Deep tech in the UK: 5 machine learning startups get £350K each from this Cambridge accelerator

Investment in deep tech startups is increasing year on year, as per a recent report. This trend clearly indicates that investors are drawn towards deep tech startups that can deliver notable returns over the years. Enabling such tech startups is a different deal altogether and to help accelerate their journey, a new post-seed accelerator from Cambridge named Deeptech Labs (DTL) has been launched. 

DTL is backed by some of the most notable names in the deep tech industry such as Arm, Cambridge Innovation Capital, Martlet Capital, Ewan Kirk, and the University of Cambridge. The accelerator has also selected and revealed the name of five startups, which will be a part of its first Cohort. 

New post-seed accelerator 

Deeptech Labs is the newest post-seed accelerator founded in Cambridge, enabling deep tech startups to scale faster and better. DTL’s inaugural cohort has made investments in five Machine Learning and Data Science companies: AutoFill, BKwai, Circuit Mind, Contilio, and Mindtech. 

In a conversation with UKTN, Deeptech Labs CEO Miles Kirby notes, “We help promising startups by surrounding them with community experts who have been down the same, or a similar path before. Throughout their 13 week journey they are provided with 1-1 mentoring and advice which, I believe, makes a big impact.”

Kirby reveals more about what happens in DTL’s programme. Twice a week, they help their cohorts take a step back from the daily grind and focus on setting a clear strategic vision and implementing it. “Selected companies receive a £350,000 investment and a structured three-month development programme. They are invited to participate in the Deeptech Labs Demo Day where they are introduced to the world’s leading deeptech investors. This year, that will be taking place on the 18th of June,” Kirby says.

Let’s take a quick look at these startup and what they specialise in.

AutoFill

Founders: Gideon Richheimer, Luc Demarteau, Daan De Cloe, and Stefan Verhoeven.

Founded: 2020

Location: Wassenaar, South Holland

Autofill aims to build the most comprehensive real-time market validated dataset for quality inspections, anomaly detection, structural integrity analysis and predictive maintenance for the automotive and rail industry. Our keen-eyed readers might’ve picked up on the fact that AutoFill is based out of South Holland and not the UK. UKTN has learned that the startup is in the processing of setting up a presence in the UK and one of the founders, Gideon Richheimer studied at Cambridge.   

BKwai

Founders: Sakthy Selvakumaran, Sonja Abhyankar, and Stephen Beaven

Founded: 2019

Location: London, Greater London

BKwai is building a platform to deliver insights to engineers in the construction industry using global research and applied technology to support a “more resilient” build environment. It used data science and AI to gather insights from manual measurements, sensor data and satellite data.

Circuit Mind

Founders: Tomide Adesanmi and Basilio Gentile

Founded: 2018

Location: London, England

Circuit Mind offers its artificial intelligence platform for electronic engineering teams to automatically generate, maintain, redesign and optimise their component selection, schematics, and layouts, in seconds, with fewer errors.

Contilio

Founders:  Zara Riahi and Andreas Glatz

Founded: 2018

Location: London, England

Contilio is building a 3D AI analytics platform that is touted to help the construction industry understand, predict and deliver complex construction projects in a cheaper, faster, and more sustainable manner. 

Mindtech

Founders: Steve Harris and Peter Mcguinness

Founded: 2017

Location: Kings Langley, Hertfordshire

Mindtech is building a platform that allows customers to create unlimited training data for AI vision systems. This could help customers go to market faster, at a lower cost, with a product that is said to produce more accurate results.

Deeptech Lab will be hosting its first Demo Day on June 18 where the aforementioned startups will get to present their pitch to secure a Series A investment. The second cohort starts in September 2021, for which applications are now open. Candidate companies can apply for it here.