Directory

United Kingdom startup ecosystem

The UK — and London in particular — remains Europe's deepest capital market for startups. World-class universities, a strong financial services sector, and a dense network of experienced operators make it a magnet for fintech, AI, and biotech ventures. Despite Brexit-related shifts, the UK continues to produce more unicorns than any other European country. The directory currently lists 270 organisations across 17 cities.

270 entries.

11x

London, United Kingdom · Startup

11x is the breakout star of the UK's agentic AI wave, known for building "digital workers" that replace full job functions rather than merely assisting them. Founded in 2022 by Hasan Sukkar, the company frames its product as autonomous employees rather than software tools. That positioning is controversial, but it resonates with revenue teams seeking to eliminate manual drudgery and scale outreach without linear headcount growth. The flagship product, Alice, is an AI Sales Development Representative that can source leads, research accounts, craft highly personalized outreach, and follow up continuously. In late 2024, 11x launched Jordan, a multilingual AI phone agent that conducts real-time voice conversations for qualification and support in more than 30 languages. Together, these agents can run a large portion of the outbound funnel end-to-end, from initial outreach to handoff, with human oversight focused on high-value exceptions. By early 2026, 11x had exploded in valuation after a Series B led by Andreessen Horowitz, a rare win for a UK-first startup. The company processes millions of interactions for high-growth tech companies such as Otter.ai and Airwallex and is expanding its footprint in San Francisco to preempt US-based competitors. The roadmap centers on "digital teams" that coordinate multiple agents across tasks: one agent identifies a lead, another calls, a third negotiates logistics, and a final agent drafts the contract. This orchestration layer is the company's strategic bet on becoming the default system for revenue operations. The company's roots include Y Combinator's Summer 2023 batch, which accelerated its US network and credibility, and its UK engineering base sits in the London Bridge tech hub. Investor support spans US and European capital: a16z led the Series B, Benchmark led the Series A, Lux Capital participated early, Quiet Capital backed growth, and 20VC provided influential local support. In 2026, 11x is the UK's most visible play on AI-native revenue teams, aiming to become a category-defining platform for autonomous sales operations.

9fin

London, United Kingdom · Startup

9fin is a London-based AI-native intelligence platform for credit and debt capital markets, founded in 2016 by Steven Hunter and Hussam El-Sheikh. The platform provides real-time data, news, analytics, and document-extraction tools to banks, asset managers, law firms, and advisors covering leveraged finance, private credit, and distressed debt. In March 2026, 9fin raised $170 million in a Series C round at a $1.3 billion valuation, reaching unicorn status. Over 300 leading financial institutions use the platform.

Accel (London)

London, United Kingdom · Venture Capital

Accel is one of the world's most active early-stage venture firms and has been the leading transatlantic investor in European technology since opening its London office in 2000. Operating through dedicated Europe & Israel funds — the eighth closed at $650M in May 2024 — the London team writes seed and Series A cheques of $1–20M, targeting up to 30 companies per fund across software, AI, cybersecurity, fintech and consumer internet. Accel's European track record is unmatched: early bets on Spotify (Sweden), Supercell (Finland, $8.6bn Tencent deal), UiPath (Romania, NYSE IPO 2021), Vinted, Celonis, Monzo, Deliveroo, GoCardless and BlaBlaCar established its reputation for category-defining companies across 20+ countries. Recent deals continue the pattern — Accel led the $200M Series A in Swedish AI app-builder Lovable in 2025, one of the largest Series A rounds in European history. The London partnership includes Sonali De Rycker, Harry Nelis, Luca Bocchio and Philippe Botteri, the last of whom authors Accel's closely watched annual Euroscape report on European cloud and AI.

Ada Ventures

London, United Kingdom · Venture Capital

Ada Ventures is a London-based pre-seed and seed fund founded in 2019 by Check (Francesca) Warner MBE and Matt Bradley, focused on backing diverse founders building breakthrough technology across climate equity, economic empowerment, and healthy ageing. The firm closed its first fund at $50 million and raised a second fund of £63 million in March 2024, bringing total assets under management to over £100 million. Ada distinguishes itself as Europe's first VC fund explicitly designed to address underrepresentation in the startup ecosystem, investing £250K–£1M per company and running a scout and angel programme to surface talent overlooked by traditional networks.

AdMagica

London, United Kingdom · Startup

AdMagica is a generative AI platform for e-commerce ad creative production, with corporate presence in London and core operations in Tbilisi. The product helps performance marketing teams generate, resize, and test conversion-oriented creatives faster across social channels, reducing creative fatigue and production overhead. The company emerged from the 500 Eurasia Batch 9 ecosystem and targets European commerce brands.

AI & Big Data Expo Global 2026

London, United Kingdom · Event

Conference and expo at ExCeL London covering enterprise AI, data platforms, and applied machine learning, co-located with IoT and Blockchain expos. Attracts thousands of developers and enterprise buyers. Free expo passes available; paid conference passes about GBP 499-1099. Strong for AI and data startups targeting enterprise customers.

AI Summit London 2027

London, United Kingdom · Event

AI Summit London 2027 returns to Tobacco Dock as one of the longest-running enterprise-focused AI conferences in Europe, gathering CIOs, data leaders, vendors, and AI-native startups. The two-day program covers practical deployment of generative AI, agentic systems, and AI governance across regulated industries. Dates are officially announced on the event's website.

Airspeed

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Agent-native AI platform for go-to-market execution, founded by ex-DeepMind researchers (formerly Glyphic). Autonomous agents act on commercial context across calls, emails, tickets and CRM to update systems, flag risks and generate follow-ups for revenue teams.

Alan Chang

London, United Kingdom · Person

Co-founder and CEO of Fuse Energy and an early Revolut executive who served as its chief revenue officer. He started Fuse to build a vertically integrated renewable-energy and battery business.

Alex Chesterman

London, United Kingdom · Person

Serial UK entrepreneur who founded Cazoo, the online used-car retailer, after building Zoopla and LoveFilm. A prolific consumer-internet founder, he took Cazoo public via SPAC in 2021.

Allica Bank

London, United Kingdom · Startup

British challenger bank for established SMEs offering business current accounts, savings, commercial mortgages, and asset and invoice finance. Secured its banking licence in 2019; among the UK's fastest-growing companies.

Amber Therapeutics

Oxford, United Kingdom · Startup

Amber Therapeutics is an Oxford-based bioelectronics medtech company developing next-generation implantable neuromodulation devices for pelvic and nervous system disorders such as overactive bladder. Spun out from the University of Oxford, the company combines advanced microelectronics with closed-loop stimulation algorithms that adapt treatment in real time based on patient physiology. Amber has raised funding from deep-tech and life-science investors to advance its platform through clinical development. The company represents a growing wave of UK-based bioelectronic medicine startups tackling chronic conditions with precision device therapies.

Artificial

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Artificial, operating as Artificial Labs, provides digital broking and underwriting technology for the specialty and commercial insurance markets, with a focus on the Lloyd's of London and global wholesale London market. Its two primary products are Smart Underwriting, a digital underwriting platform helping carriers deploy capital on lead and follow risks, and Smart Placement, placement-strategy tooling for brokers. Reported partners include Apollo, PPL, Lockton, Convex, Chaucer, and BMS Group. Headquartered in London, the company raised a $45M Series B in February 2026 to fund global expansion.

Aspora

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Aspora, formerly known as Vance, is a cross-border banking and remittance fintech for the Indian diaspora, primarily serving non-resident Indians sending money to India. It offers international money transfers at live mid-market exchange rates, alongside expanding products including currency savings accounts, bill payments, and mutual-fund investing, with further banking, credit, and insurance services planned. The company launched as Vance in Y Combinator's Winter 2022 batch and rebranded to Aspora in April 2025. It is headquartered in London with additional offices in Bengaluru and Dubai.

Atomico

London, United Kingdom · Venture Capital

Atomico is a leading European venture capital firm founded in 2006 by Niklas Zennström, the co-founder of Skype. Headquartered in London with roots in Stockholm, Atomico focuses on backing ambitious tech founders across Europe at Series A and beyond. The firm manages several billion dollars across multiple funds and has built a portfolio of household names. Atomico’s approach leverages Zennström’s global experience – the firm often helps startups expand internationally and recruits senior talent via its notable “Executive-in-Residence” program. Atomico has invested in companies spanning fintech, deep tech, software, and consumer internet. Notable successes include Klarna (the Swedish fintech giant), Supercell (Finnish gaming, acquired by Tencent), Graphcore (UK AI chips), and MessageBird (Netherlands communications platform). Atomico was also an early backer of Stripe in the US and Viagogo. The firm is known for publishing the annual “State of European Tech” report, reflecting its thought leadership in the ecosystem. In terms of investment size, Atomico typically leads or co-leads Series A–C rounds with cheques of $5–$50 million, and it has the capacity to follow-on through later stages. It closed its fifth fund of $820 million in 2020 and a $1.2 billion fund in 2022, underscoring investor confidence in European tech. Atomico’s team includes partners with experience at Google, Uber, Spotify, and more – providing operational support to portfolio founders. The firm also stands out for its commitment to sustainability and diversity, integrating impact considerations and backing companies tackling climate change. Atomico’s influence is evidenced by the fact that as of 2025 it has produced five IPOs and multiple $10B+ exits in Europe. In summary, Atomico has established itself as a premier VC “built by founders for founders,” fueling Europe’s ascent with capital, expertise, and global networks.

Balderton Capital

London, United Kingdom · Venture Capital

Balderton Capital is one of Europe’s most established venture capital firms focused on early-stage technology companies. Based in London, Balderton was founded in 2000 as the European arm of Benchmark Capital and became independent in 2007. It has since raised ten funds dedicated to European startups, with over $4 billion in assets under management. Balderton primarily invests at Series A, typically leading rounds of $5–15 million and taking significant minority stakes. The firm’s portfolio spans a wide range of sectors – from fintech and marketplaces to SaaS and gaming – reflecting Europe’s diversity. Notable investments include Revolut (fintech, which Balderton backed at Series A), The Hut Group (UK e-commerce, now public), Darktrace (cybersecurity, IPO 2021), MySQL (acquired by Sun Microsystems), Citymapper (urban transport app), GoCardless (payments) and Vestiaire Collective (fashion resale). Balderton has consistently been among the most active Series A investors in Europe; in 2022 it deployed capital into 20+ new companies and many follow-ons. The firm is known for its strong founder support and an ethos of “teamwork” – all partners share carry evenly, which encourages collective input on portfolio companies. General Partners like Bernard Liautaud (founder of Business Objects) and Suranga Chandratillake (founder of Blinkx) bring operator experience. In recent years Balderton also launched a liquidity fund to buy secondary shares from European tech founders and early employees, reflecting a maturing ecosystem. The firm has also been vocal on issues like startup diversity and European tech sovereignty. With successes such as Revolut’s rise to $33B valuation and Darktrace’s IPO (Balderton held ~18% at listing), Balderton has proven that European VCs can deliver world-class returns. It continues to invest actively across Europe – from Stockholm to Tel Aviv – aiming to partner with founders “with global ambition.” In the constellation of European VC, Balderton Capital is often mentioned alongside Accel and Index as the top choice for Series A funding, thanks to its track record and deep network built over two decades.

Ben Francis

Birmingham, United Kingdom · Person

Founder and CEO of Gymshark, the fitness-apparel brand he started from his parents' garage as a teenager and bootstrapped into a billion-pound business before its first outside investment.

Bett

London, United Kingdom · Event Organisator

Organizer of Bett UK, the world's leading education technology trade show and conference held annually at London's ExCel centre since 1985. Drawing over 30,000 educators, edtech founders, and investors, Bett showcases classroom innovation, AI in learning, and digital curriculum tools, serving as a launchpad for global edtech startups.

Bett UK 2026

London, United Kingdom · Event

Leading global education technology event held at ExCeL London, bringing together 30,000+ educators, EdTech innovators, and policymakers. Features product demos, workshops, and networking focused on classroom technology, digital learning platforms, and AI in education. Particularly relevant for EdTech startups seeking school district partnerships and institutional buyers.

Big Data LDN

London, United Kingdom · Event Organisator

Organiser of Big Data LDN, the UK's largest free-to-attend data, analytics and AI conference and exhibition at Olympia London. The event hosts hundreds of seminars and exhibitors spanning data platforms, AI agents, governance and analytics for the data community.

Big Data LDN 2026

London, United Kingdom · Event

The UK's largest free data, analytics and AI conference and exhibition at Olympia London, with 400+ seminars on data platforms, AI agents, AI governance and data products. Exhibitors range from Snowflake, Databricks and Google Cloud to data startups, making it strong for data and AI founders.

BoS Europe (Business of Software) 2026

Cambridge, United Kingdom · Event

Single-track, founder-focused conference for SaaS and software leaders held in Cambridge. Features deep talks on scaling, product strategy, and company culture from experienced operators. Tickets cost about GBP 995-1495. Intimate format with 300-400 attendees, making it ideal for B2B SaaS founders seeking actionable growth and leadership insights.

Brent Hoberman

London, United Kingdom · Angel Investor

A well-known UK tech entrepreneur (Lastminute.com) and investor, Brent has a footprint in Poland via his fund Firstminute and personally. He’s invested in Polish AI ventures and often speaks highly of Poland’s tech scene. Associated startups: Cosmose AI, Digital Pharmacy (examples of Polish startups he’s supported).

Carl Pei

London, United Kingdom · Person

Co-founder and CEO of Nothing, the London consumer-electronics brand behind the Phone and Ear products. He previously co-founded OnePlus and is one of the most closely followed hardware founders in tech.

Carlos Espinal

London, United Kingdom · Angel Investor

Carlos Espinal is Managing Partner at Seedcamp, Europe's pre-seed fund, which he joined in 2009 after earlier stints at Doughty Hanson Technology Ventures and roles at NYSE's SIAC group and cybersecurity firm GTE Cybertrust. He holds a BS in Industrial Management from Carnegie Mellon and an MBA from Babson College, and has helped build a portfolio of over 400 companies including European unicorns UiPath and Revolut. Named Investor of the Year 2021 by GP Bullhound, he is also the author of The Fundraising Fieldguide and was awarded an MBE.

Cazoo

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Cazoo was a London-based online used car platform founded in 2018 by Alex Chesterman, the serial entrepreneur behind Zoopla and LoveFilm. The company aimed to bring the Carvana model to Europe, allowing consumers to buy, finance, and have used cars delivered to their door. Cazoo went public via SPAC on the NYSE in 2021 at a valuation of around $7 billion and expanded aggressively into France, Germany, Spain, and Italy. However, rapid cash burn and a cooling market led to a retreat from continental Europe and a delisting from the NYSE in 2024. Cazoo's trajectory became a cautionary tale in European tech about the risks of capital-intensive consumer marketplaces scaling too fast.

Checkout.com

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Checkout.com is a London-headquartered payments infrastructure company that provides a unified API for online payment processing, supporting card payments, local payment methods, and payouts across 150+ currencies. The company serves enterprise merchants including Klarna, Coinbase, Sony, and Grab, and was valued at $40 billion at its peak in 2022. Checkout.com competes directly with Adyen and Stripe in the enterprise payments space.

CityFibre

London, United Kingdom · Startup

CityFibre is a full-fiber digital infrastructure scale-up building wholesale fiber networks across the UK. The company partners with ISPs and mobile operators to replace legacy connectivity with gigabit-capable infrastructure that supports residential broadband, enterprise services, and future smart-city and 5G capacity.

Cleo

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Cleo is a London-based fintech founded in 2016 that offers an AI-powered money assistant delivered as a chat app, helping mostly younger users in the US and UK budget, save, manage debt and improve their financial health through conversational nudges and cash-advance features. It reached unicorn status on the back of rapid US growth.

CloserStill Media

London, United Kingdom · Event Organisator

Global B2B events organiser headquartered in London, running technology and marketing shows including eCommerce Expo, Technology for Marketing, Tech Show London and Big Data & AI World. CloserStill Media produces market-leading exhibitions connecting solution providers with enterprise and SME buyers.

Cloudsmith

Belfast, United Kingdom · Startup

Cloud-native artifact and package management platform providing a single source of truth for packages, containers and ML models across 30+ formats, with supply-chain security and global edge distribution. Founded 2016.

CodeBase

Edinburgh, United Kingdom · Accelerator

CodeBase is the UK's largest technology incubator, founded in Edinburgh in 2014 and now operating across 27 locations throughout the UK, including a hub in Glasgow. It delivers the Scottish Government's £42 million Techscaler programme, supporting over 1,400 startups with world-class education, mentorship, and networking. Companies supported by CodeBase have collectively raised over £4 billion in funding, making it one of the most impactful startup accelerator organisations in the UK.

Commercial Vehicle Show 2026

Birmingham, United Kingdom · Event

UK's largest road transport and commercial vehicle event at NEC Birmingham, attracting fleet operators, logistics companies, and vehicle manufacturers. Free with registration. Covers fleet telematics, EV commercial vehicles, and logistics optimization. Valuable for mobility and logistics startups targeting fleet management and last-mile delivery operations.

Conrad Ford

London, United Kingdom · Person

Chief Product & Strategy Officer at Allica Bank, the UK SME-focused challenger bank. A serial fintech founder who previously built and led Funding Options before joining Allica, he is an announced 2026 speaker at the Open Banking Expo UK & Europe in London.

CuspAI

Cambridge, United Kingdom · Startup

CuspAI is a frontier AI company building a generative-AI search engine for materials that accelerates the discovery and design of new molecules and engineered materials. Users specify desired properties (for example, selective CO2 binding for carbon capture), and the platform generates, evaluates, and optimises synthesisable candidate structures. It combines generative foundation models, deep learning, and molecular and scientific simulation, targeting applications across carbon capture, water purification, energy storage, catalysis, and industrial chemistry. The company was co-founded in 2024 by Dr Chad Edwards (CEO) and Prof Max Welling (CTO), and is headquartered in Cambridge.

Cyber Security & Cloud Expo Global 2026

London, United Kingdom · Event

Expo and conference at ExCeL London focused on cloud security, zero-trust architecture, and enterprise cyber resilience, co-located with major tech expos. Attracts CISOs, IT security teams, and solution buyers. Free expo passes available; paid passes about GBP 499-1099. Relevant for cybersecurity startups seeking enterprise and government clients.

CyberUK 2026

Glasgow, United Kingdom · Event

UK government's flagship cybersecurity event in Glasgow, organized by NCSC and attracting 2,000+ security professionals from government, defence, and enterprise sectors. Tickets cost about GBP 400-800. Covers national cyber strategy, threat intelligence, and resilience frameworks. Essential for govtech and infosec startups selling to public sector buyers.

Danny Rimer

London, United Kingdom · Person

Partner at Index Ventures, based in London, and one of Europe's most influential technology investors. He has led or backed Discord, Dropbox, Figma, DeepL, Etsy and Supercell, and topped the Forbes Midas List Europe in 2025. He has been central to Index's transatlantic consumer and design-led software franchise.

Darktrace

Cambridge, United Kingdom · Startup

Darktrace is a cybersecurity company founded in 2013 in Cambridge by mathematicians from the University of Cambridge alongside former intelligence professionals. The company pioneered the use of self-learning AI for cyber defense, modeling the immune system to detect novel threats and anomalous behavior across enterprise networks, cloud, email, and operational technology. Darktrace listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2021 and was later acquired by Thoma Bravo in 2024 in a deal valuing the company at approximately $5.3 billion. Its products serve over 8,000 organizations globally.

Data Centre Congress 2026

London, United Kingdom · Event

Data centre infrastructure conference at ExCeL London exploring sustainable facilities, cloud infrastructure, and edge compute solutions. Brings together data centre operators, cloud providers, and infrastructure investors. Co-located with major tech expos for cross-sector networking. Relevant for startups in cooling tech, energy optimization, and edge computing.

Davor Hebel

London, United Kingdom · Person

Managing Partner and Head of Europe & Israel at Eight Roads Ventures, the global venture platform backed by Fidelity. He leads the firm's growth-stage investments in European and Israeli software, fintech and consumer companies.

Dawn Capital

London, United Kingdom · Venture Capital

Dawn Capital is a London-based venture capital firm specialising in B2B software, backing European enterprise-technology companies from Series A through growth. One of Europe's largest dedicated B2B software investors, it focuses on areas including fintech, cybersecurity, data and enterprise SaaS.

Deliveroo

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Deliveroo is a London-based food delivery platform founded in 2013 by Will Shu and Greg Orlowski. The company connects consumers with restaurants, grocery stores, and convenience retailers through its app and rider network. Deliveroo went public on the London Stock Exchange in March 2021. The company operates across the UK, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, and has invested heavily in its Editions dark kitchen network and its advertising platform for restaurant partners. Deliveroo competes with Uber Eats and Just Eat in its core markets and serves millions of consumers monthly.

Depop

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Depop is a social commerce marketplace for buying and selling secondhand fashion, popular among Gen Z users. Founded in London and acquired by Etsy in 2021 for $1.6 billion, Depop combines social-media-style profiles and feeds with peer-to-peer transactions. The platform has over 30 million registered users and is a leading player in the circular fashion economy.

DEScycle

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Deep-tech company using Deep Eutectic Solvents — non-toxic, low-energy salts — to recover critical and precious metals from e-waste and industrial waste via a modular, distributed platform. Backed by EU Horizon, EIC Accelerator, SPRIND, Innovate UK and a Mitsubishi partnership.

Dexory

Wallingford, United Kingdom · Startup

Dexory is a UK-based warehouse intelligence company that combines autonomous mobile robots with AI software to give logistics operators real-time visibility into their inventory. Founded in 2015 as BotsAndUs, it rebranded to Dexory in November 2022 after pivoting toward warehouse inventory intelligence. Its purpose-built robots autonomously scan warehouses and feed data into the DexoryView cloud platform, which builds real-time digital twins of facilities for inventory tracking and operational optimisation. The company serves sectors including third-party logistics, retail, manufacturing, and air cargo, and is headquartered in Wallingford, Oxfordshire.

Digital Transformation Week Global 2026

London, United Kingdom · Event

Enterprise-focused conference at ExCeL London featuring sessions on digital strategy, modernization, and technology-enabled organizational change. Co-located with major tech expos attracting thousands of enterprise buyers and IT decision-makers. Valuable for B2B startups offering digital transformation tools, change management platforms, and workflow automation.

eCommerce Expo 2026

London, United Kingdom · Event

A two-day commerce event at ExCeL London for B2C and B2B online-retail professionals, with 200+ solution providers and CPD-accredited content across ten theatres on AI-driven shopping, fulfilment and growth. Co-located with Technology for Marketing and Parcel & Post Expo.

Edinburgh International Festival 2026

Edinburgh, United Kingdom · Event

The world's largest arts festival includes a significant digital-arts and creative-technology strand, with immersive installations, AI-generated art exhibitions, and creative-tech showcases. Edinburgh during August is also a magnet for informal tech-community meetups and founder dinners organized by the Scottish startup ecosystem. While not a pure tech event, it's a key cultural moment for creative-tech, content-tech, and entertainment startups looking to connect with media buyers and cultural institutions.

Edinburgh International Festival Society

Edinburgh, United Kingdom · Event Organisator

The Edinburgh International Festival Society is the charitable body responsible for producing the Edinburgh International Festival, one of the world's premier performing arts events held every August since 1947. The Society presents world-class opera, theatre, music and dance across 24 days, bringing artists from over 40 countries to Edinburgh. It is a company limited by guarantee incorporated in Scotland (SC024766) and a registered Scottish charity (SC004694), headquartered at The Hub, Castlehill, Edinburgh.

Eight Roads Ventures

London, United Kingdom · Venture Capital

Eight Roads Ventures is the global venture capital platform of Fidelity, tracing its roots to Fidelity Ventures (1969). Headquartered in London for its European and Israeli operations, it invests exclusively from Fidelity's balance sheet rather than raising external LPs — a structure that affords long holding horizons. The European arm has deployed four successive funds, growing from £100M to a $450M fourth fund (2021), within a global platform managing over $5bn across Europe, Israel, India and Asia. The London team focuses on growth-stage and scale-up investments, writing $5–50M cheques into companies past product-market fit (roughly Series A–C) in SaaS and enterprise software, fintech, healthtech, consumer technology and climate tech. Notable European portfolio companies include Spendesk (France), Hibob (Israel/UK), Funnel.io (Sweden), Tibber (Norway), Swan (France) and Amenitiz (Spain); key exits include InnoGames (€260M to MTG, 2016), Compte-Nickel (BNP Paribas, ~€200M, 2017) and Made.com's 2021 London IPO. The team is led by Managing Partner Davor Hebel with partners Lucile Cornet and Michael Treskow.

Eileen Burbidge

London, United Kingdom · Angel Investor

Eileen Burbidge MBE is a British-American venture capitalist and Founding Partner of Passion Capital, an early-stage London VC she co-founded with Stefan Glaenzer in 2008, with notable portfolio companies including Monzo and GoCardless. A computer science graduate of the University of Illinois, she built her early career at Apple, Sun Microsystems, and Skype before moving to London in 2004. She served as the UK Treasury's special envoy for fintech from 2015 and was appointed MBE for services to entrepreneurship the same year.

ElevenLabs

London, United Kingdom · Startup

ElevenLabs is a London-headquartered AI audio platform that has built one of the world's most advanced voice-synthesis stacks. Its products span text-to-speech in 70+ languages, instant and professional voice cloning, an automated dubbing studio across 90+ languages, real-time conversational voice agents, AI sound effects and an audio production suite; the ElevenReader app offers a large catalogue of licensed human-narrated audiobooks. Enterprise clients range from Deutsche Telekom and Revolut to the Ukrainian Government, and in 2026 ElevenLabs integrated its voice capabilities into IBM's watsonx Orchestrate. Founded in 2022 by Polish childhood friends Mati Staniszewski (CEO, ex-Palantir) and Piotr Dąbkowski (CTO, ex-Google), the company raised a $2M pre-seed from European funds Credo Ventures and Concept Ventures, then scaled rapidly: a $19M Series A (2023), $80M Series B at $1.1B (2024), $180M Series C at $3.3B (2025), and a $500M Series D at an $11B valuation led by Sequoia Capital (2026), with a later extension adding BlackRock, NVIDIA and others. With cumulative funding over $781M and ARR past $500M, ElevenLabs is among the fastest-growing AI companies in Europe.

Entrepreneur First

London, United Kingdom · Accelerator

Entrepreneur First (EF) is a London-headquartered talent-first investor founded in 2011 by Matt Clifford and Alice Bentinck, both former McKinsey consultants. EF pioneered the concept of Talent Investing — recruiting exceptional individuals before they have a co-founder or idea, then supporting them to form teams and build companies — across offices in London, Paris, Bangalore, New York, and San Francisco. The firm manages a fund of $158 million and has helped create over 600 companies with a combined portfolio value exceeding $11 billion. EF's standout portfolio companies include Tractable (AI for accident repair, valued at ~$1 billion), Cleo (personal finance AI), and Magic Pony Technology (acquired by Twitter).

Episode 1 Ventures

London, United Kingdom · Venture Capital

Episode 1 Ventures is a London-based seed and pre-seed fund founded in 2013 by Simon Murdoch, Damien Lane, and Adrian Lloyd, all experienced entrepreneurs who have built and exited companies. The firm closed its third fund at £76 million in February 2024, bringing total capital managed to over £170 million across three vehicles. Episode 1 focuses on software-driven businesses in AI, infrastructure, health, open-source, and marketplace sectors, writing initial cheques of up to £2 million. The fund has backed 69 companies and achieved a 73% Series A graduation rate — three times the industry average — with notable portfolio companies including Carwow, Huboo, CloudNC, and Robin AI.

Euan Blair

London, United Kingdom · Person

Founder and CEO of Multiverse, the apprenticeship-focused alternative to university that reached unicorn status. He started the company to widen access to high-quality careers through applied training rather than degrees.

Felix Capital

London, United Kingdom · Venture Capital

Felix Capital is a London-based venture capital firm, founded in 2015 and based on Beak Street, that invests at the intersection of technology and creativity. It backs digital lifestyle, consumer and creative-economy companies alongside related enterprise tools, describing its focus as building for the 'creative class' across home, work and in-between.

Fifth Dimension AI

London, United Kingdom · Startup

London-based AI decision-intelligence platform for real-assets investors and managers. Its agentic AI Ellie unifies fragmented institutional and market data to prepare deal analyses, draft IC memos, monitor portfolio variance, and surface risk proactively. Serves clients with 98.4% accuracy on high-value lease-data extractions. Raised €22M Series A led by HV Capital.

FinTech Scotland

Edinburgh, United Kingdom · Support Organization

FinTech Scotland is a strategic cluster management organisation established in 2018, dedicated to driving financial inclusion through fintech innovation and collaboration across Scotland. Based in Edinburgh, it supports an ecosystem of over 250 fintech firms spanning WealthTech, InsureTech, RegTech, Payments, and Open Banking. It leads the Financial Regulation Innovation Lab (FRIL) as part of the UK Government's Innovation Accelerator programme and is an active partner in Glasgow Tech Week.

Firstminute Capital

London, United Kingdom · Venture Capital

Firstminute Capital is a London-based seed-stage venture firm founded by Brent Hoberman (Lastminute.com, Founders Forum) and Spencer Crawley. The fund backs first-cheque seed rounds across consumer, B2B SaaS, deep tech, and AI, with a strong LP base that includes more than 100 European founders. Firstminute is known for its global founder network and for taking convicted bets very early in a startup's life.

Flo Health

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Flo Health is the world's most popular women's health app, offering AI-powered period and ovulation tracking, pregnancy monitoring, and personalized health insights to over 300 million users. The company combines reproductive health data with machine learning to provide tailored content and predictions, and has expanded into telehealth and wellness features. Flo represents a major European consumer health success story.

Founders Factory

London, United Kingdom · Accelerator

Founders Factory is a London-based venture studio and accelerator founded in 2015 by Brent Hoberman, Henry Lane Fox, and George Northcott. The firm co-builds and accelerates pre-seed and seed stage startups across fintech, health, climate, media, and consumer sectors, operating sector-specific programmes with corporate partners including Aviva, L'Oréal, and Deutsche Telekom. Since launch, Founders Factory has backed over 300 companies globally, which have collectively raised more than $800 million in follow-on funding. Its venture studio model — co-founding businesses from day zero — distinguishes it from conventional accelerators and gives it a distinctive builder-investor role in the European ecosystem.

Founders4Schools

London, United Kingdom · Support Organization

Founders4Schools was founded in 2013 by Sherry Coutu CBE as a charity connecting UK students with founders and employers to improve employability and bridge the skills gap. In 2017 it launched Workfinder, an app that lets young people search for and apply to work-experience placements at fast-growing companies. The organisation operates at the intersection of the startup ecosystem and education, complementing Coutu's work at the ScaleUp Institute.

French Tech London

London, United Kingdom · Accelerator

La French Tech London is a chapter of the global French Tech network, bringing together French founders, investors, engineers, and tech professionals active in the London startup ecosystem. As part of a network of over 100 French Tech communities worldwide, it works alongside French embassies and Business France to facilitate knowledge exchange and market entry between the French and British ecosystems. The community hosts regular sector events across fintech, AI, quantum computing, and deeptech, and helps French entrepreneurs soft-land in London.

Fresha

London, United Kingdom · Startup

London-based beauty and wellness booking platform that provides commission-free subscription software for salons, spas, and independent therapists—covering appointments, payments, marketing, and inventory—with operations in 120+ countries and 100,000+ business partners.

Fuse Energy

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Full-stack renewable energy supplier founded in 2022 by former Revolut executives, supplying 300,000+ UK households while building a 1 GW wind and solar generation pipeline. Secured a €25M Series B extension, bringing total funding to €214M.

FYLD

London, United Kingdom · Startup

FYLD is a London-based company offering an AI-powered frontline intelligence and field work execution platform for the global infrastructure sector, including utilities, heavy civil infrastructure, and energy. Field teams capture short videos instead of completing static forms, and FYLD's AI analyses site conditions to identify safety, quality, and delivery risks before they escalate, while giving managers live visibility across jobs and automatically documenting actions for compliance and audit. It serves complex infrastructure organisations including Southern Water, Yorkshire Water, Ferrovial, Kier, and Amey.

Fyxer AI

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Fyxer AI is a London-based startup that builds an AI assistant for email and meetings, working inside Gmail and Outlook so users have nothing new to learn. Its product organises and prioritises the inbox, drafts replies in the user's own voice based on past conversations, and acts as a meeting companion that joins calls and takes notes. The company grew out of an executive assistant agency run by brothers Richard and Archie Hollingsworth before they launched the AI product, with Matt Ffrench as CTO. In September 2025 it raised a $30M Series B led by Madrona to expand into the US market.

General Catalyst (Europe)

London, United Kingdom · Venture Capital

General Catalyst is a global venture capital firm that expanded aggressively into Europe through its London office. The firm invests across stages from seed to growth and has become one of the most active US-origin VCs in European tech, backing companies including Helsing, Parloa, Mistral AI, and PhysicsX. General Catalyst focuses on AI, defense tech, enterprise software, and climate, and manages over $25 billion in total assets.

George Malliaras

Cambridge, United Kingdom · Person

George Malliaras is the Prince Philip Professor of Technology at the University of Cambridge, a leading researcher in bioelectronics and the use of organic electronic materials for medical devices and neural interfaces. He is a keynote speaker at NANOTEXNOLOGY 2026 in Thessaloniki.

Glasgow City Innovation District

Glasgow, United Kingdom · Event Organisator

Glasgow City Innovation District (GCID) is Scotland's first innovation district, established as a dynamic hub for innovation, enterprise, and collaboration in Glasgow city centre. It is co-governed by Glasgow City Council, Scottish Enterprise, Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, and the University of Strathclyde. GCID is the founder and principal organiser of Glasgow Tech Week, the city's annual week-long festival celebrating technology, startups, and digital entrepreneurship across more than 40 events.

GoCardless

London, United Kingdom · Startup

GoCardless is a London-based fintech founded in 2011 that specialises in collecting recurring bank-to-bank payments, processing Direct Debit and open banking payments for businesses across Europe, North America and Australia. It reached unicorn status in 2022 and handles tens of billions of dollars in payment volume each year for tens of thousands of merchants.

Granola

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Granola is a London-based maker of an AI-powered meeting notepad. The app combines a user's own typed notes with AI-generated content derived from a meeting's audio transcript, and captures audio directly from the user's device rather than sending a visible bot into video calls. It works across platforms such as Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams, and offers calendar integration, pre-meeting briefings, an AI chat over meeting context, and an iPhone app for in-person notes. The company was founded in 2023 by Chris Pedregal and Sam Stephenson and has expanded from an individual meeting notetaker toward a collaborative AI workspace for teams.

Graphcore

Bristol, United Kingdom · Startup

Graphcore is a Bristol-based semiconductor company founded in 2016 that designed the Intelligence Processing Unit (IPU), a processor architecture built from the ground up for machine learning and AI workloads. The company raised over $700 million from investors including Sequoia Capital, BMW, Microsoft, and Samsung, reaching a valuation above $2.5 billion. Graphcore developed both hardware and a Poplar software stack to compete with NVIDIA in the AI accelerator market. Its IPU technology represented one of Europe's most ambitious attempts to build a homegrown AI chip ecosystem.

Guillaume Pousaz

London, United Kingdom · Person

Founder and CEO of Checkout.com, the payments processor he bootstrapped before it became one of Europe's most valuable fintechs. A Swiss entrepreneur based in London, he is among the wealthiest people in UK tech.

Gymshark

Birmingham, United Kingdom · Startup

Gymshark is a Birmingham-based direct-to-consumer fitness apparel brand founded in 2012 by Ben Francis when he was 19 years old. The company became one of the UK's fastest-growing brands by leveraging influencer marketing and social media before it was standard practice, building a devoted community of fitness enthusiasts. Gymshark reached unicorn status in 2020 when General Atlantic invested at a $1.45 billion valuation. The brand sells primarily online across 180+ countries and has expanded into physical retail. It is one of Europe's best examples of a DTC brand scaling without traditional retail.

Herman Narula

London, United Kingdom · Person

Co-founder and CEO of Improbable, the simulation and virtual-worlds company backed by a16z and SoftBank. He is a vocal advocate for the technical foundations of the metaverse.

Hermann Hauser

Cambridge, United Kingdom · Person

Austrian-British technology entrepreneur and investor, co-founder of the Cambridge-based venture firm Amadeus Capital Partners. He earlier co-founded Acorn Computers, the company whose work led to the ARM processor architecture, and has spent decades backing deep-tech, semiconductor and life-science startups across Europe.

HiBob

London, United Kingdom · Startup

All-in-one HR platform ('Bob') for mid-sized and multinational companies covering core HR, talent, payroll, benefits, workforce planning and an embedded AI assistant. Founded 2015 with London and Tel Aviv roots.

Hopin

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Virtual and hybrid event platform enabling immersive conferences, expos, and town halls. Hopin is a startup based in London, United Kingdom at the growth stage. The company operates in the Events, Software space. Learn more at their website.

ICONIQ Growth

London, United Kingdom · Venture Capital

ICONIQ Growth is the growth-equity and venture arm of ICONIQ, investing in technology companies from early traction through IPO and beyond. It partners with founders at critical inflection points across software, fintech and other sectors, and invests internationally including from a London presence.

Improbable

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Improbable is a London-based technology company founded in 2012 that builds networked simulation and virtual world infrastructure. Originally known for SpatialOS, a distributed computing platform enabling massive-scale game worlds, the company pivoted toward defense and metaverse applications. Improbable raised over $600 million including a $502 million Series B led by SoftBank in 2017. Its defense division provides synthetic environments for military training and planning. The company also explored metaverse networks before refocusing on enterprise and government simulation use cases.

Index Ventures

London, United Kingdom · Venture Capital

Index Ventures is a globally renowned venture capital firm that originated in Europe and has been instrumental in scaling many of the continent’s top tech companies. Founded in Geneva in 1996 by the Daly brothers and Neil Rimer, Index later opened major offices in London and San Francisco, making it a transatlantic VC powerhouse. Index invests at all stages (seed to growth), though it is especially prominent in Series A/B in Europe. The firm has an extraordinary track record: it was an early backer of Skype (sold to eBay), Last.fm (sold to CBS), Supercell (acquired by Tencent), and MySQL (acquired by Sun) in the 2000s, and more recently of Deliveroo, Adyen, Figma, Revolut, Robinhood and Notion – to name a few. Index’s portfolio spans consumer and enterprise: it has seeded fashion marketplaces like ASOS and Farfetch, scaled up fintech stars like TransferWise (Wise) and Robinhood, and supported open-source and SaaS successes (Elastic, Confluent, Collibra). The firm manages multiple funds (it raised a $3B+ set of funds in 2022) and often co-invests across its early and growth funds to support companies long-term. Index is particularly known for its knack in consumer-facing startups and its ability to spot trends early (e.g., it led Patreon’s Series A in the creator economy space, and Discord’s seed in gaming communication). Partners at Index are a cosmopolitan bunch – with backgrounds ranging from gaming entrepreneurs to investment bankers – and they bring a strong network in both Silicon Valley and Europe. Uniquely, Index also has a life sciences arm (Index Life) that invested in companies like Moderna. In Europe, Index has been among the top three most active VCs by number of unicorns backed. For example, Index led Deliveroo’s Series B in 2014 and remained a major shareholder through its 2021 IPO. Similarly, Index was pivotal in Adyen’s growth (now a ~$50B payments giant). Culturally, Index is known for being founder-friendly and global in outlook – encouraging its European portfolio to expand to the US when needed and vice versa. It also frequently publishes insightful content (e.g., Bernard Dallé’s guides on SaaS metrics or interviews with founders). As of 2025, Index Ventures stands as a gold-standard VC, with a portfolio boasting dozens of IPOs and acquisitions, and a current crop of rising stars across continents.

Ineffable Intelligence

London, United Kingdom · Startup

London-based AI research lab founded by David Silver, former lead of DeepMind's reinforcement-learning team, aiming to build a self-improving AI that discovers knowledge entirely from experience without relying on human-labelled data. Raised a record $1.1B seed round at a $5.1B valuation, backed by Sequoia, Lightspeed, Nvidia, Google, and the UK's Sovereign AI Fund.

Innovate Finance Global Summit (IFGS) 2026

London, United Kingdom · Event

Flagship day of UK FinTech Week held at London's historic Guildhall, attracting senior policymakers, regulators, and fintech leaders. Tickets cost about GBP 900-1500. Features keynotes on open banking, digital currencies, and regulatory sandboxes. Essential for fintech startups seeking visibility with UK regulators and institutional partners.

Insight Partners

London, United Kingdom · Venture Capital

Insight Partners is a New York-headquartered global venture capital and private equity firm with a significant London presence, founded in 1995. The firm manages over $80B and is one of the world’s largest dedicated software investors, backing companies from Series B through IPO and beyond. Insight has invested in 800+ companies globally including Shopify, Twitter, Vinted, Wiz, and SemRush. In Europe, the firm actively invests in growth-stage software, SaaS, and data infrastructure businesses, typically deploying $50-200M per deal and providing its proprietary Insight Onsite operational support platform.

Intelligent Automation Expo 2026

London, United Kingdom · Event

Conference track at ExCeL London covering RPA, AI-driven process automation, and the future of work, co-located with major tech expos. Attracts enterprise operations leaders and automation buyers from finance, healthcare, and manufacturing. Relevant for startups building intelligent automation, workflow orchestration, and AI-powered business process tools.

Interactive Investor

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Interactive Investor was founded in 1994 by Sherry Coutu as one of the UK's first online retail investment and brokerage platforms. It floated on the London Stock Exchange in 2000 and was sold to AMP in 2001 following the dot-com crash. After a 2003 management buyout the business was rebuilt independently, and in 2022 it was acquired by abrdn for £1.49 billion, becoming one of the UK's largest flat-fee investment platforms.

International Cyber Expo 2026

London, United Kingdom · Event

A major cyber security gathering at Olympia London with 100+ global suppliers, three stages, live demonstrations and 100+ speakers. It attracts thousands of senior visitors and government officials from across the world, offering visibility for cyber security startups and vendors.

Investing Women Angels

Edinburgh, United Kingdom · Venture Capital

Investing Women Angels is Scotland’s first all-female business angel syndicate, based in Edinburgh and focused on backing female-founded and female-led businesses seeking to create positive impact. The syndicate has backed 25 companies with £2.3 million in investment, with 90% directed toward female-founded enterprises. Led by Chair Lucy Henderson, it also works to attract more women into angel investing through education, community programmes, and its sister initiative AccelerateHER.

Jan Hammer

London, United Kingdom · Person

Partner at Index Ventures leading the firm's fintech practice from London. He sits behind investments in Adyen, Robinhood, Wise, Alan and Collibra, and has been a long-standing board member at several of Europe's most valuable financial-technology companies.

Jeppe Zink

London, United Kingdom · Person

Partner at Northzone based in London, investing across software and fintech in Europe. He works with founders from seed through growth and is a prominent voice on European venture and scale-up building.

Jessica Bilcock

London, United Kingdom · Person

Public Policy & Vulnerability Manager at Monzo Bank, the UK digital challenger bank, where she works on financial inclusion, consumer protection and open-banking policy. She is an announced 2026 speaker at the Open Banking Expo UK & Europe in London.

Joel Perlman

London, United Kingdom · Person

Co-founder of OakNorth and earlier co-founder of Copal Amba with Rishi Khosla. He has spent his career building financial-data and lending businesses.

Johnny Boufarhat

London, United Kingdom · Person

Founder and CEO of Hopin, the virtual-events platform he built after a health condition limited his travel; it became one of the fastest-growing UK startups of the pandemic, reaching a multi-billion-dollar valuation backed by a16z and General Catalyst.

Jonas Templestein

London, United Kingdom · Person

Co-founder and former CTO of Monzo, where he built the engineering organisation behind the challenger bank's mobile-first platform. He previously co-founded GoCardless with Tom Blomfield.

Jos White

London, United Kingdom · Angel Investor

A British entrepreneur-turned-investor (co-founder of Notion Capital), Jos has angel-invested in Poland’s enterprise software space. He took part in early funding of Helpshift’s Polish office and has been scouting enterprise SaaS startups in Central Europe. Associated startups: Possibly NetworkedAssets (Polish-German IT firm) and other SaaS ventures.

Joyvié Health

Horsham, United Kingdom · Startup

Develops patent-pending faecal management briefs that contain stool in a disposable pouch immediately after excretion, cutting stool-to-skin contact and care-change time. Founded after the founder lost his father to pancreatic cancer. Targets care homes, hospitals and domiciliary care.

Kristo Käärmann

London, United Kingdom · Person

Co-founder and CEO of Wise (formerly TransferWise), the cross-border payments company he started with Taavet Hinrikus to cut the cost of international money transfers. He took Wise public via a 2021 direct listing on the London Stock Exchange.

Lawhive

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Lawhive is a London-based legaltech company building an AI-driven law firm model focused on the consumer legal market. It helps people resolve everyday legal issues such as family law, landlord and tenant disputes and employment matters, connecting clients with solicitors through an online platform. The company has developed its own AI operating system used by lawyers to reduce the time, cost and administrative burden of routine legal work. In February 2026 Lawhive raised $60 million in a Series B round, with participation from TQ Ventures, GV, Balderton Capital and Jigsaw, to support its expansion into the US.

Lendable

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Lendable is a London-based fintech founded in 2014 that uses data and automation to underwrite consumer credit, offering personal loans, credit cards and car finance funded through institutional capital. It reached unicorn status and operates in the UK, US and Mexico, positioning itself as a fully digital, fast-decision alternative to traditional lenders.

Level39

London, United Kingdom · Innovation Hub

Level39 is London's leading fintech and cybersecurity innovation hub, located on the 39th floor of One Canada Square in Canary Wharf. Founded in 2013 by the Canary Wharf Group, Level39 provides workspace, mentorship, and business development support to over 200 high-growth technology companies specializing in financial technology, cybersecurity, retail tech, and smart city solutions. Its location in the heart of London's financial district gives members direct proximity to major banks, insurers, and financial institutions that serve as both customers and partners. Level39 runs structured growth programs, investor showcases, and corporate innovation partnerships, and has become the focal point for fintech entrepreneurship in Europe. Notable alumni and members include Revolut (in its early days), Onfido, and numerous regtech and blockchain startups. The hub also hosts a dense calendar of ecosystem events, making it a key gathering point for the London fintech community.

Lightspeed Venture Partners (Europe)

London, United Kingdom · Venture Capital

Lightspeed Venture Partners is a global multi-stage venture capital firm with a dedicated European practice based in London. The firm has been a key growth-stage investor in major European companies including Mistral AI, Miro, and Epic Games, and focuses on enterprise SaaS, consumer internet, and AI. Lightspeed manages over $18 billion globally and has expanded its European team to source and support founders across the continent.

Lindus Health

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Lindus Health is a UK-founded clinical-trials company that brands itself as the anti-CRO, offering an end-to-end, technology-enabled alternative to traditional contract research organisations. It combines a proprietary AI-assisted trial operating system (Citrus) with in-house medical and clinical staff to handle protocol design, patient recruitment, data collection, biostatistics, and regulatory compliance. The platform draws on electronic health records to identify and enroll patients faster, and the company contracts on milestone-based commercial terms. Founded in 2021, it runs trials across therapeutic areas and operates across the US, UK, and Europe.

LocalGlobe (Phoenix Court)

London, United Kingdom · Venture Capital

LocalGlobe is a London-based venture capital firm, part of the Phoenix Court group founded by Robin and Saul Klein, that focuses on seed-stage investments in the UK and Europe. It has been an early backer of companies such as Wise, Citymapper, Improbable and Zoopla, and runs a family of funds spanning seed through growth stages.

London Games Festival 2026

London, United Kingdom · Event

City-wide celebration of games in London with a strong B2B core at the Games Finance Market, connecting studios with publishers and investors. Industry passes cost about GBP 150-300. Covers gaming technology, VR/AR innovation, and interactive media. Valuable for gaming startups seeking publishing deals and creative-tech partnerships.

London Tech Job Fair 2026

London, United Kingdom · Event

Recruiting fair in London with strong attendance from French scaleups and international tech companies hiring UK-based talent. Features booth exhibitions, speed interviews, and networking sessions. A key talent pipeline for French Tech companies with UK operations and startups seeking to build London-based engineering teams.

London Tech Week

London, United Kingdom · Event Organisator

Organizer of London Tech Week, a city-wide program of tech and startup events each June. London Tech Week is an event organiser based in London, United Kingdom. Organising events in the Events, Startup Ecosystem space.

Lua

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Agent OS enabling any team to build, own, and manage their own AI agent workforce without deep technical expertise. Abstracts the complexity of agentic AI so businesses can delegate operational tasks to autonomous agents from day one. Raised $5.8M seed from Norrsken22, Flourish Ventures, and Y Combinator.

Lucile Cornet

London, United Kingdom · Person

Partner at Eight Roads Ventures investing in software and fintech across Europe. She led the firm's investment in spend-management unicorn Spendesk and works with growth-stage founders scaling internationally.

MACH 2026

Birmingham, United Kingdom · Event

UK's premier national exhibition for engineering and manufacturing at NEC Birmingham, showcasing CNC, 3D printing, tooling, and factory automation. Free with registration, attracting 25,000+ engineering professionals. Particularly relevant for advanced manufacturing, robotics, and industrial automation startups seeking partnerships with UK manufacturers.

Manish Chhowalla

Cambridge, United Kingdom · Person

Manish Chhowalla is the Goldsmiths' Professor of Materials Science at the University of Cambridge, a leading researcher in two-dimensional materials, nanomaterials and their applications in electronics and energy. He is a plenary speaker at NANOTEXNOLOGY 2026 in Thessaloniki.

Matillion

Manchester, United Kingdom · Startup

Matillion is a Manchester-based data integration and transformation platform founded in 2011 that enables enterprises to load, transform, and orchestrate data across cloud data warehouses and lakes including Snowflake, Databricks, Amazon Redshift, and Google BigQuery. The company raised over $300 million including a $150 million Series E at a $1.5 billion valuation. Matillion serves over 2,000 enterprise customers and is notable as one of the few UK tech unicorns headquartered outside London, representing Manchester's growing tech ecosystem.

Matt Robinson

London, United Kingdom · Angel Investor

Matt Robinson co-founded the payments company GoCardless, which emerged from Y Combinator in 2011, and later co-founded the proptech company Nested. He is regarded as one of the UK's and Europe's most active angel investors, backing founders across cloud, SaaS, fintech and payments. In 2024 he joined Accel as an early-stage partner in London while continuing his investing activity.

Molten Ventures

London, United Kingdom · Venture Capital

Molten Ventures, formerly Draper Esprit, is a London-based venture capital firm listed on the London Stock Exchange and Euronext Dublin that invests in high-growth European technology companies from Series A onward. One of Europe's most active listed VCs, it backs and follows on in scale-ups across software, deep tech, consumer and fintech.

Monzo

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Monzo is one of the UK's leading digital-only banks, offering a mobile-first current account with features like instant spending notifications, fee-free foreign spending, budgeting tools, and salary sorting. Founded in 2015, Monzo has grown to over 9 million customers and achieved profitability in 2024. The company holds a full UK banking license and has expanded into business accounts, lending, and investment products.

Multiverse

London, United Kingdom · Startup

London-based tech apprenticeship provider that trains software engineers, data analysts, and AI practitioners through employer-sponsored programmes combining paid employment with structured learning. Partners with 1,500+ employers including Microsoft, Google, and Morgan Stanley.

Nenad Marovac

London, United Kingdom · Person

Founder and Managing Partner of DN Capital, a London-based early-stage venture firm that backs software, digital media and fintech companies across Europe and the United States. A venture investor for over two decades, he has also served on the board of the pan-European trade body Invest Europe.

Nevis

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Nevis is an AI platform for the wealth management industry, describing itself as the first unified AI platform for wealth management. It automates advisors' administrative and operational workflows end-to-end, including meeting summaries and prep, intelligent search, client email drafting, task generation, and account opening with custodians. The company primarily targets Registered Investment Advisors. Founded in 2024 by three former Revolut employees, it is headquartered in London, and in December 2025 it acquired voice-AI startup Ledra AI.

Niki Buys

London, United Kingdom · Person

Niki Buys is the co-founder and partner at Pledge Ventures, the venture capital arm of Founders Pledge, which invests in high-growth technology companies whose founders have made binding commitments to give a meaningful portion of their proceeds to charity. She spent over six years at Founders Pledge in roles including Chief Experience Officer before co-launching the fund in 2023 alongside CEO David Goldberg. Pledge Ventures operates on a rules-based model across sectors and geographies to create a flywheel between entrepreneurial success and social impact.

Nikolay Storonsky

London, United Kingdom · Person

Co-founder and CEO of Revolut, which he scaled from a multi-currency card into one of the world's most valuable fintechs, with tens of millions of customers and a full UK banking licence. A former derivatives trader, he is among Europe's most prominent fintech founders.

Nineteen Group

London, United Kingdom · Event Organisator

UK-based exhibitions organiser behind International Cyber Expo and other security and emergency-services events at Olympia London. Nineteen Group builds large-scale trade shows that connect global suppliers, government officials and security leaders with technology buyers.

Nivoda

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Nivoda is a London-based B2B online marketplace for the global jewellery trade, founded in 2017. Its platform lets jewellers and retailers source diamonds (natural and lab-grown), coloured gemstones, melee, and made-to-order finished jewellery without holding their own stock. Nivoda layers technology onto the traditional diamond supply chain, offering virtual showroom tools, API inventory feeds for retailer websites, consolidated shipping and invoicing, risk-free returns, express delivery, and flexible trade-credit payment terms. It describes itself as the world's leading B2B diamond marketplace, serving jewellers internationally.

Northzone

London, United Kingdom · Venture Capital

Northzone is a prominent European venture capital firm with Scandinavian roots, known for early bets on companies like Spotify and Klarna. Founded in 1996 in Oslo (and now headquartered in Stockholm with a big presence in London), Northzone is an evergreen VC fund that has raised 9 funds to date. It invests from Seed and Series A up to Growth (Series B/C), typically focusing on consumer internet, fintech, and B2B SaaS. Northzone rose to fame as the earliest institutional investor in Spotify – it led Spotify’s $21M Series A in 2008 and remained a major shareholder until IPO. It was also an early backer of Klarna (led the $8M Series A in 2010) and other Nordic breakouts like iZettle (payments, acquired by PayPal) and Avito (Russian classifieds, acquired by Naspers). Over the years, Northzone expanded its geographic focus to include the UK, Benelux, and the US East Coast (they’ve invested in Wallapop in Spain, Personio in Germany, and Secret Escapes in UK, among others). The firm’s investment approach is relatively hands-on – partners often take board seats and leverage Northzone’s network for business development of their portfolio. With approximately €1.5 billion under management, Northzone typically writes initial checks of €2–10M and can follow on with much larger amounts. In 2022, Northzone raised a new €1B+ fund, reflecting growing LP interest in European tech. The team blends operational experience and finance acumen; notable partners include Pär-Jörgen Pärson (who led the Spotify deal) and Michiel Kotting (who sits on Personio’s board). Northzone often leads or co-leads rounds and likes to syndicate with US VCs when scaling globally. Beyond fintech and music tech, they have investments in healthtech (Kry), edtech (Kahoot!), crypto (Sovereign), and more – showcasing a broad thesis of “transformative tech.” Northzone’s steady success over 25+ years – producing multiple billion-dollar exits – has cemented its reputation as one of Europe’s top-tier venture firms, bridging the vibrant Nordic ecosystem with the rest of the continent.

Nothing

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Design-led consumer electronics brand behind transparent Android smartphones and earbuds. Nothing is a startup based in London, United Kingdom at the growth stage. The company operates in the Consumer Electronics, Hardware space. Learn more at their website.

Notion Capital

London, United Kingdom · Venture Capital

Notion Capital is a London-based venture firm founded in 2009 by the team behind MessageLabs and Star — Jos White, Ben White, Stephen Chandler, Chris Tottman and Ian Milbourn — who built MessageLabs before its $700M sale to Symantec. The firm invests exclusively in European B2B software and fintech, with a sweet spot at Series A (companies at or near product-market fit, typically $1M+ ARR) and initial cheques of €1–8M. Across five venture funds and three growth vehicles Notion has raised over $1bn in total AUM; Fund V closed at its €300M hard cap in 2023 and Growth Opportunities III added $130M in 2025 to back the firm's best companies longer. Its thesis spans four software categories — Knowledge (AI-enhanced SaaS), Money (fintech), Labour (services-as-software) and Machines (software in physical environments, including defence). Marquee outcomes include Currencycloud (acquired by Visa for ~$963M, 2021) and GoCardless (acquisition by Mollie announced at ~$1.1bn, 2025), with a portfolio that also features Paddle, Mews, Quantum Systems, Workable, TestGorilla and Upvest.

Nscale

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Nscale develops and operates AI-native infrastructure, including modular data center capacity optimized for high-density GPU workloads. The company focuses on sovereign and energy-efficient compute supply for enterprise and model providers, and has expanded rapidly through large infrastructure financing and strategic partnerships.

Nyobolt

Cambridge, United Kingdom · Startup

Cambridge, UK battery company developing extreme fast-charge technology using tungsten-based anode chemistry. Its cells recharge to 80% in under five minutes, targeting industrial EVs, power tools, and consumer electronics. Raised a $60M Series C in 2024 at a reported $1B valuation.

OakNorth

London, United Kingdom · Startup

OakNorth is a London-based fintech founded in 2015 that operates as a profitable digital bank and credit intelligence software provider. Its OakNorth Credit Intelligence platform uses AI and machine learning to help commercial lenders make better decisions for mid-market businesses, the segment typically underserved by traditional banks. The bank itself has lent over GBP 10 billion since launch and has been consistently profitable. OakNorth raised $1 billion from investors including SoftBank, reaching a valuation of $4.7 billion. The software platform is licensed to banks globally.

Ochre Bio

Oxford, United Kingdom · Startup

Ochre Bio is an Oxford-based biotech startup combining computational genomics, machine learning, and RNA therapeutics to develop treatments for chronic liver diseases. Founded in 2019, the company uses human donor livers and large-scale transcriptomic data to identify novel drug targets, then designs RNA-based therapies to address conditions such as NASH and liver fibrosis. Ochre Bio has raised significant venture funding and works with transplant centers to validate its candidates in perfused human organs.

Omnea

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Omnea is a London-based procurement and spend management software company founded in 2022 by ex-Tessian executives Ben Freeman (CEO) and Ben Allen (CTO). Its AI-native platform provides a single front door where employees can make procurement requests in natural language, then orchestrates workflows across finance, legal, risk and IT, automating the full supplier lifecycle from intake and approvals to third-party risk management and renewals. The platform includes no-code workflow builders, supplier onboarding portals, RFx event management and integrations with hundreds of systems. Customers include Spotify, Wise, MongoDB, Adecco and PayPal.

Onfido

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Onfido is a London-based identity verification company founded in 2012 that uses AI and biometric technology to help businesses verify user identities remotely. The platform combines document verification with facial biometrics to enable onboarding for financial services, sharing economy, healthcare, and other regulated industries. Onfido was acquired by Entrust in 2024 for approximately $400 million. Before the acquisition, the company had raised over $200 million and served customers including Revolut, Zipcar, and Bitstamp across 195 countries, processing millions of identity checks annually.

Open Banking Expo

London, United Kingdom · Event Organisator

Organiser of Open Banking Expo, the UK and Europe dedicated Open Banking, Open Finance and Smart Data event, alongside a global community, awards and content programme. The show convenes banks, fintechs, regulators and investors shaping data-driven financial services.

Open Banking Expo UK & Europe 2026

London, United Kingdom · Event

The UK and Europe's dedicated Open Banking, Open Finance and Smart Data show at the Business Design Centre in London. Four content stages plus a workshop theatre, an Innovation Zone and 40+ exhibitors bring together banks, fintech founders, regulators and investors shaping data-driven finance.

Orbital Materials

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Orbital Materials is a London-based AI startup applying foundation models to materials science, with a focus on designing novel carbon-capture sorbents, thermal management materials, and clean-energy components. Founded by former DeepMind researchers, the company developed LINUS, a large-scale generative model for atomic structures that can predict material properties and propose new compositions. Orbital has raised over $22 million from investors including Khosla Ventures and Radical Ventures. The company bridges the gap between AI research and physical-world climate technology, representing a new class of UK deep-tech ventures using machine learning for industrial decarbonization.

Overmind

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Overmind provides a security and control layer for agentic AI deployments in enterprise systems. The platform supervises autonomous agent behavior in live workflows and intervenes when actions appear unsafe, adversarially influenced, or outside policy constraints.

Paddle

London, United Kingdom · Startup

UK Merchant-of-Record platform handling payments, sales tax, compliance and billing across 300+ markets for SaaS and digital-product businesses; serves 10,000+ customers.

Passion Capital

London, United Kingdom · Venture Capital

Passion Capital is an early-stage London VC founded in 2011 by Eileen Burbidge, Stefan Glaenzer, and Robert Dighero. The fund backs European early-stage technology companies, with a portfolio that has included Monzo, GoCardless, and DueDil. Passion is recognised for hands-on founder support and has been an influential voice in UK tech-policy discussions for over a decade.

Paul Polman

London, United Kingdom · Person

Dutch business leader who was CEO of Unilever from 2009 to 2019, where he launched the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan and dropped quarterly earnings guidance. He co-authored Net Positive and co-founded the London-based foundation IMAGINE, advocating sustainable and equitable business.

Paul Taylor

London, United Kingdom · Person

Founder and CEO of Thought Machine, the cloud-native core-banking platform. He previously founded a speech-technology company acquired by Google, where he built voice systems before turning to banking infrastructure.

PhysicsX

London, United Kingdom · Startup

PhysicsX applies machine learning and generative AI to advanced engineering simulation across aerospace, automotive, and energy systems. The platform accelerates design loops by reducing simulation time for fluid, thermal, and structural modeling, helping industrial teams move from concept to validation faster.

Pledge Ventures

London, United Kingdom · Venture Capital

Pledge Ventures is the venture capital arm of Founders Pledge, launched in 2023 to invest in high-growth technology companies whose founders have made binding philanthropic commitments. The fund operates on a rules-based model across sectors and geographies, aiming to create a self-reinforcing flywheel between entrepreneurial financial success and positive social impact. Co-founded by Niki Buys and David Goldberg, the fund backs a broad portfolio of technology companies and is a featured partner at Nordic Tech Week 2026.

Plum

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Plum is a money management fintech that offers a mobile app with smart tools for automated saving, budgeting and investing, helping users manage personal finances with minimal manual effort. Founded in 2016 by Victor Trokoudes and Alex Michael, the company is headquartered in London with additional offices in Athens and Nicosia, and serves more than 2 million users across Europe. In July 2024 it raised a £16 million Series B round to support growth and a push toward profitability, with strategic investor Eurobank having taken a minority stake.

Plural

London, United Kingdom · Venture Capital

Plural is a London-based venture fund founded in 2022 by operator-investors Taavet Hinrikus (Wise), Sten Tamkivi (Skype, Teleport), Ian Hogarth (Songkick), and Carina Namih. The first fund closed at around EUR 250M to back European pre-seed and seed companies, with a thesis centred on founder-led investing — every partner has built and scaled a venture-backed company. Plural is positioned as a counter to traditional partner-led firms, with deep operator support.

PolyAI

London, United Kingdom · Startup

PolyAI is a London-based conversational AI company founded in 2017 by Cambridge machine-learning researchers that builds voice assistants, which it calls customer experience agents, capable of handling natural, open-ended customer service calls for enterprises in banking, hospitality, retail and telecoms. Its systems handle millions of customer interactions, and it raised a 50 million dollar round in 2024 at a valuation of around 500 million dollars.

Praktika.ai

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Praktika.ai is an AI-native language learning platform focused on conversation-first fluency practice with realistic voice avatars. Founded in 2022, it helps users overcome speaking anxiety through real-time feedback on pronunciation and grammar, personalized lesson paths, and adaptive roleplay. The company has reported strong commercial traction and is backed by investors including Blossom Capital, Creator Ventures, and 500 Global.

Prolific

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Prolific operates an online marketplace that connects organisations with vetted, fairly paid human participants for data collection, surveys, and AI work. Founded in 2014 at the University of Oxford by Phelim Bradley and Ekaterina Damer, it began as a tool for academic researchers needing reliable study participants and has since expanded into AI training and evaluation. Today it supplies human data for tasks like reinforcement learning from human feedback, model red-teaming, AI evaluation, and specialist annotation, serving both academic institutions and commercial AI customers. It is headquartered in London.

Quantexa

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Quantexa is a London-founded decision intelligence platform that uses graph analytics, AI, and entity resolution to connect siloed enterprise data for fraud detection, risk management, and customer intelligence. Founded in 2016 by Vishal Marria, the company has raised over $360 million including a $153 million Series E, reaching unicorn status. Quantexa serves major banks, insurers, government agencies, and telcos across 70+ countries and employs over 700 people. It is one of the UK's most significant enterprise AI scale-ups, demonstrating how contextual data linkage can transform decision-making at institutional scale.

Rafel Jorda Siquier

Harwell, United Kingdom · Person

Rafel Jorda Siquier is the CEO of Open Cosmos, a UK-based space startup founded in 2015 that designs, builds, and operates small satellites and provides end-to-end mission services for governments and commercial customers. Under his leadership, Open Cosmos has grown into a notable player in the New Space sector, securing contracts with the European Space Agency and other institutional clients across Europe and beyond. Jorda Siquier is a recognized figure in the European commercial space ecosystem and advocates for democratizing access to space through low-cost, rapidly delivered satellite solutions.

Rapyd

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Rapyd is a London-headquartered fintech-as-a-service platform founded in 2016 by Arik Shtilman and Omer Priel, enabling businesses to accept global payments, send payouts, and embed financial services through a single API. The platform supports payment methods across 100+ countries and employs over 1,600 people globally. Rapyd reached a valuation of over $8.75 billion following a $300 million funding round in 2021 and is backed by Target Global, Stripe, General Catalyst, and Tiger Global. In 2025 Rapyd acquired PayU's Latin America and Africa payment operations.

Ravi Silva

Guildford, United Kingdom · Person

Ravi Silva is the Director of the Advanced Technology Institute at the University of Surrey, an expert in nanotechnology, carbon-based electronics, photovoltaics and energy materials. He is a keynote speaker at NANOTEXNOLOGY 2026 in Thessaloniki.

Retail Technology Show 2026

London, United Kingdom · Event

Retail innovation event at ExCeL London showcasing payments, in-store analytics, loyalty platforms, and omnichannel solutions. Free for qualified retailers; vendors pay for exhibition space. Attracts 10,000+ retail technology buyers and decision-makers. Valuable for retail-tech startups seeking direct access to UK high-street and e-commerce buyers.

Revolut

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Revolut is a British fintech company offering a “super-app” for digital banking and financial services. Launched in 2015 by founders Nik Storonsky (a former Credit Suisse trader from Russia) and Vlad Yatsenko (Ukrainian developer), Revolut began as a multicurrency travel card allowing users to spend and transfer money globally with minimal fees. It quickly evolved into a full-featured neobank. As of 2025, Revolut operates in 48+ countries and has 65 million customers worldwide, making it one of the fastest-growing fintechs ever. The app provides a suite of services: GBP and EUR bank accounts, debit cards, currency exchange for 30+ currencies at interbank rates, stock and crypto trading, person-to-person payments, bill splitting, and more. Revolut’s growth has been astonishing – it surpassed £3.1 billion in annual revenue in 2024 with £1.1 billion operating profit. The company has raised over $1.7 billion from investors like SoftBank, Tiger Global, and TCV, reaching a private valuation of $33 billion in 2021. In late 2025, a secondary share sale reportedly valued Revolut at $75 billion, vaulting it among the world’s most valuable fintechs. Revolut’s journey has not been without challenges: it faced regulatory hurdles (e.g. its UK banking license was long-delayed), compliance scrutiny, and had to strengthen its governance as it scaled. Nonetheless, the company achieved profitability in 2021 and has continued to grow its user base across Europe, North America, and Asia. Revolut’s mission is to become a “global financial super-app”, consolidating banking, investing, insurance, and payments in one place. It has introduced products like “Revolut Junior” accounts for kids, pay-later services, and expanded into credit in select markets. With over 10,000 employees worldwide, Revolut is now a regulated bank in the EU and other jurisdictions. Its story from scrappy travel card startup to a $75B-valued fintech giant with 65 million users epitomizes Europe’s fintech rise and the potential of challenger banks to rewrite banking norms.

Rishi Khosla

London, United Kingdom · Person

Co-founder and CEO of OakNorth, the SME-lending bank, which he started after struggling to get a loan for an earlier business. He previously co-founded Copal Amba, sold to Moody's.

Rob Whitehead

London, United Kingdom · Person

Co-founder and former CTO/CPO of Improbable, where he led development of the SpatialOS distributed-simulation engine. He met co-founder Herman Narula at the University of Cambridge.

Runware

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Runware is an AI inference infrastructure company offering unified developer access to AI models for image generation, video generation, and audio synthesis through a single API endpoint. It aggregates hundreds of model classes and many model variants, letting developers switch between models with minimal friction. Its core technology is the proprietary Sonic Inference Engine, a custom-built hardware-and-software stack optimised for AI inference across different hardware and cloud providers. Runware evolved from an earlier consumer image tool called PicFinder and operates from offices in London and San Francisco.

RX (Reed Exhibitions)

London, United Kingdom · Event Organisator

RX (Reed Exhibitions) is a global events business and subsidiary of RELX Group that organises over 400 events annually across 22 countries and 43 industry sectors. The company creates professional meeting places combining face-to-face events with digital data and tools to help customers understand their markets and conduct business. RX is the official organiser of Big Data & AI Paris, France's leading professional conference on data and artificial intelligence.

SBC Events

London, United Kingdom · Event Organisator

SBC Events (Sports Betting Community) is a leading organiser of international conferences and exhibitions for the sports betting and gaming industries, founded by Rasmus Sojmark in 2009 and headquartered in London. The company runs flagship events including SBC Summit Barcelona, SBC Summit Malta, SBC Summit Tbilisi, and events across the Americas and Asia, bringing together senior executives from betting, gaming, affiliates, technology, and sports media. SBC also operates media channels and advisory services, making it one of the most prominent event and media companies in the global iGaming sector.

ScaleUp Institute

London, United Kingdom · Support Organization

The ScaleUp Institute was co-founded in 2015 by Sherry Coutu CBE and Reid Hoffman, following Coutu's 2014 Scale-Up Report for the UK government. It is a private-sector-led, not-for-profit organisation in London that works with policymakers, corporates, finance institutions, and educators to close the UK's scale-up gap. The institute publishes annual research, runs programmes, and provides policy advocacy to help fast-growth businesses become global companies.

Scope

London, United Kingdom · Startup

London-based AI workflow platform transforming industrial inspection for the testing, inspection, and certification (TIC) sector. AI agents help field inspectors capture data through voice, video, and structured workflows, unlocking 50% more inspector capacity. Raised €17.2M Series A led by Index Ventures.

Seedcamp

London, United Kingdom · Venture Capital

Seedcamp is a London-based pre-seed and seed fund founded in 2007, often described as Europe's seed fund, that backs founders building globally ambitious technology companies. Its portfolio includes some of Europe's best-known startups, such as Wise, Revolut and UiPath, and it provides founders with capital and access to an extensive expert network.

Semble

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Clinical platform and EHR for outpatient and private healthcare providers, connecting scheduling, billing, telehealth and patient records in one system. Serves 1,700 customers including Nuffield Health; 10M+ UK patients have been seen by a clinician using it.

Sequoia Capital

London, United Kingdom · Venture Capital

Sequoia Capital is a global venture firm that led ElevenLabs' $500M Series D round announced in February 2026 at an $11B valuation, with partner Andrew Reed joining the board. Sequoia also backs Bolt as it scaled its multi-vertical mobility platform across Europe.

Sherry Coutu

Cambridge, United Kingdom · Angel Investor

Sherry Coutu CBE is a prominent angel investor and entrepreneur known for championing the UK’s scale-up ecosystem. Originally from Canada, Coutu moved to the UK and in 1994 founded Interactive Investor, an online brokerage, which she led to an IPO in 2000. After exiting that venture, she became a full-time angel in 2000 and has since invested in 50+ tech companies, focusing on consumer internet, education, and fintech startups. Coutu has been an early backer of notable UK startups like Zoopla and LoveFilm, and holds LP stakes in several venture funds. Beyond investing her own capital, Sherry Coutu is famed for her advocacy of “scale-ups” – mid-stage companies poised for high growth. In 2014, she authored the landmark Scale-Up Report for the UK government, highlighting the economic importance of helping startups grow into larger firms. This led her, alongside LinkedIn’s Reid Hoffman, to found the ScaleUp Institute in 2015 – a nonprofit that provides resources, mentorship, and policy advocacy for scaling businesses. Coutu also founded Founders4Schools and Digital Boost, initiatives connecting students and small businesses with experienced entrepreneurs. She remains an active non-executive director on multiple boards – past roles include serving on the boards of the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), the University of Cambridge Finance Board, and Pearson plc. In the angel community, Sherry Coutu is respected not only for her investments but for her mentorship and network: she often provides board-level guidance and operational mentorship to founders. Appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2013 for services to entrepreneurship, Sherry Coutu is a pivotal figure helping UK tech startups navigate the jump from startup to scale-up.

Signal AI

London, United Kingdom · Startup

AI-powered external intelligence platform that ingests media, social, broadcast and regulatory data across 226 markets and 75+ languages to deliver enterprise risk, reputation and ESG insights. Founded in London, 2013.

Simon Beckerman

London, United Kingdom · Person

Founder of Depop, the social marketplace for secondhand fashion that became a cultural phenomenon with Gen Z before its acquisition by Etsy. A designer by background, he also co-founded PIG magazine.

Skyscanner

Edinburgh, United Kingdom · Startup

Skyscanner is a global travel search engine founded in Edinburgh that compares flights, hotels, and car rentals across hundreds of providers. Acquired by Ctrip (now Trip.com Group) in 2016 for $1.7 billion, Skyscanner continues to operate independently from Scotland and serves over 100 million monthly users. It remains one of Europe's most recognized consumer tech brands and a key reference point for Scotland's startup ecosystem.

Snyk

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Snyk is a developer security platform founded in 2015 in London that helps software teams find and fix vulnerabilities in open-source dependencies, container images, infrastructure-as-code, and proprietary code. The company raised over $1 billion in funding and reached a peak valuation of $8.5 billion in 2021, becoming one of Europe's most valuable cybersecurity startups. Snyk integrates directly into developer workflows and CI/CD pipelines, positioning security as a developer-first concern. It serves over 1,500 enterprise customers including Google, Salesforce, and Atlassian.

Solve Intelligence

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Solve Intelligence builds an AI platform for intellectual property and patent work, acting as a co-pilot for IP law. Its software helps teams collect ideas from inventors, draft patent applications, respond to office actions, handle continuations and divisionals, and coordinate global patent filings across technical domains. The company is a Y Combinator alumnus with operations in London and San Francisco, founded by Chris Parsonson (CEO), his brother Angus Parsonson (CTO), and Sanj Ahilan. In December 2025 it raised a $40 million Series B co-led by Visionaries and 20VC, bringing total funding to roughly $55 million.

Sona

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Sona is a London-based workforce management platform built for frontline and deskless workers in industries such as hospitality and healthcare. Its integrated, AI-powered system combines scheduling, HR, payroll, compliance and business intelligence tools into a single people operating system. Founded in 2021 by Steffen Wulff Petersen, Oli Johnson and Ben Dixon, the company aims to serve the large global population of frontline workers. In April 2026 Sona raised a $45 million Series B led by N47, with participation from Felicis, Northzone, Gradient and Italian Founders Fund, taking total funding above $100 million.

Stability AI

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Stability AI is a London-based artificial intelligence company founded in 2019 that develops open and openly licensed generative models across images, video, audio and 3D, best known for the Stable Diffusion text-to-image model. It positions itself around accessible, open generative AI for creators, developers and enterprises.

Starling Bank

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Starling Bank is a London-based digital bank founded in 2014 by Anne Boden, offering personal, business and joint current accounts through a mobile app under a full UK banking licence. It was one of the first British neobanks to reach sustained profitability and also licenses its banking technology to other institutions through its Engine software subsidiary. It employs several thousand people and reports revenue of more than 880 million pounds.

Stephen Chandler

London, United Kingdom · Person

Managing Partner and co-founder of Notion Capital, the London B2B SaaS and fintech firm he started in 2009 with the MessageLabs team. He has backed European software leaders including GoCardless and Currencycloud and helped grow Notion to over $1bn AUM.

Steven Bartlett

London, United Kingdom · Person

British entrepreneur, investor and author. He founded social-media marketing firm Social Chain in 2014 and later co-founded Flightstory, a media and investment company. He hosts The Diary of a CEO, one of the world's most listened-to business podcasts, and is an investor on the BBC's Dragons' Den.

Stream

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Stream, rebranded from Wagestream in September 2025, is an employer-partnered workplace finance platform. Through partner employers, frontline workers gain flexible early access to their earned wages, alongside budgeting and financial-planning tools, a savings account, affordable credit, and money coaching. In 2025 it expanded into workplace pensions via its acquisition of Zippen. The platform serves several million workers across more than 2,000 employers in the UK, Europe, and the US, with partners including Asda, Bupa, Greene King, and the NHS.

Summize

Manchester, United Kingdom · Startup

Summize is a Manchester-based legaltech company offering an AI-powered contract lifecycle management platform. Its SaaS technology is designed to unite legal teams and business stakeholders so they can draft, review and manage contracts more efficiently. Founded in 2018 by former general counsel Tom Dunlop and software engineer David Smith, the company counts customers such as Revolut among its roster. In early 2026 Summize raised $50 million to accelerate product development and global growth, building on an earlier Series A backed by YFM Equity Partners and Maven Capital Partners.

SumUp

London, United Kingdom · Startup

SumUp is a leading European fintech providing mobile point-of-sale card readers and a suite of financial tools for small merchants. The company serves over 4 million businesses across 35+ countries, offering card acceptance, invoicing, business accounts, and online payment links. SumUp has become the go-to payments partner for micro and small businesses across Europe and beyond, competing with Square in the SMB payments space.

Sustainable Foods London 2026

London, United Kingdom · Event

Conference and expo in London focused on sustainability challenges in the food and drink industry, covering supply-chain transparency, alternative proteins, and circular packaging. Brings together food manufacturers, retailers, and impact investors. Strong for food-tech and climate-tech startups targeting the UK consumer market.

Sylvera

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Sylvera is a London-based climate-tech company founded in 2020 that rates and analyses carbon credits and nature-based projects using satellite data, machine learning and field measurement, helping corporate buyers judge the quality of their carbon offsets. It provides ratings, pre-issuance analytics and procurement tools, and has raised more than 90 million dollars from investors.

Synthesia

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Synthesia is a London-based AI video generation platform founded in 2017 by Victor Riparbelli, Steffen Tjerrild, and a team of AI researchers from University College London and TU Munich. The platform allows users to create professional-quality videos from text prompts using photorealistic AI avatars that speak in over 140 languages, eliminating the need for cameras, actors, or studios. Synthesia has raised over $150 million from investors including Accel, NVIDIA, and Kleiner Perkins, reaching a valuation above $2 billion. It serves over 50,000 enterprise customers including Amazon, Tiffany, and Reuters. Synthesia is one of Europe's most successful AI-native media companies.

Taavet Hinrikus

London, United Kingdom · Angel Investor

Taavet Hinrikus is a prominent European tech entrepreneur-turned-angel investor, best known as the co-founder of Wise (TransferWise). Hinrikus, originally from Estonia, was Skype’s first employee before co-founding TransferWise in London in 2011. Under his leadership (as CEO then Chairman), TransferWise revolutionized cross-border finance and reached a multi-billion valuation. After Wise’s success (it went public in 2021), Taavet Hinrikus shifted focus to investing and supporting other startups. He has become an “operator angel” who backs early-stage European founders, particularly in fintech and software, bringing his experience in scaling a fintech unicorn. In 2022, Hinrikus teamed up with Teleport co-founder Sten Tamkivi to launch a new VC firm called Plural, a €250 million fund “built by founders” to invest in Europe’s next generation of tech companies. As an individual angel, Taavet has made personal investments in startups like Bolt (ride-hailing, Estonia), Mirror (US fintech), Zego (insurance) and many others, often taking advisory roles. He is known for his hands-on mentorship style – for example, he has provided guidance to Wise alumni starting companies and frequently advocates for Baltic and European tech on the global stage. Taavet also serves on various boards (e.g. he was on the board of Nasdaq’s Estonia arm and advisory boards of fintech companies) and was a special adviser to the UK government on fintech. In the Europe Startup Guide, Taavet is described as an angel “investing as an operator-angel in European fintech and software,” focusing on pre-seed to Series A deals. His journey from founding a $10B fintech company to re-investing in the ecosystem has made Hinrikus an influential figure. Not only does he bring capital, but also credibility and connections – helping younger European startups navigate growth and international expansion. In essence, Taavet Hinrikus exemplifies the new wave of successful European founders who “pay it forward” by fueling the next cohort of startups.

Thought Machine

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Thought Machine is a London-based core banking technology company founded in 2014 by Paul Taylor, a former Google engineer. Its flagship product Vault is a cloud-native core banking platform that allows banks to configure any financial product using smart contracts, replacing legacy mainframe systems. The company raised over $500 million in funding, reaching a valuation of $2.7 billion, and counts major banks including JPMorgan, Standard Chartered, Lloyds, and SEB among its customers. Thought Machine represents a key European player in the global core banking modernization wave.

Tom Blomfield

London, United Kingdom · Person

Co-founder of Monzo and previously GoCardless, and one of the UK's best-known fintech founders. He led Monzo from a prepaid card to a licensed bank with millions of customers before stepping back; he is now a group partner at Y Combinator.

Tripledot Studios

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Mobile games company scaling casual puzzle and card titles to millions of players. Tripledot Studios is a startup based in London, United Kingdom at the growth stage. The company operates in the Gaming, Mobile space. Learn more at their website.

TrueLayer

London, United Kingdom · Startup

TrueLayer operates an open banking platform across Europe centered on Pay by Bank, enabling consumers to pay directly from their bank accounts rather than using cards. Its product suite includes Payments, Payouts for instant refunds and withdrawals, Bank on File for recurring payments and subscriptions, plus data, verification, and incentive add-ons. The company serves sectors including ecommerce, iGaming, financial services, travel, and crypto. TrueLayer is authorised and regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority, and has pursued acquisitions to expand its European footprint and add credit-at-checkout capabilities.

Turing Fest Vilnius 2026

Edinburgh, United Kingdom · Event

Product and engineering leadership conference held in Vilnius for the first time in 2026, with content on scaling engineering orgs, product-led growth, hiring, and technical architecture. 500+ product leaders and engineering managers. Tickets EUR 300-600. Previously Edinburgh-only; the Vilnius edition targets the fast-growing Baltic and CEE tech-leadership community.

UK FinTech Week 2026

London, United Kingdom · Event

Week-long fintech program in London anchored by the Innovate Finance Global Summit (IFGS), with regulator panels, investor meetups, and bank partnership sessions. The flagship summit costs about GBP 900+; fringe events are often free. Ideal for fintech startups seeking FCA insight, institutional partners, and London's deep pool of fintech VCs.

UK Propel Bootcamp 2026

Leeds, United Kingdom · Event

Week-long accelerator bootcamp in Leeds helping Nordic startups enter the UK market, organized by Nordic Innovation. Covers go-to-market strategy, legal setup, and customer acquisition in Britain. Particularly valuable for Nordic founders seeking structured support for UK expansion and local network building.

Uncapped

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Revenue-based, non-dilutive working capital provider offering USD 10k to 2m to ecommerce and online businesses via fixed-fee, no-equity financing. Founded 2019; operations also in Warsaw, Poland.

Vadim Toader

London, United Kingdom · Person

Romanian-born founder based in the United Kingdom, best known as co-founder and CEO of Proportunity, a London proptech lender that used data and machine learning to help first-time buyers onto the housing ladder. He is an active voice in the UK fintech community and is building a new AI-focused venture.

Valar Ventures

London, United Kingdom · Venture Capital

Valar Ventures is a New York and London-based venture capital firm co-founded by Peter Thiel, Andrew McCormack, and James Fitzgerald in 2010. The firm focuses on fintech, software, and data-driven businesses, investing from Series A through growth stage with typical checks of $5-50M. Valar has been one of the most active US funds in European fintech, with notable investments including N26, TransferWise (Wise), Bitpanda, and Xero. The firm manages over $1B and leverages Peter Thiel’s global network to help portfolio companies scale internationally.

Victor Riparbelli

London, United Kingdom · Angel Investor

Victor Riparbelli is a Danish entrepreneur based in London and the co-founder and CEO of Synthesia, the AI video generation platform valued at over $2 billion and one of Europe's most prominent AI companies. Alongside scaling Synthesia, he is an active angel investor in European AI and software startups, backing founders applying generative AI to enterprise workflows — including the AI coworker company Viktor.

Vlad Yatsenko

London, United Kingdom · Person

Co-founder and CTO of Revolut, responsible for the engineering platform behind the super-app's rapid global expansion. He previously built trading systems at major investment banks.

Wayve

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Wayve is a London-based autonomous driving company built around the idea that vehicles should learn to drive through end-to-end machine learning rather than depend primarily on hand-coded rules and pre-mapped environments. That design choice makes Wayve one of the most important applied AI companies in Europe, because it pushes autonomy closer to a generalized intelligence problem than a traditional automotive software stack. By learning from raw driving data and behavior rather than fixed rulesets alone, Wayve aims to create systems that adapt more fluidly to unfamiliar roads and edge cases. This approach places the company near the frontier of embodied AI, where perception, planning, and action are trained together. In ecosystem terms, Wayve sits alongside Europe's most ambitious AI infrastructure and model-building efforts, but with a direct path into physical-world deployment through automotive and fleet partnerships. It is therefore a strong example of how European AI can move beyond content generation into safety-critical systems. The company also highlights London's role as a regional AI hub where capital, research talent, and commercialization pathways increasingly overlap.

Will Shu

London, United Kingdom · Person

Founder and CEO of Deliveroo, the food-delivery company he started in 2013 after struggling to get good food delivered in London. He scaled it across Europe and Asia and led its 2021 IPO on the London Stock Exchange.

William McQuillan

London, United Kingdom · Person

Co-founding Partner of Frontline Ventures, focused on B2B software and enterprise AI. A frequent writer and podcaster on venture capital, he has helped build Frontline's transatlantic platform and its dedicated US expansion programme for European founders.

Wise

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Wise (formerly TransferWise) is a London-based fintech that built a peer-to-peer international money transfer platform offering transparent, low-cost cross-border payments at the real mid-market exchange rate. Founded by Kristo Kaarmann and Taavet Hinrikus, Wise went public on the London Stock Exchange in 2021 and now serves over 16 million customers, processing billions in cross-border volume each quarter. The company has expanded into multi-currency accounts, business payments, and a platform API used by banks and large enterprises.

Wordsmith

Edinburgh, United Kingdom · Startup

Edinburgh-based legal AI platform designed for in-house legal teams that captures, triages, resolves, and records every legal request from the business with AI assistance. Serves 500+ companies including BT, Financial Times, and Canva. Raised £52M ($70M) Series B from Highland Europe and Index Ventures in June 2026.

World ADC London 2026

London, United Kingdom · Event

Flagship antibody-drug conjugate summit in London bringing together biopharma leaders, biotech investors, and clinical researchers. Covers next-generation ADC design, payload innovation, and clinical trial data from leading oncology programs. Valuable for biotech startups developing targeted therapies and seeking licensing or co-development partnerships.

YuLife

London, United Kingdom · Startup

UK insurtech offering group life insurance and employee benefits gamified with wellbeing rewards to encourage healthy living. Founded 2016 in London; expanded to the US and South Africa.

Zilch

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Zilch is a London-based fintech founded in 2018 that offers a buy-now-pay-later and payments app funded partly by advertising, letting customers pay over time at any merchant while earning rewards. It reached unicorn status and reports over one hundred million pounds of annualised revenue, positioning itself as an ad-subsidised alternative to traditional credit.

Zoe Chambers

London, United Kingdom · Person

Partner at Frontline Ventures based in London, investing in early-stage B2B software and developer-focused founders across Europe. She is a prominent voice on seed-stage venture and supports portfolio companies through their first scaling phase.