Founder: Stuart Cheetham and Richard Fitch
Founded: 2019
Website: www.mqube.com

M:QUBE’s mission is to cut all the agonising paperwork out of financing a home purchase. Currently, the time-consuming application process can leave borrowers paying 4% more than cash buyers or even missing out on opportunities entirely.

Stuart Cheetham and Richard Fitch founded M:QUBE in 2019 to address this issue. Through their speedy AI-enabled platform, brokers’ application processing time can drop from 10 hours to just a few minutes.

M:QUBE’s deep learning tech lets its platform source and analyse over 1,000 data-points on individual borrowers to support accurate, real-time underwriting. The lenders that M:QUBE works with — banks, non-bank lenders, asset managers, and insurers — pay M:QUBE a fee for each high-quality mortgage origination the operation delivers at scale.

There are plenty of competing mortgage startups in the £270bn per annum UK mortgage sector, but many simply digitise the application process, rather than fully replacing it with faster automation. M:QUBE doesn’t disrupt the broker system, though, but streamlines it instead: armed with the M:QUBE platform, mortgage brokers can source the best mortgage for their borrowers, with scalable distribution. It’s a mutually beneficial deal for borrowers, lenders and brokers alike.

M:QUBE stands out by giving consumers a better purchase price, higher borrowing potential, and a (relatively) stress-free experience with what may well be the single biggest investment decision of their lives. And, by partnering with existing lenders, M:QUBE can pair the best mortgage products with its unique process.

In a crowded market, M:QUBE is standing strong, and standing out.

Founder: Blake Anthony Reddy
Founded: 2019
Website: www.easyguide.biz

Founded in 2019 by CEO Blake Anthony Reddy, the easyGuide service is headquartered in London, but pairs over 100 million customers per year with a bespoke itinerary of potential activities within any one of 30 different major cities around the world.

The platform’s recommendation engine uses customer profiles and geo-location data to figure out the best events, restaurants, tours, or theatre shows to suggest.

Once a customer finds something they like, they can book tickets directly from easyGuide. As a bonus, the easyGuide platform delivers special discounts from hundreds of local establishments. Since easyGuide is part of the larger “easy” portfolio that includes easyJet and easyHotel, it has a money-saving ethos to live up to, as well as the connections to find extra deals that do just that.

Users can opt for easyGuide’s itinerary planner service, which pairs a series of recommendations with a potential route for exploring the city in question. It’s a boon for those who love exploring a new city but can get overwhelmed by the choices. Say you’ve already bought tickets to allow two adults and two children to attend Madame Tussauds in London for 11am: easyGuide will assume you’re looking for lunch, and can offer up a range of the top family-oriented restaurants within walking distance of the famous wax museum.

When relying on easyGuide, customers might not know what they’ll get. But that’s the point. easyGuide offers people a chance to uncover an event they didn’t know they’d love. And that’s what we love about it, and why we consider it one of the best startups of 2020.

Founder: Sam Amrani
Founded: 2019
Website: www.olvin.com

It’s easy to understand what Olvin does. It helps retailers, property owners, and product based businesses that rely on brick and mortar for their trade to understand their customers better by using predictive behavioural analytics.

How it does this is altogether more complicated, but stunningly clever.

Brainchild of Sam Amrani, Olvin’s Almanac AI engine makes use of a variety of data sets, including property prices, demographics, mobility, and open-data, to assess the probability of billions of events and whether they’ve had a positive or negative impact on trade.

The stats are dizzying: 10 million points of interest analysed, 1 billion data points processed per day, and 10 trillion potential outcomes…

The beauty of this is that all the information is then condensed and conveyed on a smart and simple interface, with detailed forecasts on consumer trends that clients can use to make proactive decisions about how to run their businesses.

These insights can help brick and mortar businesses be as reactive and flexible as online rivals, levelling the playing field in an increasingly digital retail sector.

Olvin’s clients can opt for a premium ($199/month) or a pro ($249/month) plan, the difference between them being how many data sets are processed, and, therefore, the level of insight provided.

Although there have been insight platforms before, Olvin’s absolute focus on the consumer factors that can determine the success or failure of a business looks set to be a gamechanger…

Founder: Artjom Jekimtsev
Founded: 2015
Website: www.adverttu.com

In a world where even billboards have gone digital, you might think that wrapped vehicles are a bit, well, old-fashioned. But think again.

Founded by Artjom Jekimstev in 2015, Adverttu claims that each of the vehicles in its 17,000-strong fleet achieves an average of 20,900 impressions – that’s the number of people that see your content – per day, equating to 8 million impressions per year.

That means on a cost per thousand impressions (CPM) basis, it works out cheaper than nearly every other form of out of home advertising – at 79p CPM, compared to 97p CPM for billboards and £5.62 CPM for radio.

And it’s highly data driven. Adverttu can simulate and predict audiences, time periods, and locations for a client’s proposed campaign before they’ve committed. Once a campaign is live, Adverttu tracks and reports on a wealth of detailed analytics, which the client can monitor and assess using an online platform.

But who are the people driving around in these heavily-branded cars? Adverttu’s drivers are gig workers, everyday people, commercial fleet drivers, delivery drivers, and drivers for any business that wants to maximise its fleet’s promotional impact. Individual drivers, who can earn up to £150/month by wrapping their car, are matched with campaigns through the Adverttu’s mobile app.

The client then pays for the graphics and the wrapping costs, and drivers are charged a flexible service fee per mile from their impressions generated.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Adverttu launched an NHS Volunteer Programme, which connects businesses and brands with Adverttu’s drivers working across gig economy delivery services, healthcare, the military, the public sector, and NHS Volunteers.

With a savvy business model and a driven team, this startup is gearing up for a big future.

Founders: Julianne Ponan
Founded: 2016
Website: www.creativenaturesuperfoods.co.uk

Frustrated at the lack of nut-free products on offer that weren’t full of additives, anaphylaxis sufferer Julianne Ponan decided that she’d just have to make her own.

After a bit of trial and error and a few iterations of its signature bars, Creative Nature was launched in 2016, with a range of healthy, vegan, allergy-free bars and baking mixes.

With both vegan and allergy-free food consumption rising dramatically year on year, Ponan launched just at the right time. Today, Creative Nature’s products are sold in thousands of Asda, Tesco, and Coop stores across the country

Over the last few years the brand has picked up a host of awards, including UK Small Business of the Year 2018 at the FSB Awards, and a Great Taste Award in 2017 – the first high protein snack bar to do so.

Creative Nature also had a successful appearance on Dragons’ Den in 2017, landing an offer of £75,000 from Deborah Meaden for 25% of the business. But Ponan ended up turning the offer down and went on to secure funding through crowdfunding site Seedrs.

Creative Nature is proving what it set out to do – show that free from gluten, dairy, nuts, or sweeteners doesn’t need to mean free from flavour. This is a product reflective of a generation, and we see plenty of tasty success ahead for Creative Nature.

Founders: Celia Pool and Alec Mills
Founded: 2018
Website: www.wearedame.co

Period plastic is now the fifth most common type of plastic to wash up on European beaches. In the UK alone, 1.3 billion tampon applicators are thrown away every year.

Founded by Celia Pools and Alec Mills in 2018, DAME is the startup helping women switch to a kinder, more sustainable sanitary alternative.

In January 2019, it launched what it claims is the world’s first reusable tampon applicator. Designed by medical engineers using ‘self-sanitising technology’, DAME says its product can help a woman save 12,000 single-use applicators over her lifetime.

And that’s not all. DAME also sells a range of 100% organic cotton tampons. Unlike many tampons, which contain synthetics such as pesticides and chlorine (which can leak into a woman’s body as well as the environment), DAME’s tampons are toxin free, hypoallergenic and biodegradable – and all its packaging is either reused, reusable, or from recycled resources.

What really impresses us about DAME is that it’s also committed to changing the conversation around periods. Rather than the narratives of shame, fear, and discretion pushed by mainstream brands, DAME wants to normalise periods and create a product that women are proud to own.

What’s more, it’s a certified B Corp, which means it meets the highest environmental and ethical standards. And, in October last year, it was certified as the UK’s first Carbon Neutral Plus brand, and now offsets its carbon emissions twice over.

Whichever way you look at it, DAME is a business that’s truly aiming to be a force for good – and, at the moment, that’s the kind of business the world needs more than ever.

Founders: Josy Rolls and Ray Healey
Founded: 2020
Website: www.hivemindedhabits.com

What makes a business great? Increasingly, businesses are recognising that success should be measured beyond such crude metrics as profit. It’s a good indicator of some things, sure, but what’s the point in a cash-rich company that’s full of miserable employees.

That’s the idea behind Hive Minded, a fledgling not-for-profit organisation (it was only launched this year!) that’s aiming to help workers release stress, improve their mental health and access skills that they can pass onto their own families.

Founded by working mums Josy Rolls and Ray Healey, Hive Minded launched its first crowdfunding campaign just as COVID-19 began to rear its ugly head. Because of this, the organisation decided that its first focus would be a wellness project for key workers.

Hive Minded has teamed up with an array of wellness practitioners to launch a series of free video resources that demonstrate simple yet effective practices to help relieve stress and anxiety, such as yoga, meditation, self-massage, and even foraging.

In a world where jobseekers and consumers are demanding more transparency around business practices, and companies are recognising that looking after their employees and helping them to fulfil their potential has a positive knock on impact for the company, Hive Minded is poised for success in every sense of the word.

Founders: Mark Picton, Daniel Hewlett
Founded: 2017
Website: www.sondr.co.uk

The best way to think of Bristol-based SONDR is as a one-stop business improvement shop. Founded by Mark Picton and Daniel Hewlett, SONDR helps its clients to create websites, craft email campaigns, devise content strategies, get noticed on social media, and develop persuasive brand identities.

Moreover, all this is driven by data – a research and development phase identifies the target audience, and what sort of content they are likely to respond to. The team also prides itself on speaking to clients in a language they understand, rather than baffling them with acronyms and marketing jargon.

It’s an approach that’s garnered SONDR a large and diverse client base – their previous work involves everything from market research for an independent department store to designing a logo for a junior rugby club.

SONDR typically works with clients on a retainer basis – meaning the company has the time to really dig down into the fundamentals of the client business and work out how it can help the client to achieve its business goals.

This holistic approach ensures a genuinely collaborative process, with SONDR empowering and guiding its clients, giving them the benefit of their years of experience and specialist expertise.

Having already grown rapidly since it was founded in 2017, SONDR is well on its way to becoming one of the UK’s leading full-service marketing agencies.

Founder: Jennifer Quigley-Jones
Founded: 2017
Website: www.digitalvoices.co.uk

The rise of YouTube has been one of the defining media trends of the past two decades, with audiences flocking to watch content produced by a new generation of creative video makers. Digital Voices, a specialist marketing agency, allows brands to tap into the tastes of this new generation, helping its clients to work with YouTube creators to produce compelling sponsored content.

Unsurprisingly, it was founded by a former YouTube employee. Jennifer Quigley-Jones left Google (YouTube’s parent company) in 2017 and started Digital Voices with £500 in her business account. Three years later, the company has an annual turnover of £1m, and has become the go-to agency for brands that want to reach YouTube’s huge audience.

The key to its success is simple – Digital Voices is an unashamed specialist, it focuses on YouTube, and knows it inside out. The team of nine has an average age of 25 and everyone is either a YouTube creator, ex-YouTube employee, or YouTube obsessive. This gives the company an unparalleled insight into what people want to watch, and what creators want to make.

All clients are guaranteed organic results and these are achieved through bold creative campaigns, like funding vloggers travelling up and down the UK to promote Trainline’s mobile app, or sticking YouTuber Tom Scott in a centrifuge to plug the RAF.

A dynamic startup that’s perfectly placed to take advantage of the new media landscape, expect Digital Voices’ star to continue to rise.

Founder: Asaf Navot
Founded: 2016
Website: www.home-made.com

Proptech (short for property technology) has been a boom area in the past few years, with startups using 21st-century tech to make finding and selling your home easier and more affordable.

Home Made has now done the same thing for lettings – offering a personalised digital service that means renters can easily find their dream home, and landlords can quickly find the right tenants for their property.

However, Home Made hasn’t abandoned the old ways altogether. Renters can still see properties in person, with viewings arranged to fit their schedule, generally in the evening after work or at the weekend. For landlords, valuations are still based on an in-person visit by a property expert.

The rest of the process though is digital – forms and contracts are submitted online, a bespoke portal shows landlords exactly how much interest there is in their property, and, for both landlords and renters, expert help is always a WhatsApp message away.

Combining a personal service with bespoke tech, Home Made are able to let property in an average marketing time of eight days, and its success-based fees mean that landlords only pay when they get a positive result.

All this has helped Home Made become a fixture on the London property scene – the company is now working with some of Europe’s leading property funds, has hundreds of positive reviews on Trustpilot, and has now featured in the Startups 100 list twice in four years.

Young, dynamic, and growing rapidly, this proptech disruptor is definitely one to keep an eye on.