Welcome to Startup Weekly – your weekly roundup of news from the UK’s tech startup world.
Leading UK startups meet with French PM
First up this week, a cohort of UK tech entrepreneurs ventured to Paris on Monday for a meeting with French PM Edouard Phillipe.
The 50-strong group of CEOs and founders were led by WAYN.com CEO Peter Ward and also included: Tech City UK CEO Gerard Grech; Transferwise co-founder Taavet Hinrikus; Monzo founder Tom Blomfield; EnterpriseJungle co-founder Emma Sinclair MBE; Draper Esprit VC Vishal Gulati; Seedcamp co-founder Reshma Sohoni; Trussle founder Ishaan Malhi; and Boiler Room CEO Blaise Belville.
Emphasising the vital importance of free-trade and continued strong ties with Europe, the group issued calls for continued cross-border co-operation and innovation between the UK and the continent, despite anxieties surrounding Brexit.
Taavet Hinrikus, co-founder and chair of TransferWise, said: “Close relations with Europe have always been important to companies such as ours. Not only because it’s a huge market on our doorstep but also because of the access to talent it offers. A thriving tech ecosystem in Europe is good for the economic growth of the every country in the region. In light of Brexit, it is even more important to work with together with the rest of Europe.”
Startupbootcamp IoT finalists
Startupbootcamp IoT has announced the nine victorious startups that have been selected to join its accelerator programme.
The successful participants were whittled down from 350 applications from 57 countries and the programme will kick off in October.
Programme CEO Raph Crouan highlighted that this year’s finalists reflect a broad shift within the IoT sector from home and consumer-level products towards heavy industry such as manufacturing, logistics and agriculture.
UK-based participants include Mothive – an agriculture startup which creates wireless devices to monitor climate and soil conditions; Odyssey Sensors – an intel specialist supporting smallholder farmers; Sonodot – a factory automation platform; and Unifi.id – a smart card startup which helps businesses to improve their user experiences.
Joining them on the programme will be HUDlog, Internet of Trees, Robotic Solutions, Thingblox and Storybot.
Tech Spain Advocates launches in Madrid
A new chapter of Global Tech Advocates has been launched in Madrid to champion Spain’s tech sector.
Joining the group’s network of tech advocates across 50 countries, the new outpost will work to connect its Spanish members with partners in the UK, Scandinavia, Dublin, San Francisco and Asia.
Work will involve supporting entrepreneurs with dedicated centres of excellence, lobbying for improved access to capital and talent, and the provision of support and advice across its global network.
An InsurTech trade mission
This week, the UK’s first smart home insurance provider Neos has been announced as one of the Department for International Trade’s six partners for its San Francisco InsurTech trade mission.
UK InsurTech companies Digital Fineprint, Flock, QuanTemplate, Cazana and Corax will be joining Neos as part of the UK trade delegation.
The three-day visit hopes to build the profile of the UK’s InsurTech industry globally, with the company hoping to gain insights from US founders about global expansion as well as new network and customer acquisition opportunities.
That’s all for today! See you next Friday!