Tech Nation has launched its first Future Fifty programme as part of Founders Forum.
The growth platform for tech scaleups closed its doors last year after the government instead awarded the £12.1 million Digital Growth Grant to Barclays Eagle Labs in a shock move.
Founders Forum – a global community and group of businesses supporting entrepreneurs at every stage of their journeys – stepped in to acquire its assets and said it planned to relaunch several of Tech Nation’s programmes, designed to support tech firms.
Now 25 late-stage growth companies have joined the 2024 edition of Future Fifty – aiming to create the UK’s next generation of unicorns.
This year’s cohort comprises 25 companies spanning 17 verticals, including emerging sectors such as quantum computing, biotech, space tech and AI. Collectively, these companies have raised over £1.3 billion and employ a talent pool exceeding 3,000.
HSBC Innovation Banking, Orrick, Matchtech and Evelyn Partners have partnered with Tech Nation to support this year’s cohort.
A key facet of this year’s programme includes education and support – not only for the cohort founders but for every corner of their C-Suites, with sessions tailored to their CPOs, CMOs and CFOs on topics integral to fast-paced international growth.
A new mentor network comprising a range of prominent UK business leaders, expert coaches and decision makers will be available to the cohort throughout the programme, empowering founders to foster long-term relationships with these key stakeholders and sparking peer-to-investor relationships.
The programme will also help founders prioritise their mental health and wellbeing with a dedicated team of therapists courtesy of OMA Mind.
Some of this year’s participants will also take part in a mission to Singapore, which will connect the founders with influential investors, CEOs, and government officials in the APAC region during Founders Forum Group’s third annual FF Asia event.
The ventures selected have been recommended by Tech Nation’s selection committee and ecosystem supporters for their ability to dominate a market, solve a complex problem in an ingenious way, or be a force for societal good.
Johnny Mayo, Future Fifty lead at Tech Nation, said: “The programme has been redesigned to double down on the elements that make Future Fifty the UK’s most unique and prestigious accelerator. The real value is not just building peer mentor networks around founders, but also their senior leadership teams as they cross the chasm. Our aim is to foster bonds that extend far beyond the four-month programme.”
Future Fifty 2024 cohort
Allicia Bank – Allicia’s mission is to become Britain’s most recommended business bank, serving established SMEs through proprietary technology and expert human relationships. Allica is profitable, and was recently named by Deloitte as the UK’s fastest-growing fintech ever. Allica’s investors include TCV – backer of the likes of Netflix, Revolut and Spotify.
Amiqus – Amiqus is the UK’s leading compliance and onboarding platform supporting over 500 organisations across different sectors through an accessible remote secure staff and client onboarding experience. Whether it’s digital identity verification, AML checks or pre-employment screening, Amiqus enables a full range of checks and digital back-office management from a single platform.
Birdie – Birdie is on a mission to reinvent the ageing journey through technology. Launched in 2017, its homecare platform empowers over 1,000 care providers to transform their operations and improve their patients’ health across over 30 million visits a year.
bit.bio – bit.bio combines the concepts of technology and biology to provide human cells for research, drug discovery and cell therapy, enabling a new generation of medicines. This is possible with our deterministic cell programming technology opti-oxᵀᴹ – a gene engineering approach that enables functional human cells to be manufactured consistently at scale.
Cleo – Cleo is the AI assistant that turns the complexity of personal finances into a conversation – the same kind you’d have with a friend. Cleo supports people through their financial lives – from the first paycheck to home ownership and beyond. Users love Cleo’s conversational approach which makes personal finance radically more accessible for the people who need it most.
CloudNC – CloudNC’s mission is to enable single-click manufacturing. We are reinventing precision machining. We save manufacturers hundreds of machine programming hours a year with CAM Assist, which accelerates CNC CAM programming with AI. CloudNC is backed by leading venture capital firms Atomico and Episode 1 Ventures, alongside Autodesk and Lockheed Martin as strategic partners.
Juro – Juro is the AI-enabled contract automation platform enabling legal and business teams to create, execute and manage contracts faster than ever. Juro was founded in 2016, is headquartered in London, and today has more than 6000 customers in more than 85 countries.
Koru Kids – Koru Kids is London’s fastest growing childcare brand who make it easier and more affordable for families to access high quality childcare. Koru Kids after school service matches parents in London with the top 10% of student nannies in London and their nanny share service helps families to share nannies with other local families.
Metaphysic – Metaphysic is a leading generative AI platform for photorealistic, Hollywood-grade content and were recently awarded ‘TIME100 Most Influential Companies 2023’. Since 2018 Metaphysic have pioneered machine learning for generative content and ethical AI where people own their biometric data and creativity thrives.
Monument – Monument is the first neo-bank in the UK specifically designed to meet the unmet needs of the mass affluent – individuals seeking a bank to help them save, grow, and enjoy their wealth. Clients can access a variety of savings products, curated lifestyle services, and exceptional client support, all within one app.
Nuclera – Nuclera’s mission is to better human health by enabling scientists to easily access the proteins they need for drug discovery research. The Company’s eProtein Discovery™ benchtop system accelerates protein expression and purification workflows within research labs and reduces the timelines and costs associated with protein expression and purification.
Patchwork Healthcare – Patchwork Health is making flexible and sustainable working a reality for all healthcare staff. Co-created with the NHS, their fully integrated workforce solution helps optimise outcomes for organisations, managers, staff and patients. 56 organisations and 40,000+ clinicians have partnered with Patchwork to date, saving £80 million in workforce costs.
Peppy – Peppy is the solution for businesses managing the crunch of employee healthcare costs and access challenges. Peppy navigates employees to expert care when it really matters. We partner over 250 leading companies like: JP Morgan, TJX, and Disney. Together with AXA and Vitality, we support over a million lives.
Perlugo – Perlego is on a mission to make educational content more affordable by offering content under a subscription model. To date the platform works with over 9000 publishers and users in 191 countries.
PolyAI– PolyAI builds bespoke customer-led voice assistants that carry on natural conversations with callers to solve their problems. PolyAI serves enterprises where customer dialogue is an important part of doing business, including transformative visionaries in logistics, global banking, hospitality, home services, insurance, energy, retail, and telecom verticals.
RiverLane – Riverlane’s mission is to make quantum computing useful sooner. To achieve this, Riverlane is building the Quantum Error Correction Stack to comprehensively control all qubit types and correct the millions of data errors that prevent today’s generation of quantum computers from achieving useful scale.
SatVu – SatVu captures the highest resolution thermal data from space for a safer and more sustainable Earth. The images and short video captured by SatVu’s first satellite, HotSat-1, show heat variations across the surface of the earth at a resolution of up to 3.5 m, both during the day and at night.
SpaceForge – Space Forge is leading the first clean-industry (r)evolution through the in-space research, development and manufacturing of hyper-efficient super materials. The company has pioneered the first dedicated and relaunchable in-space manufacturing satellite with soft-descent and high-precision landing capabilities to provide advanced protection of payload returns. The small-class vehicle, ForgeStar™, offers Microgravity-as-a-Service to increase the accessibility and affordability of super materials production.
Trailmix – Trailmix is a mobile games studio whose mission is to create delightful spaces where millions of people can flourish. Trailmix’s debut game, Love & Pies, features a lovable cast of diverse characters and captivating storylines and has been downloaded and enjoyed by millions of people around the world.
Travel Local – TravelLocal.com is a managed marketplace for global tailor-made holidays, with customers in more than 100 countries worldwide. Travel Local is revolutionising their part of the global travel industry by connecting travellers directly with handpicked, trusted local experts based in more than 90 destinations, from Argentina to Zanzibar. They know their countries better than anyone and are the ‘hidden stars’ of travel, helping their customers explore the world more sustainably.
TrustedHouseSitters – TrustedHousesitters is the leading travel solution for pet people; a global community whose love of pets and travel enables home sharing and pet caring globally. The platform has over 200,000 members in over 140 countries, accounting for more than 10 million nights of pet sitting across the world.
Tyk.io – Tyk is a full-lifecycle API management platform with open source at its core. Fast and scalable, featuring an API gateway, analytics, developer portal and dashboard, Tyk has served tens of thousands of businesses across the world since 2016. T-Mobile, RBS, and Bell all trust Tyk to manage billions of mission-critical API calls every day.
Unmind – Unmind is a workplace mental health platform that builds sustainable performance cultures. Grounded in science and built for enterprise, Unmind power the wellbeing strategies of some of the world’s biggest brands, including Uber, NHS, Disney, Standard Chartered, Diageo, John Lewis Partners, and Unilever.
XYZ Reality – XYZ Reality is a leading developer of augmented reality solutions for construction that give contractors and owners an accurate and objective way to manage projects. Combining its Engineering Grade augmented reality™ technology and hardhat, the Atom™, XYZ gives builders the ability to accurately build from holograms of 3D design models.
Zeneducate – Zen Educate is an online marketplace for schools to cover temporary staff absence. Zeneducate are live across the UK & US and backed by some of the leading EdTech and Marketplace investors.