2020 has been a year of uncertainty, but staging.startups.co.uk is sure about one thing – now more than ever, it’s vital to celebrate the hard work and dedication that makes starting a successful business such an incredible achievement.

The unveiling of the Startups 100 has long been a key date in the business calendar, but this year, we want it to be something more. We want 2020’s index to be a totem that brings the startups community together, in a climate where it may feel like there isn’t much worth celebrating.

We were humbled to receive hundreds of applications from startups from all around the UK, and whittling down our top 100 was a tough task. From disruptive tech to pure play powerhouses, we enjoyed learning about every single business that entered our inbox.

Open to all UK startups that have launched in the last five years, it was great to see some familiar faces, and lots and lots of new ones. We were also really happy to see such a variety of business sectors represented.

Startups 100 alumni include Deliveroo, Monzo, and Revolut – all of which have gone on to become major household names. So, with this year’s list seeing some seriously impressive figures, products, and ideas, we can’t wait to see what great things the future has in store for our 2020 applicants.

Want to get straight into the list? Look no further – start reading here!

Introducing the Startups 100 2020

Two of the most important ranking factors for the Startups 100 are finances and turnover. As such, we were incredibly impressed to discover that 2020’s applicants have collectively raised £650m in finance and investment, with a collective annual turnover of £650m. What’s more, the businesses predict a massive increase in the coming months, with £1.3bn projected turnover between them for the next financial year.

But our sophisticated scoring system doesn’t stop there. We also look at the strength of the business idea, add weight to scores based on when the business was founded, and ask successful entrepreneurs to give us their thoughts on our pick of the best startup businesses. If you’re interested, you can read a full ranking methodology here.

Not only does this allow us to make a fair judgement,  it also gives us deep insight into startup trends – from the businesses making the world a better place to the ones disrupting their industries. It also enables us to recognise standout businesses in several categories: Tech, Family, Social, B2C, B2B, and Regional.

So, after a week of discussions, spreadsheets, and points allocation, we’re now ready to reveal the Startups 100 class of 2020. Start reading through today!

The Startups 100 Top 5

As the world becomes increasingly reliant on digital technology, more innovative online startup ideas are coming to the table. This is evident in the Startups 100 top 5, which sees five web-based businesses take the top spots.

• Trouva
• Neos
• Cudoni
• Perlego
• Tempo

1. Trouva

Helping over 900 independent boutiques around the world compete with ecommerce giants, Trouva bridges the gap between the high street and peoples’ living rooms. In fact, throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, Trouva has been a lifeline for its partners, enabling 70% of them to continue trading. This determination, along with its super-strong financials, has earned it the top spot on the Startups 100.

2. Neos

Snatching second place overall on your first ever Startups 100 application is no mean feat, which goes to show that having a distinctive and disruptive product can really make a difference. Neos enables customers to purchase its smart home gadgets and integrates with leading insurance companies to offer smart home insurance. This combined product offering saw customer acquisitions surpass 150,000 in less than a year – impressive stuff.

3. Cudoni

Buying and selling luxury items is very different to the everyday eBay listing, which is why Cudoni has seen a lot of early stage success. It provides ‘absolute convenience’ by taking care of everything, from photography to fulfillment. And its figures speak for itself – working on commission, Cudoni is expecting to sell more than 100,000 luxury items to 100 countries in 2020. No wonder it’s trusted by celebrities like Millie Mackintosh.

4. Perlego

College, university, even online courses – they’re expensive pursuits, and become even more expensive when you take into account the reading material required to complete the course. Perlego saw a gap that needed to be filled. Offering subscription-based access to a vast digital library of academic texts, the startup has seen a 116% month-on-month increase in new subscribers, and has just secured $9m dollars in funding. Certainly a worthy 4th place winner.

5. Tempo

We can all agree that recruitment is hard work. It takes time, money, and a lot of patience. Thankfully, Tempo exists to up the pace. Claiming to reduce the ‘time to hire’ to just four days and cut costs by 65%, its machine learning pairs candidates and businesses based on ‘rich-format CVs’. With the likes of Monzo, Bulb, and ASOS on board with its intelligent approach to recruitment, Tempo’s third Startups 100 entry sees it cruise to 5th place.

2020’s Startup 100 entries have amassed some impressive figures. Having collectively secured £650m in investment and £650m in turnover for the last financial year, pre-Covid provided a healthy climate in which startup businesses could flourish and ripen.

Now, with countries opening back up and industries raring to go, we have all of our fingers crossed that our Startups 100, our applicants, and the rest of the startups community sees the projected growth and positive finances they’ve worked so hard for. 

With hundreds of incredible new businesses applying for the Startups 100 every year, the staging.startups.co.uk team spends a lot of time perfecting the ranking and judging processes to make sure the very best new ventures get the recognition they deserve.

The criteria for entry are simple: you must be a UK-based business, founded in the last five years.

During the application stage, we ask businesses to provide us with insight into their operations. This can range from details of any funds or investment raised, to letting us know what they believed makes them stand out. From there, we begin our ranking process.

The first step in ranking the Startups 100 is an assessment of the businesses’ financial position. We provide weighted scores based on:

• Finance raised
• Turnover for the previous financial year

The second stage in the ranking process is more subjective. A shortlist of businesses is provided to the Startups team, with the finances removed, so that judgements can be made based on the strength of the business idea.

This second round of ranking is imperative, as it offers an opportunity to recognise businesses that may underperform financially, despite having a strong idea. This is particularly the case for businesses in the growth stage – where they might be losing money with a view to long-term growth – but also for businesses in the charity sector, which often have lower turnover and profit margins.

Want to see the results? Start reading today with position number 100, Mia & Ben!

Founders: Daniel Auner and Karina Gentgen
Founded: 2017
Website: www.miabenorganic.com

Mia & Ben set out to provide a convenient ready-made baby food product that is as fresh and nutritious as anything made at home.

Inspiration for the Startup came when founders Daniel Auner and Karina Gentgen noticed that there weren’t any fresh ready-to-go baby food options on sale in UK supermarkets. It was all found in the tins and cupboard aisles alongside other long-life goods.

They set out to launch a fresh food product, with the same taste and nutritional benefits as a homemade puree but with all the convenience of a ready-to-go product.

The company has been able to achieve this by using technology called high-pressure processing (HPP). This treatment can make food safer to eat and extend shelf-life without altering flavour or reducing the vitamin content, which is something that can happen with more typical methods such as pasteurisation and sterilisation.

As the first company to offer ready to baby food made using this innovative process Mia & Ben is a very worthy inclusion in this year’s index. The number of retailers stocking its products is expanding. Earning an Ocado listing was the first big breakthrough for the company, which Auner and Gentgen spoke to us about in a previous interview. Since then things have gone from strength to strength and you can now find Mia & Ben products for sale at Sainsbury’s, Abel & Cole and Dunnes Stores.

Research and development remains a priority for the company. Auner and Gentgen have said they would love to expand the product range to include new options. They would also like to launch in other European markets where they have already received some positive feedback.

If they succeed, perhaps the sight of baby food in the fresh aisles of the supermarket will become the rule rather than the exception.

Founder: Askar Bulegenov and Alexander Zhexembayev
Founded: 2017
Website: www.grocemania.co.uk

Delivery services can make grocery shopping incredibly convenient, but they’re more important than that. They may be the only option for many people trapped at home, whether from a disability, childcare responsibilities or even, bear with me here, a global pandemic.

Grocemania, launched in 2017 by founders Askar Bulegenov and Alexander Zhexembayev, aims to bring affordable grocery and household item delivery services to everyone.

The UK-based business teams up with local convenience or specialised stores to ensure a fresh product can arrive quickly. They charge consumers as little as £2.50 per drop, though there’s an added product mark-up of 20% to 30% on each order. In exchange, customers will get dozens of local stores within a single app, with deliveries that take just 36 minutes on average.

This business model is a boon for the stores as well, since they can’t afford a delivery team of their own. Grocemania creates and manages each online store account, without charging stores anything. By refusing to ask for commissions or joining fees, the service helps independent retailers make more sales while competing with bigger online retailers like Ocado and Amazon. Top stores on the Grocemania platform are generating an impressive £20,000 per month.

Today, Grocemania’s future is bright: the service has more than 6,000 drivers active across the UK, and has nearly reached 100 partner stores. As delivery services are only becoming more and more essential to our daily lives, Grocemania has plenty of room to grow as fast as the produce it delivers.

Founders: Max Parmentier, Rajiv Tanna, Abeed Mohammed, Gwen Le Calvez
Founded: 2017
Website: www.birdie.care

Recognising that more needs to be done to solve the ageing crisis, Birdie founders Max Parmentier, Rajiv Tanna, Abeed Mohammed, and Gwen Le Calvez developed a platform that would bring elderly care to a whole new level.

Birdie is a tech platform fastforwarding elderly care into the future. Its holistic approach means every person within an elderly person’s care network is kept up to date with their general condition, care visits, and health stats.

The clever platform integrates with home monitoring devices, clinical devices, and NHS systems, and soon it’ll have the capability to take biometric observations, such as temperature and blood pressure.

Its machine learning can combine data from all of the above to identify potential health risks before they happen. Birdie claims that this, alongside promoting an open channel of communication between all caregivers, could lower hospital admissions by 50%.

Birdie currently has over 10,000 users, and the positive numbers keep flooding in.

On top of that, the Birdie team has grown to a size of 50+ people in just three years, and has recently been recognised for its innovative approach to staff engagement by being voted number one in Real Business’ UK Culture Leader Awards 2019.

As the healthcare sector becomes increasingly reliant on new technology, we’re sure Birdie’s success will continue to soar.

Founder: Katie White
Founded: 2016
Website: www.relax-ldn.com

Many of us will experience some form of skin complaint in our lives, which we’ll try to manage using the same blanket advice and treatments that, more often than not, are ineffective.

Having worked in the cosmetics industry for a number of years, Katie White was all too aware of this lack of accessible, tailored help for skin health.

In 2016, she founded re:lax, and set out to bring healthy, happy skin to the masses using her unique, three-pronged approach of nutritional therapy, lifestyle, and skincare.

The re:lax method recognises that, while many people may suffer from conditions such as acne or rosacea, no two clients are the same, and they deserve to be treated as individuals. But most importantly, it recognises that our skin is a reflection of what’s going on inside the body.

After a one on one consultation, re:lax designs a bespoke skincare solution for each client, incorporating everything from ancient techniques like Gua Sha and facial reflexology to modern treatments like LED light therapy and high frequency techniques.

Rather than pushing products, re:lax fosters relationships with its clients, providing ongoing treatment, support, and education to ensure they get the best results for their skin.

And that’s not all. Passionate about her approach, White started re:lax Skin School, an accredited course that trains facialists through a combination of practical workshops and tutorials. Since its launch last year, more than 60 people have been through Skin School.

The multi-billion pound beauty industry can be a confusing and impersonal space, so it’s great to see re:lax making waves with its genuine, person-centric approach.

Founder: Adam McCann
Founded: 2018
Website: www.claimer.io

Claimer founder Adam McCann found that submitting tax relief claims in the R&D sector was a nightmare, and so Claimer was born. The fintech platform makes it 10 times quicker and considerably cheaper for businesses to claim their tax returns. In fact, Claimer’s big claim is that businesses can save an average of £8,096 on fees.

So, how does it work? Businesses are required to enter their relevant financials, or the system can automatically pull their figures directly from their accountancy software. Then, the Claimer team checks and enhances the claim and submits it to HMRC.

Rather than charging 20% or 30% of the total amount saved, Claimer charges just 5% capped at £10,000. This, in addition to its 100% success rate, has earned Claimer a coveted five star TrustPilot rating.

Popular with SMEs and startups, Claimer has processed claims as small as £1,000 and as large as £2m, and it’s finding that more and more businesses are choosing to use its platform.

Since being founded in 2018, Claimer has grown to a team of six. A combination of tax specialists and developers, Claimer is committed to using and improving technology to help bring filing tax claims into the future.

Founders: Paul Landau
Founded: 2018
Website: www.careology.health

Having worked in healthtech for 15 years, Careology founder Paul Landau was no stranger to finding innovative solutions to huge gaps in the health care sector.

When his wife was having treatment for cancer, Landau realised there was a space for technology that could help her to remember her pills, record how she was feeling, and connect her to a support network. Soon after, Careology was born.

Careology provides patient-first digital solutions. There’s the careology app – which is available through health insurance and healthcare agencies – and Careology Professional – a web platform for care agencies.

The app connects with wearable technologies, and assists with medication management, symptom tracking, and journal entries. The Careology Professional web platform enables clinicians and nurses to track patients’ conditions in real time.

In a sentence, both platforms empower those involved in cancer treatment to effectively manage the treatment plan. With better management and better communication, Landau believes all involved can benefit from more peace of mind, and the technology has been a big hit with leading private healthcare providers, insurance companies and charities.

With deployment due in 2020, we’re looking forward to seeing how much of an impact this new technology has on the lives of those going through cancer treatment, and on those providing the care.

Founders: Robert Dawson, Sarah Warren, and Paul Hallett
Founded: 2017
Website: www.joiipetcare.com

Vet-AI is disrupting the £100bn veterinary market by offering an app that gives pet owners access to professional veterinary advice and treatment in just a few taps. Consisting of leading figureheads from veterinary and entrepreneurial backgrounds, the Vet-AI team is well qualified to succeed in its mission.

Vet-AI’s flagship brand Joii was launched in 2019, and at the heart of the Joii app is Vet-AI’s patented AI technology, which predicts a pet’s likelihood of contracting a disease based on learned information.

In fact, so significant is Vet-AI’s technology, the research and development team behind the app has moved to the University of Leeds R&D Centre, where it’s been joined by Nexus and leading academics to further develop the AI technology.

The app is available on Google Play and the App Store, and is already amassing an incredible 500 downloads an hour. Not only that, it’s gained the backing of pet insurance giant Animal Friends, and leading animal welfare charity the PDSA.

Having been recognised as a top six B2C start-up in Europe by TechCrunch/Google in 2019, Vet-AI’s dedication to technological innovation alongside a customer-centric approach to business is certainly gaining it traction, and we can’t wait to see what else the future has in store for this startup.

Founders: Mads Holmen & Rich Simmonds
Founded: 2015
Website: www.bibblio.com

A London-based business founded in 2015 by Mads Holmen and Rich Simmonds, Bibblio is all about helping businesses create loyal fans, which is one of the reasons it’s made the Startups 100 index two years in a row.

In 2020, engaging with users is far from a walk in the park. Outside of getting their attention and keeping it, companies and individuals around the world are scrambling to find genuine, monetisable strategies that can get people to actually engage with their content. That’s where Bibblio comes in.

As a SaaS content recommendation platform, Bibblio helps companies and individuals to facilitate an appealing discovery funnel by nudging and suggesting additional resources that coincides with user needs and desires. Thanks to AI and machine learning, the software can recommend content based on meaningful information, rather than relying on questionable and unpopular adtech-based strategies.

Bibblio’s approach to improve the content funnel of businesses is three fold: lessen bounce rate, improve performance of revenue-based content, and advanced syndication opportunities. With this strategy, users will be able to attract loyal readers, make money, and spread their brand to new users.

With an impressive client list ranging from National Geographic to The Drum, Bibblio has been making waves in the industry for a while. We’re excited to see who this startup is going to help next.