Top 10 Tech Companies to Watch in 2018

Perlego

Here at TechRound, we are always looking for good start-ups and promising tech companies to feature on our site. Here are 10 tech companies which really stood out from the crowd and deserve recognition. These are in no particular order and we are excited to have each one of them featuring in our article. For any questions, please email me on sophie@tudorlodgeconsultants.

1. Hubbite

Hubbite

About the Business

Hubbite is a start up that aims to bring the review industry into the social age. Essentially through the site / app, you will be able to follow your friends and people you trust the opinions of to see what they are recommending and what they are telling you to avoid. Word of mouth is the best form of marketing and Hubbite could become the main ‘discovery’ platform on the internet.

Hubbite’s Growth Plans for 2018

Hubbite only launched in Beta mode at the start of June and at this stage we are still finding bugs that we are correcting. We recently found a big problem with some people not being able to sign up which were glad we were able to find and resolve whilst we are still doing our final testing.
We are hoping to come out of Beta in Q3 2018 and our app should launch shortly after. We’ll be approaching big influencers soon with the intention of getting them involved as equity owners in exchange for them helping us to build an active community on Hubbite. Alongside influencer,s we have some pretty big marketing plans (especially on launch day) so you should be seeing a lot more of us in the future.

2. DrivenMedia

driven-media
Founder of DrivenMedia, Ed Hollands promoting his haulage advertising.

About the Business

DrivenMedia turns commercial trailers travelling the country into mobile billboards, truck advertising unlocks a hard to reach and highly receptive audience for advertisers. Clients include Ice Lolly, Canna and Yboo.

Driven Media’s Growth Plans for 2018

After appearing on Dragons Den early this year, successfully obtaining investment from dragons Jenny Campbell. DrivenMedia is focusing on growing our team in order to help bring truck advertising to the attention or more and more brands.
Looking further ahead the business is looking to add digital billboards to the back of trucks making truck advertising more flexible and adaptable to brands and advertisers needs.

3. SafeToNet

Richard-Pursey

About the Business

SafeToNet is a cyber-safety company that uses technology to safeguard children’s and young adults’ online experience. SafetoNet uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to contextualise the messages that children send online and then filters anything harmful before it is sent and before any damage is done.

Formed in 2013, the business has steadily created a family of safeguarding features that are deployed in particular on mobile device technologies. These features include real-time advice and guidance, message and website filtering plus device and app management technologies. These features are protected by a family of patents that date back to 2001 and apply in Europe and the USA.

In March 2018 the Company launched what it believes to be the world’s first sext filtering software that prevents children from sending inappropriate images and messages. Further technologies to be launched during 2018 include message filters for cyberbullying, profanity and abuse plus image filters for gore, weaponry and violence.

SafeToNet is a B2B2C company selling predominantly to the world’s largest mobile network operators. Its software is aimed at parents of 4 to 15-year-old children. SafeToNet has developing relationships with operators in the UK, continental Europe, the Middle East, North America and Singapore.

The Company has been recognised on many occasions for its innovative technology. In February 2018 SafeToNet won the GSMA D-Lab competition for its cyberbullying prevention software. As a result, the GSMA is sponsoring SafeToNet to launch its software in Spain in September 2018. SafeToNet is also one of just 5 companies in the world to be a member of the Go-Ignite accelerator which is a consortium of Deutsche Telekom, Telefonica, Singtel and Orange. The program gives SafeToNet access to over 1.2bn customers from around the world.
Further awards include:

  • Bloomberg Most Investible Business
  • KPMG Best British Mobile
  • BT/EE Future Mobile Infinity Lab Award
  • Connect TVT Top 50 Game Changer 2 years in a row
  • Best Use of Tech Business Magazine
  • Women in Business Rising Star
  • Cisco 50
  • 101 Top Tech Disrupter
  • Pitch@Palace Alumni 2016

SafeToNet has also set up a charity, The SafeToNet Foundation, which was formed in 2017, and which receives a proportion of SafeToNet’s global revenue. This money is donated to charities and welfare groups that work around the world in the field of child welfare, child mental health and online safety. They also provide SafeToNet with the advice and guidance notes that are passed on to parents and children when the SafeToNet app detects real-time risks and issues.

SafeToNet’s Growth plans for 2018

The Company has been privately funded and has raised over £12 million of which £9 million was raised in the last 6 months. We moved from an incubator to our own premises in Southwark in January 2018 and are already bursting at the seams, so we’ll be likely expanding again soon.

4. Gift Waffles

joumana-lahoud
Waffles_logo

About the Business

Giftwaffles.com is a group-gifting website. We make it super-easy for friends, family and colleagues to club together online for a meaningful gift or voucher. In just a few clicks, the organiser can create a gift page and share its link; others click to contribute and sign the group card; then the organiser can use the balance collected to buy a special gift or a voucher for the recipient. Our idea is simple yet effective we save gift givers time and hassle, and the recipient gets a gift they really want every single time.

Gift Waffles’ Growth Plans for 2018

We’re very proud of what we have achieved since launching in September 2017. Our user base is growing exponentially every month and we have partnered with the UK’s most popular retailers such as John Lewis, Amazon, Ticketmaster and many more. We want to be top of mind on every gifting occasion and make it easy for groups of people to get together and give bigger and better gifts for birthdays, newborns, leaving do’s etc. In 2018, we will be expanding our team as well as looking for like-minded and proactive investors who can help us grow.

5. Perlego

Perlego

About the Business

Co-founders of Perlego, Gauthier Van Malderen and Matthew Davis, aimed to create a platform which was in tune with the 21st-century student. This meant creating an interactive, fun, and current learning platform: everything the traditional textbook market is missing.
Most importantly, through offering a monthly subscription service to customers, Perlego is an affordable alternative which offers over 190,000 ebooks for academic study, and for as little as £12, a subscription can cost less than the price of a single textbook. Nicknamed the “Spotify for textbooks,” Perlego is the modern library for students and young professionals, where users can read and store books on a variety of topics.

Perlego’s growth plans for 2018

Perlego is growing its team to gain access to the best resources and implement its innovative business plan. By paying publishers 65% revenue, Perlego works with publishing houses in a way that meets the needs of both the industry and the consumer.
Although Perlego already works with some of the biggest names in publishing, such as Ingram (the world’s largest e-book distributor), the team continues to work on adding new titles to its library. Future plans include engaging directly with universities across the UK through a team of student brand ambassadors, and technologically, Perlego is working on the introduction of a handy mobile app, so that subscribers can read on the go. The platform would also like to deliver audio content, making learning more millennial-friendly than ever.

6. Creatyve 

creatyve

About the Business

Creatyve is a London based startup founded in April 2018. It aims to connect artists and investors on an exchange-like platform, where artists can raise capital towards their costs and sell a percentage of their artworks to investors in the form of shares. We will provide the platform where these campaigns and exchanges take place. We are solving a problem that is twofold: artists are often in need of capital for their operating and marketing costs: they will need money for their equipment, studio costs and especially exhibiting in galleries. In addition, there is currently no way that an investor can invest in art shares without having to buy the artwork and incur its management costs. On creatyve, artists will be able to raise capital for their next artwork but also upload their previous works and raise capital for those. It will work similarly to a crowdfunding platform, however, unlike traditional crowdfunding, there is the potential for a return for the investors, who will be able to sell their shares back on the platform if and when the art has increased in value.

Creatyve’s Growth Plans for 2018

We are currently in the development phase of our MVP, we already have a keen follower base on Instagram and have run ad campaigns with very positive conversion results. For the second part of 2018 we plan to further increase our follower base and start getting artists to sell part of their artwork with us: this is going to happen really soon, as we are set to take part in an accelerator programme here in London in September and thus we need to gain users as soon as possible in order to participate. We also plan to organise a launch event for the launch of our MVP in October, and further increase the number of artists and investors present on creatyve by the end of the year in order to start 2019 with great momentum.

7. WorkClub

work-club

About the Business

WorkClub presents a contemporary and sustainable solution to support the growing demand for flexible workspaces in London. The Pure Gym of flexible workspace – WorkClub have built an affordable membership to give remote workers access to a city-wide network of drop-in workspaces and meeting rooms.

Their vision is to become a household name in remote workforce services. WorkClub 2.0, which launches in August, is a state-of-the-art platform that enables anyone, irrelevant of budget, to co-work with other like-minded people in well-connected spaces. 

Tori Donnelly, co-founder of WorkClub said, “We spotted an opportunity to break down and disrupt the current market by using technology to offer space in a different way. WorkClub is about helping people find a workspace that is less about the location but more about the convenience and community of the space”. 

With monthly subscriptions starting at just £9.99, members will have access to a workspaces, meeting rooms, community-powered events, exclusive deals, power cords, portable power banks and of course business grade WiFi.

WorkClub will also benefit the day-to-day operations of traditional hospitality businesses like restaurants, pubs, hotels and bars, by transforming sections of their under-utilised space during off-peak hours into a temporary working spaces.

Nick Donnelly, founder of WorkClub said, “this arrangement is mutually beneficial for everyone involved, remote workers get an affordable working space, while businesses get a healthy flow of low-fuss customers”. 

WorkClub’s Growth Plans for 2018

The teams growth plans look exciting. Early next year the team will be launching their first fully managed WorkClub in London. 

“Operating a retail space that is not shared with another operator will allow us to stay open for longer evening hours and on weekends, while delivering a consistent overall experience” – says Upile Chawosa, CTO of WorkClub. 

According to the team, there are hundreds of vacant retail units scattered across most major cities, where restaurants have closed, or brick and mortar retail stores have been put out of business by e-commerce. 

For local residents and businesses, its disheartening and often dangerous to have local retail units remain vacant for months or years at a time. The team want to solve the problem by transforming these vacant units into WorkClub workspaces. 

This mix of drop-in workspaces and dedicated workspace will allow the team to continue providing a high-quality network of spaces at an extraordinarily low cost.

8. FleetWit

David-Metz

About the Business

FleetWit – founded last year in New York by trivia lover David Metz and Julien Loutre, one of the first Facebook employees in Europe – is best described as a pub quiz on your phone. It is one of the fastest growing skill-based trivia apps in the world and rewards players with cash prizes for their knowledge. There are trivia games in over 170 different categories, ensuring there is something for everyone playing. The app allows users to go head-to-head with friends and family, compete live against thousands of players around the world, or even challenge trivia professionals – these are known as ‘races’. 

FleetWit’s Growth Plans for 2018

Having recently announced its official launch in the UK, with Countdown star Rachel Riley as its celebrity ambassador – FleetWit is targeting 100,000 paying users in the UK over the next year. The appetite for trivia is huge in the UK and the app has already grown five times faster in the UK than it did when it first launched in the US in August last year.

Having successfully launched in both the US and the UK, there are now plans to launch in Australia in August and additional countries after that. Overall growth has been incredible. FleetWit is close to 100 per cent month-over-month growth and it’s on track to have over 1,000,000 credits spent and 200,000 races played in the month of July. At the moment, it’s available on iOS and an Android version is anticipated to launch by October this year.

9. PEEX

Graham-Tull

About the Business

PEEX is a revolutionary music tech startup that has developed an innovative and patented wearable technology in order to improve audio quality at concerts, better connect fans to artists, and transform the live music experience.

PEEX makes live music more interactive and personalized than ever before. PEEX LIVE, the initial PEEX technology offering, allows gig-goers to experience crystal clear audio anywhere they are within the venue, as well as enabling them to create their own 5-channel mix of the live concert sound in real time. All this is made possible via PEEX’s wearable technology, the rX receiver, which couples with their easy-to-use free app.

PEEX RELIVE, the company’s subsidiary offering, will provide artists a forum to sell high-quality audio downloads recorded via PEEX LIVE, allowing fans to own and relive their favourite live music moments again and again.

PEEX’s Growth Plans for 2018

Our growth vision is for PEEX LIVE technology to be successfully rolled out to the wider music industry and fans, via key venue and artist partnerships that we have in the works. Ultimately, we aim to establish the wearable technology, the rX, as a revolutionary live music kit that greatly enhances the overall audio experience at a live concert (i.e., think Dolby sound for theatres and PEEX for live music). Having recently launched in partnership with Elton John, there will be further artist and venue partnership announcements in 2018.

10. Koala

HUI

About the Business  

Koala is an early stage travel tech start-up which connects people by curating small group tours. The idea is to encourage people to travel more by designing experiences which suit their interests. Furthermore, enable like-minded individuals to share the experience together. 

Koala’s growth plans for 2018

We are focusing on European long weekend trips for 2018. We have planned some amazing experiences with a variety of themes with the help of some lovely locals to make sure our trips are authentic, and the travellers get time to explore on their own as well as enjoy the shared experience with the group. Creating a great travel community is at the heart of what we do.  We’ll be hosting some travel events to bring people together.