Welcome to Startup Weekly, our roundup of the week’s top tech news for startups in the UK.
Every week, we will bring you the latest from the country’s startup accelerators, incubators, competitions and awards.
Entrepreneur First creates 14 deep tech startups
Entrepreneur First (EF), the company builder which recently raised $12.4m, has announced the creation of 14 deep tech startups.
The companies, which took part in EF’s demo day, held in London this afternoon, are:
Metis Labs: is general intelligence for industrial systems
Kiroku: capturing the value of expert conversation.
Kue: reinvents consumer credit and changes how we purchase.
Robik AI: builds autonomous vehicles to slash the cost of last-mile delivery.
Migacore Technologies: uses online signals to better predict travel demand.
Machine Medicine: uses computer vision to predict and prevent falls before they happen.
MOBILUS Labs: is a hands-free, ear-free voice platform.
GTN: a quantum leap in drug discovery.
Agrosight: detects plant diseases early using hyper-spectral signals, dramatically reducing the cost of food production.
Sensum Technologies: uses advanced statistical and machine learning algorithms to predict and prevent preterm birth.
CargoMate Technologies: saves millions in fuel costs by helping container ships leave port early.
ConnectMed: is plugging the primary healthcare gap in developing countries.
Portifyis: building the infrastructure for the future of work.
Resurgo Genetics: is building a universal tool to precisely change any living system.=
Matt Clifford, co-founder and CEO commented “We’re building EF to be the institution where those people have the greatest opportunity to achieve their ambitions.
“What you see in EF8 today is a group of extraordinary individuals with extraordinary ambitions. We’re very proud to have worked with them over the last six months to help them build and delighted to be unveiling such an ambitious cohort as we announce this exciting new chapter for EF,” he added.
Speaking about the cohort presenting at today’s Demo Day, Alice Bentinck, co-founder of Entrepreneur First, added: “This is our most ambitious cohort to date tackling some of the world’s most difficult problems. They joined us as individuals six months ago, without teams or formed ideas and we’re really proud of what they have created. We have startups working on drug discovery, medtech, finance and the future of work.”
Accelerator announces inaugural cohort
SeedHaus, a pre-Seed tech accelerator based in Edinburgh, has launched in an attempt to find Scotland’s next billion dollar company and announced its inaugural cohort.
The accelerator says it has received more than 160 applications since April. Approximately 50% of these, it adds, where from founders overseas.
Seed Haus, co-founded by Calum Forsyth (CEO) and Robin Knox (chairman) will provide companies with pre-seed investment, office space and mentorship.
The startups selected to join the accelerator’s first cohort are:
SecurityCTRL: cybersecurity for cloud infrastructure
Sansible Wearables: body monitoring IoT technology
Drinkly: on-demand drinks service
Kindaba: collaborative communication platform for families
Taka: Parkinson’s therapeutic symptom management system
Forsyth commented: “The founders themselves represent a highly-talented, diverse group with considerable experience and achievements already under their respective belts.”
Knox added: “We are Scotland’s most selective accelerator and we have big ambitions for the companies we support. We seek out people with the best ideas at a very early stage – we are not looking for business plans.”
“Potential is more important to us than business experience. Seed Haus is providing exactly the sort of support needed by early stage startups to give them the greatest chance of achieving success and securing the next stage of investment.”
WeWork Creator Awards winners
Cambridge-based SIMPRINTS walked away with £270,000 at WeWork’s Creator Awards ceremony, held in London yesterday.
The non-profit company, founded by Alexandra Grigore and Christine Kim, is looking to tackle the global issue of formal identification with its fingerprint scanner integrated in an app.
The money will enable SIMPRINTS to fulfill their vision and create the first ever fingerprint scanner for newborns.
Other financial awards ranged from £13,500 – £135,000, given to a range of non-profits, entrepreneurs and tech companies, including Airlite, a pioneering technology that purifies paint to remove air pollution; Andiamo, a company revolutionizing orthoses by simply taking pictures on a mobile phone which will allow children to receive orthosis within one week, as opposed to the current wait time of six months; and Joto, an Etch-A-Sketch for the digital age.
UK blockchain startup Billion joins Ohio accelerator
London-based blockchain startup Billion Group has been named one of the fintechs in FinTech71’s inaugural cohort.
The firm also secured a $100,000 grant.
Fintech71 is run by Ohio-based industry leaders in an attempt to spur innovation and growth and is supported by JobsOhio, the state’s private economic development corporation.
The intensive ten-week programme is designed to accelerate access to top financial services companies and expand the innovation pipeline for private-sector stakeholders.
A £1m grant for Healthera
In other news, Cambridge-based Healthera has entered a £1m, 18-month collaborative agreement, co-funded by Innovate UK, focused on researching and developing a connected digital solution for patients and pharmacies.
The purpose of the collaboration is to create a new digital health solution that will increase the level of medical compliance for patients, improve the efficiency of pharmacy clinical services, and support pharmacies in becoming first-line clinical providers.
Quintus Liu, chief executive officer of Healthera, commented: “The consortium between Healthera and Cegedim Rx is another step forward for the pharmacy sector, with potential to empower thousands of pharmacies with top-of-the-line digital health that ultimately serves millions of NHS patients. The funding from Innovate UK will expedite the project’s development, cementing Healthera and Cegedim Rx’s leading position in the healthcare IT space.”