Bristol Startups 2.0

Welcome to the first edition of Bristol Startups 2.0.

These 18 founder-led startups are not backed by venture capital. Bootstrapped, pre-seed or angel-backed, the enterprises are in the early stages of their journey and either building or harnessing a unique technology.

We invited nominations from our readers, key figures in Bristol’s tech scene and an array of incubators, accelerators and co-working spaces. Many are already making waves in the market.

We are running annual Startups 2.0 lists in all major UK cities. To discuss sponsorship, contact the editor Jonathan Symcox at this email address. Options include pitching competitions and roundtables featuring the successful startups.

Subscribe to our Wednesday lunchtime newsletter to keep in the loop and for a weekly dose of entrepreneurial stories, startup growth advice and investor news.

Airway Medical
Airway Medical has developed a novel device for clearing airways. Its portable Airway Medical Suction Unit looks like a sports bottle and has the potential to make current electric/battery technology obsolete. It can be used in hospitals; by paramedics and other emergency services; to enhance the survival rates of tracheostomy patients; give respite from cystic fibrosis; and by battlefield medics.
Behind Login
Behind Login equips its FinTech clients to maintain and grow their competitive advantage. It runs regular research sessions and has open lines of communication with a global network of over one million users of financial products. Its in-house ReleaseTrack technology tracks when a client’s competitors are making updates to apps and websites, and feeds these back.
Dittofi
Dittofi empowers companies to build full-stack, enterprise-grade web apps via a visual no-code studio. With the view that existing solutions enforce 100% lock-in and limitations around design, performance and security, it delivers React.js & Google Go code that a user can export and own. It also provides the option for users to either host with the platform or deploy their code into their own Amazon Web Services account.
Ensilitech
More than 50% of vaccines worldwide are wasted, largely due to failures in cold chain transport and storage. Ensilitech’s technology exploits the growth of protective silica nanoshells on the surface of biological components to prevent degradation. Removing the need for cold chain infrastructure, it prevents wastage, improves shelf-life and increases the accessibility of biological therapeutics and diagnostics globally.
HealthHubble
HealthHubble’s core search engine & directory breaks down the typical barriers to self-funded healthcare, making it easier for people to find and contact health and wellness providers throughout the UK. It also improves the visibility and reach of clinics including private GPs, specialist doctors, physiotherapy and osteopathic, acupuncture and hypnotherapy.
Impulsonics
Impulsonics is leveraging the power of acoustic waves to streamline BioTech automation and create new capabilities in tissue engineering. Cell culture automation remains a highly manual field and the University of Bristol spinout aims to change that and make it accessible to every lab. Its technology is used all over the world, from wind turbines to virtual reality gaming and now life sciences.
Light Trace Photonics
Photonic integrated circuits are much like microelectronic circuits, but they guide and manipulate light rather than electrical signals. Light Trace Photonics aims to cut the time and costs associated with the development cycles required to bring photonic products to market. It claims its innovation can aid the UK in tackling strategic challenges such as the ageing society and future mobility.
Microsol
Microsol accelerates the development of formulations for respiratory drug delivery. It offers digital solutions to measurements traditionally confined to the laboratory, enabling the optimisation of the formulations that carry drugs into the lung. Such an approach allows the regional deposition of drugs to be controlled, delivering therapeutics to where they need to be and in the correct form.
Molydyn
Computational tools have shown extreme benefit for biological sciences and drug development. However, material science as a sector has low uptake of chemical modelling approaches due to a skills gap. Molydyn is supporting material scientists, democratising access to powerful tools with the potential to significantly reduce wasted time and resources by reducing the number of experiments required.
Moropo
Moropo’s app-testing platform claims to be 10x more efficient than existing options. Allowing users to build, run and scale open-source test scripts across dozens of iOS and Android devices without writing code, it uses open-source Maestro format to enable import and export from the community-built tools which sprung up due to frustrations with limited Apple and Google app ecosystem tools.
Mykor
Mykor is a biotechnology and advanced materials company working on developing sustainable materials for the construction industry as well as providing consultancy services. It works across design, engineering and life sciences to provide building materials with excellent physical properties, functional design and radical sustainability.
Orbital
Most remote communication options are overwhelming, hard to learn – or just plain boring. Orbital aims to banish video call burnout, boost creativity and build a thriving culture through custom spaces called ‘galaxies’ where users move their avatar to connect with others and create instant breakaway areas. They can also broadcast screens simultaneously, share files and use interactive collaboration features.
POPcomms
A no-code ‘experience builder’, POPcomms’ platform aims to help clients across a variety of industries – including advanced manufacturing, healthcare and the built environment – wow customers via personalised, interactive visuals such as 3D product models and configurators. It then tracks interactions for data-driven decision-making and personalised outreach strategies.
Propflo
Propflo supports mortgage and property businesses to nurture their customers and help them make more sustainable decisions about their property. Its AI-powered platform analyses property portfolios to understand risks and opportunities then provides engagement tools to facilitate energy efficient retrofitting.
RouteZero
RouteZero’s digital tools help corporations to accelerate decarbonisation action by addressing the number one source of emissions: namely, travel. Its carbon-forecasting and intervention-planning tools increase the confidence in the company hitting emission goals, while its employee-facing tools get the whole organisation on board.
Senmag Robotics
Senmag Robotics is developing affordable, high-fidelity force feedback devices to bring the magic of haptics to 3D models. By making them feel solid, it gives these virtual models a ‘presence’ in real space – allowing users to understand whether the real product would be hard or soft, heavy or light – and aims to replace motion controllers for more realistic interaction with virtual reality and augmented reality programs.
Solesense
Developed to enable patients to do more independent rehabilitation, SoleSense’s wireless pressure sensing insoles deliver auditory and visual biofeedback via an app. With a focus on neurological conditions that affect balance and walking, it allows patients to track their own progress and set collaborative goals with their therapists.
Zedible
Helping to map and track carbon from the supply chain and into the food and hospitality sectors – which it says contribute to more than half of emissions – Zedible aims to ‘make CO₂ a KPI’. It then allows users to move the environmental dial through ‘one-click’ partial or full offsetting options, delivered through an array of recognised projects.

Bristol Startups 2.0

Airway Medical

Behind Login

Dittofi

Ensilitech

HealthHubble

Impulsonics

Light Trace Photonics

Microsol

Molydyn

Moropo

Mykor

Orbital

POPcomms

Propflo

RouteZero

Senmag Robotics

Solesense

Zedible

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