stowga has also struck a deal with industrial agent CBRE to partner with it and its clients.

The start-up is aiming to build the fastest way to buy, sell and exchange warehousing and logistics services, with a global network of providers and access to off-market space (at below-market rates) in an industry that’s traditionally been low tech, largely offline, and slow moving.

Currently available across the UK, the next year will see Stowga develop its technology towards a product/market fit and expand internationally in Europe. Beyond that Pool thinks his start-up has the potential to IPO and become a sustainable, long-term category leader.

Founders: Ofri Ben Porat and Nadav Israel
Founded: January 2015 (launched December 2016)
Website: www.pixoneye.com

As the strategic advisor to the minister of tourism for Israel, 2017 Young Gun Ofri Ben Porat found he could not afford to mix marketing messages to the two largest incoming groups: the LGBT community and the evangelical community.

Instead, it required a whole new way of understanding who these customers were.

After meeting Nadav Israel, then head of computer vision at Samsung, the two struck up on an idea. What if you could use artificial intelligence to analyse people’s photo galleries and help clients truly understand their customers’ behaviour and hyper personalise their experience?

Meet Pixoneye; Israel and Porat’s innovative technology which can be integrated into any mobile app, with a focus on financial services, social, travel, and research.

For tier one clients, it works on a proof-of-concept model, incorporating their specific needs. After a three-month period, the client signs a 12-month contract on a software-as-a-service model.

Alternatively, Pixoneye’s self-serve dashboard model offers 1,000 user profiles for free, moving onto a per user per year model and charging per 1,000 recommendations for using the personalisation tool.

With the introduction of general data protection regulation (GDPR) this week, Pixoneye has re-positioned and simplified its proposition around what can be done with first party data to contend with concerns about privacy and photo access. And this actually puts the start-up in a strong market position.

As potentially inaccurate and unreliable data from third-party data companies is abandoned, Pixoneye’s ability to access user data direct from source with their consent will be hugely valuable.

The future? Israel and Porat’s ambition is to have Pixoneye installed on one billion mobile devices around the world so it can intelligently predict and serve the intentions of every person on the planet.

Founder: Jenny Inglis 
Founded: April 2015 (launched August 2015)
Website: www.whizzpopbang.com

Former Blue Peter science presenter and physics graduate Jenny Inglis was tired of only being able to buy “advertisement-laden, plastic-toy-covered, segregated pink and blue children’s magazines” for her three children.

Moreover, she felt frustrated at this gender imbalance and lack of educational resources for young children to share.

With a background running children’s magazines and having published science and maths products for Pearson and Edexcel, she channelled that frustration into starting Launchpad Publishing.

The company behind Whizz Pop Bang, Launchpad has created “the world’s most awesomely amazing” kids’ science magazine with hands-on experiments, facts and fun for girls and boys.

Working on a subscription model, Whizz Pop Bang regularly features news, in depth articles, interviews with real scientists and experiments and projects to try at home.

Launched in 2015 with the help of a Kickstarter campaign, the magazine already has a circulation of 26,000 and a readership of around 100,000, while several hundred schools have subscribed to the magazine as a classroom resource.

Binders, back issues and bundles can also be found online.

Bolstered by its quick uptake in the UK, Inglis will look to take Whizz Pop Bang international over the next 12 months and is already in the process of creating school resources, including lesson plans and resources.

By this time next year, Inglis expects the magazine to have grown circulation by 35%.

On a mission to “break the mould of the last 20 years of children’s magazine publishing”, as its title magazine name suggests Launchpad Publishing has already taken off with a whizz, pop and a bang.

Founders: Ben Mott, Steven Anderson and Tony Stiles
Founded: January 2016
Website: www.futurekings.co.uk

Having worked together in a previous agency for six years, Ben Mott, Steven Anderson, and Tony Stiles thought they could do a better job running their own business.

And so, in January 2016, they left to start Future Kings – a branding agency which helps clients win “by using their brand as a business tool”.

Maintaining the belief that “if our clients succeed, so will we”, Future Kings helps businesses improve their performance by clearly defining, and then activating, their values and purpose.

It helps clients succeed by putting a single, powerful ‘Organising Idea’ at the heart of the company.

With 20 employees across offices in London and Bristol, this ‘organising idea’ has won over clients early on with Ascentric, Brunel’s SS Great Britain, Chetwood Financial Limited, Private Fly, Punter Southall Group and English Heritage among the businesses it’s already working with.

Supported by £600,000 investment from a private equity investor, the next 12 months hold UK expansion, more funding and more revenue.

Mott and Anderson have revealed that they plan to open a Manchester office and will continue to steadily increase revenue across its client list, while bringing on new talent to its team.

For ambitious start-ups, Future Kings has also recently launched a new proposition; Future Kings Ventures.

With too many start-ups missing out on investment opportunities by not having an easy to understand, compelling story, Future Kings Ventures will help these businesses bring their ideas to life – and get investors excited – by creating a brand identity, website and investor deck.

Ultimately, when will Mott and Anderson know they’ve succeed? The pair say it will all come down to “the satisfaction and reward of helping our amazing clients succeed.”

Founder: Karen Cabili
Founded: September 2016
Website: www.dropit.shop

Love shopping but hate carrying bags around with you?

Dropit is the solution you probably didn’t know existed – but you’re going to wish you did now.

Founded by Karen Cabili, Tech Pitch-featured Dropit is the hands-free shopping experience that allows consumers to shop without the hassle of worrying about what to do with their bags.

Cabili was inspired to start the business after indulging in a spot of retail therapy in New York in 2014. She found herself laden with bags but, having not yet perused all the shops, wanted a means to be able to continue on.

Acting as a network between consumers, retailers, their partners and courier providers, Dropit allows a customer to drop unlimited bags in any of its partner stores and then have them delivered to their home, office or hotel at a time that suits for a £10-day pass.

For retailers, Dropit can be used to monitor operations and analyse shopping behaviour to inform more relevant and targeted marketing campaigns and find new segments for growth and expansion.

As well as raking in revenue from consumers who buy day passes, it captures business-to-business (B2B) revenue from retailers who purchase them on behalf of customers.

Cabili says that the platform has been built as a “plug-and-play” solution, meaning it can be easily rolled out to most of the major shopping districts across London.

More than 100 retailers have already signed up including big names like Marks & Spencer, Gap, Uniqlo, Adidas, Disney, Lululemon, Paul Smith, Hunter and London’s premier shopping institution; Liberty.

At its core, Cabili wants her business to champion the old-school ‘Mr Selfridge’-style of customer service in a bid to ensure one of the world’s “oldest and most wonderful industries is around for many years to come”.

Founders: James Marchant
Founded: 2017
Website: www.bionicasystems.com

Having successfully exited Ion Core Zinter, which raised over $10m and is said to have become the largest manufacturer of desktop 3D printers in the UK, serial entrepreneur James Marchant has turned his attention to the world of computer numerical control (CNC) tools.

Marchant saw a gap in the market for manufacturing and retailing a range of high-quality, professional grade CNC machines, for both freestanding and desktop.

Launched in 2017, Bionica Systems delivers all its own machines and provides on-site customer training, including a complete demonstration of the process.

What are CNC machines, we hear you ask? First developed in the 1940s using punched tape technology, today’s machines now rely on digital instructions from a computer aided manufacturing (CAM) or computer aided design (CAD) software to inform the accurate cutting of stock material into prototype parts.

While CNC machines can’t make the complex shapes produced by 3D printing – which build things from the bottom up – it can deal with a much wider range of materials including various metals, wood, foam, fibreglass and plastics.

Bionica Systems has now sold its products to 119 customers including Renishaw PLC, which Marchant says confirmed to him that “despite being low cost”, his machines “are in the realms of the standards required by this high-tech company”.

Bolstered by the success of its current range, Bionica Systems will now focus on launching a range of laser machines and expanding into the European market.

Unlike his last business, Marchant has grown Bionica Systems without any external investment and already the business is targeting £1.5m in turnover for 2018.  A proven track record and innovative concept make this start-up one to watch in 2018.

Founders: Hamish Grierson, Eliot Brooks and Tom Livesey
Founded: February 2016 (launched June 2016)
Website: thriva.co

At the age of 16, Elliot Brooks was diagnosed with familial hypercholesterolemia – a genetic disorder characterised by high cholesterol that would require regular blood tests to monitor his health.

In the following years, Brooks became all too familiar with the inconvenience of booking doctor’s appointments and waiting weeks for the results.

Eventually, he asked to see his past results so he could plot his progress – and was shocked to learn that his cholesterol had been rising and a doctor hadn’t warned him.

It was then that Brooks had a lightbulb moment.

Inspired, he joined forces with Hamish Grierson and Tom Livesey to launch Thriva.

A home blood-testing subscription service, Thriva enables you to take your blood at home, send it to be tested and monitor your results – which are typically sent back to you within 48 hours – through an online dashboard.

Alongside convenience, Thriva’s offering can help you better understand how your lifestyle impacts your health so you can make positive changes (such as eating and exercising better) to improve your results.

Ultimately, Thriva’s goal is to be “the world’s first preventative healthcare service”. To this end, its results report on a specific set of “biomarkers” – such as cholesterol, iron, vitamin D levels and liver function.

The business has also started to offer access to health practitioners like dietitians through its Thriva for Specialists network, which currently has 500 professionals on board.

Today, less than two years after launch, Thriva has 20,000 subscribers across the UK and has raised £2.7m from angel investors including Indeed’s Paul Forester, TransferWise’s Taavet Hinrikus, LOVEFiLM’s Simon Franks and Zoopla’s Alex Chesterman.

In Autumn 2017, the trio were named among the Five to Watch in the Young Guns Class of 2017, and then went on to be shortlisted for Innovative Business of the Year at the Startups Awards 2017.

Next on its list on business conquests, Thriva plans to develop tests for saliva and urine, and try out alternative blood collection devices that will widen its usability.

Founders: Richard and Kerry Flanagan
Founded: March 2017 
Website: www.tshirtify.com

Richard Flanagan started his first t-shirt printing business – 8ball – in his twenties.

The company, which has now been operating successfully for 12 years, has printed and sold over three million t-shirts.

Buoyed by this success and recognising that smaller businesses and artists could benefit from a similar tee printing service, Flanagan and wife Kerry – a graphic designer and typographer – decided to shift the focus to launch Tshirtify.

An on-demand t-shirt printing service for social influencers, Tshirtify looks to help individuals and small brands to capitalise on their popularity to scale and influence more people.

The business partners with independent artists and illustrators, musicians and DJs (DJ Darren Styles is a client), sportswear and gym brands, satire sites, and small fashion brands.

While printing merchandise is its core service, Tshirtify goes further to help influencers and brands get off the ground. It offers on-going services such as Facebook marketing, Google data analysis, and website optimisation.

Claiming to be “top notch” at building web stores,  Tshirtify can also manage store builds for Facebook, Shopify, Amazon, Etsy and eBay – “leaving brands and influencers to focus on the things they love the most”.

There are no upfront costs for these services: clients pay a monthly fee of between £29 and £89 depending on the quality of product they want to sell and the additional services they require.

Core to the couple’s values is that business can be a force for good and, through their partnership with Buy 1 Give 1, ensure that there is a positive impact somewhere in the world with every t-shirt sold.

So what’s next? The Flanagans tell us that 2018 is “the year for Tshirtify to grow up”, with plans to help 50 entrepreneurs grow their businesses and to begin exploring how augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and 3D printing can open up new opportunities and enhance the wider garment industry.

Expansion to Europe and Asia is also on the cards as Tshirtify looks to access poorer nations where entrepreneurs with limited resources could really benefit from extra support to grow their businesses.

Founder: Tobi Crosbie
Founded: January 2015
Website: makingmoveslondon.co.uk

Tobi Crosbie has worked in the property industry for 15 years across multiple businesses, spanning large corporations to niche agency practices.

As a specialist in advising companies on their relocation strategies and providing guidance on their property plans, Crosbie found the commercial property sector to be “extremely corporate and archaic” with unnecessary jargon used when communicating with clients.

Recognising that small businesses and start-ups in particular would benefit from a commercial property service that spoke to them on a level and aligned with their brand and culture by offering a personal and approachable service, in 2015 Crosbie launched Making Moves London.

Working with high-growth businesses to help them source London office space and negotiate and manage their office move, Making Moves cuts the property jargon and keeps things as simple as possible, offering ‘real’ advice to clients “which is in their best interests, and not Making Moves”.

In addition, Making Moves operates a ‘No find, No fee’ model; only charging a client a fee once a property has been found for them.

In 2016, Making Moves secured high-profile retailer Matches Fashion as a client and acquired office space for them in The Shard. This moment, Crosbie asserts, marked a key milestone for Making Moves; enabling the property finder to make a name for itself in the industry.

Fast forward to 2018 and Making Moves has now worked with more than 100 companies, including a number of fast-growth start-ups such as Farfetch, Bloom and Wild, and Blis Media, and is already generating strong revenues and profits.

The business has also created a free guide to help other fast-growing start-ups find their perfect office space.

With a team of 11 and company turnover set to hit £1m for 2018, Crosbie is confident that the next 12 months holds more growth in store for Making Moves  – and this includes plans to expand and diversify the business.

For instance, a new department, Making Moves Technical, is currently in development to advise clients on building surveys, project management and exit costs from their existing property.

Beyond 12 months? Crosbie wants Making Moves London to become the number one property adviser to start ups and small and medium enterprises in the UK.