20 companies that #inciteinnovation

There are many reasons to start your own venture; you get to do what you love, you are your own boss, you may have a revolutionary idea or you simply want to do something differently. With a great new idea, a lot of effort and a little bit of luck, 2017 could be your year to start a great business. Or, maybe you have already started.

IP Foundry has looked at and profiled 20 successful and inventive start-up companies to watch in 2017. We’re doing this because we want to share their stories and #inciteinnovation for anyone looking to get started.

All of these companies started with something valuable, and the key to any new business – a unique idea. In sharing their stories we are focusing on what makes the idea different and great.

These companies have invested in their intellectual property (IP) to protect their creations’. Kilburn & Strode believes in protecting innovation – and IP Foundry is the resource to help you do that.

Day 20 – Jukedeck

jukedeck-image

Tagline: Using artificial intelligence to revolutionise the way people, and companies, make and consume music.

When and where?

London-based and founded in 2012.

Why?

Jukedeck has created technology that can compose and adapt music to personal preferences. It is somewhat the line between art, creativity and technology. They created this because they want to give people, and companies, music that is shaped to their needs – as well as music that is royalty free. Because creating your own music, as opposed to hiring someone to do so or paying royalties, empowers people to be unique as well as cost-efficient.

Who?

Now, Jukedeck is a team of composers, producers, engineers, academics and machine learning experts. It was co-founded by Ed Rex and Patrick Stobbs. Ed Rex studied Music at Cambridge and is a published composer. Patrick Stobbs, after graduating from Cambridge, spent three years at Google working with video and gaming companies.

What makes this different?

The innovative technology shapes music to different situations. This means it is tailored to a specific task and no two pieces of music are the same. Jukedeck has created music already used in videos by Google, the Natural History Museum and various YouTube creators – exemplifying its quality.

Day 19 – Kerv

kerv

Tagline: The world’s first contactless payment ring.

When and where?

Founded in 2015 and based in the UK.

Why?

Going for a run? Heading to a music festival? Swimming at the beach? Things you don’t want to carry with you may include your wallet and phone. Kerv was created as a practical means to pay for things without the hassle of carrying your cards on you all the time. Anywhere in the world that displays the contactless symbol accepts a Kerv payment – no card, pin, signature or smartphone required. It comes in a range of sizes, is waterproof and requires no charging.

Who?

Founded by advertising and marketing specialist, Phil Campbell.

What makes this different?

Not only is Kerv a contactless payment ring, it can also be used on the tap-in London tube, trains, bus and riverboat network. Kerv can also store emergency and medical information, as well as link up to particular home/office locking systems. This is well and truly a resource created by people who want to make our lives easier.

Day 18 – Thomson & Scott Skinny Prosecco & Champagne

skinny

Tagline: Low calorie, great flavoured Prosecco & Champagne.

When and where?

Founded in 2014 and based in the UK.

Why?

With less than half the sugar of a regular bottle, Skinny Prosecco and Skinny Champagne allow you to enjoy top quality sparkling wine in a healthier way. Founder Amanda Thomson developed the idea by contemplating why we always ask what’s in our food, but never what’s in our wine. Currently the brand, Thomson & Scott, is selling Skinny Champagne Grand Cru Brut, Skinny Champagne Grand Cru Rosé and Skinny Prosseco Magnum. They have plans to launch many more top quality sparkling wines whilst keeping up their healthy focus.

Who?

Founded by a British entrepreneur, Amanda Thomson.

What makes this different?

Thomson & Scott have  developed a product that offers a less guilty drinking experience. Although they can’t promise the next day will be smooth-sailing, at least you can be rest assured that you know what is going into your body is organic and vegan – practically a health food!

Day 17 – Babylon Health

babylon

Tagline: The country’s best doctors, supported by the world’s most advanced AI.

When and where?

Founded in 2014 and based in the UK.

Why?

The idea behind Babylon is to give every person an accessible and affordable healthcare service. By combining technology with the best medical expertise of humans, Babylon has become an immediate and personalised healthcare service. It works via an app where you chat live to doctors, send photos and get responses instantly – from anywhere in the world. The doctors can send prescriptions to your front door, office or local pharmacy. Babylon also has features to track your own health and add family members.

Who?

Founded by British Entrepreneur Ali Parsa, and run by a diverse team of doctors, developers and data scientists.

What makes this different?

Being ill is difficult and sometimes getting medical help is even harder. Babylon wants to change this and eventually provide a worldwide service. Also, all Babylon employees become shareholders – meaning when Babylon succeeds everyone succeeds!

Day 16 – Luminance

luminance

Tagline: Artificial Intelligence for legal due diligence.

When and where?

Founded in 2015 in Cambridge.

Why?

Luminance combines artificial intelligence with human training and experience to analyse documents and quickly transform data. Therefore, offering a new class of document analysis software that can transform our approach to big data. Targeted at lawyers, Luminance adds value and saves time in time-poor industries. The program can process large and complex fragmented data sets within an hour and presents the entirety of the data room in an intuitive visualiser. Due diligence is a complex, time-sensitive and high-risk task – Luminance finds the hidden risks from day one and is a faster more accurate review than any human.

Who?

Headed by the executive team of Emily Foges, Julie Dolan and Dr James Loxam and formed by a group of mathematicians and software engineers.

What makes this different?

Luminance is applying cutting-edge machine learning to due diligence for the very first time. The ability to identify irregular contracts and clauses greatly minimises the risk of missing key information in contracts. Also, it enables experts to focus on what they are best at – adding value to any legal team.

Day 15 – Inside Biometrics

insidebiometrics

Tagline: Medical Technology that is leading the way in healthcare tracking.

When and where?

Founded in 2013 and based in Scotland

Why?

Inside Biometrics’ mission is to provide market leading, self-tracking products that are health and performance focused. Formed by an experienced medical team, Inside Biometrics’ have developed these products that are used by millions of people around the world. To help manage diabetes, the Health Trackers mean individuals with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes can self-monitor their blood glucose and insulin therapy. Inside Biometrics’ are also developing a sophisticated personal tracker app for improving fitness, endurance and body composition. The app is able to learn your body’s response to exercise and create individualised programmes for you.

Who?

Inside Biometrics was founded by Professor Selly Sain.  Previously the Worldwide Director of the Diabetes Care Unit at Johnson & Johnson.

What makes this great?

It has been estimated that the number of people with diabetes could exceed 500 million in the next 15-20 years. Clinical studies show that tight control of blood glucose levels is associated with a significant reduction in long-term diabetes complications. Therefore,  Inside Biometrics’ is trying to find cost effective solutions to maintain the spread and ease individual’s ability to manage it.

Day 14 – Weav Music

weav

Tagline: Music to suit your surroundings.

When and where?

Founded in 2014 and based in London.

Why?

Weav Music is changing the way people create music  – and the way they consume it. They aim to alter the experience of listening to music by making it adapt, in real time, to your lifestyle and surroundings.  The technology facilitates the creation of unique tracks, that can be played at any speed, while keeping high definition quality. A recent product is ‘Weav Run’, an app created by their ground breaking fitness technology team. The adaptive music experience is the first of its kind and changes arrangement and composition as you run. The app matches your movements to the beat, stays in sync with your speed and is available offline so you can run without limitations.

Who?

Co-founded by Google Maps creator Lars Rasmussen and Cute Little Apps founder Elomida Visviki.

What makes this great?

Weav Music makes something already great (music), even better.  Their growth and creativity isn’t slowing down anytime soon. Things to look forward to in the near future are pace control mode, involvement of more professional musicians and the licensing your existing favourite tunes.

Day 13 – SwiftKey

swiftkey

Tagline: Smart prediction technology for easier mobile typing.

When and where?

Founded in 2008 and the SwiftKey app launched on Android in 2010.

Why?

SwiftKey wants to enhance the interaction between people and technology. They want to provide people with the most intuitive keyboard software to make communicating faster and easier for everyone. They do this through advanced predictive technology that learns from an individual’s personal writing and typing style. They cater for the masses – having free keyboards for iPhones and iPads as well as Androids. They have also applied their core technology to a range of communication challenges in the spirit of giving back. These include assistive tech projects that support people with special needs, or with mobility issues, to communicate more effectively.

Who?

Co-founded by Jon Reynolds and Ben Medlock who had the mutual gripe with slow keyboard functionality.

What makes this different?

The technology required for the keyboards to function is astounding. Swiftkey users have saved an estimated 10 trillion keystrokes across 100 different languages. Running the figures on this, those saved keystrokes add up to over 100,000 years of reclaimed typing time. The intellectual property, in the form of patents, Swiftkey need to safeguard their idea is significant. Those patents form a strong asset for their business. In April 2016 they teamed up with Microsoft – a clear sign their concept is market leading and they protected their technology well.

Day 12 – OpClear

opcleae

Tagline: For clinical staff OpClear is the most reliable method of maintaining vision during a laparoscopic procedure.

When and where?

Founded in 2010 and based in the UK.

Why?

OpClear by Cipher Surgical is an intelligent solution for clear vision during difficult medical procedures. It uses patented technology to control the delivery of elements along the laparoscope to demist, and reduce intrusion on, the lens. This technology aims to reduce operating time and reduce the amount of time cleaning the laparoscope. Therefore, improving patient safety.

Who?

Founded by venture capitalist Andrew Newell who has founded, invested and advised over 30 companies in Europe, North America and Asia. Andrew has a vast experience in intellectual property rights, healthcare and equity.

What makes this different?

OpClear prides itself on being the most reliable product for this procedure. The clever technology, and easy to use product, ensure that when surgeons need the best visibility they can use OpClear and really ‘see the difference’.

Day 11 – SOMYMU

somymu

Tagline: The site to discuss, debate, compare and have your voice heard on different topics and issues.

When and where?

Founded in 2015 in the UK.

Why?

SOMYMU aims to create an environment where debating and decision-making is fun, free and easy.  It is social media discussion site that debates issues of the day in a fun and analytical manner, with on-going questions, polls and interesting results. The topics are vast and interesting –  ranging from politics and sports to entertainment and celebrities. The site allows users to create private or business profiles and can be used as a fun tool for friends, or an extensive professional tool to gain data and insights.

Who?

Founded by Michael Pearson.

What makes this great?

This is a great forum for debating and discussing a variety topics. For those interested in data, results, facts and debating – SOMYMU combines them all in an engaging way. If users would like, the SOMYMU platform then enables individuals or businesses to share their thoughts or findings to influence the debate on the wider national media stage.

Day 10 – Pannovate

pannovate

Tagline: Inspiring innovation and creativity by providing market leading card personalisation and Augmented Reality tools for the card industry.

When and where?

Founded in London in 2013.

Why?

Pannovate has created technology that improves customer experience for the card industry. This is because they want to bring new technological advances to card issuers across the world – and to do it in a cost effective way. Currently, they do this through two main mediums; card personalisation, as well as related bespoke enlivenment tools such as video, audio or interactive content. This opens doors for marketers to use one-to-one, personal and authentic promotion for their businesses, ensuring they keep up engagement with customers.

Who?

Founded by David Hunter and Pavel Ljujic.

What makes them different?

No other card personalisation tool can provide so many features in an intuitive and user-friendly manner. It brings the card industry up-to-date with technological approaches and makes it more relevant. It also uses HTML and JavaScript technology and has full uniformity across all devices, putting it ahead of other market leaders.

Day 9 – Darktrace

darktrace

Tagline: The world leader in Enterprise Immune System technology for cyber security.

When and where?

Founded in Cambridge in 2013.

Why?

Cyber security is a global issue and anyone can be targeted. Darktrace developed a unique approach to this with a fundamentally different philosophy from the other security systems. It is based on a unique combination of mathematics and machine learning specialists that creates a self-learning threat detection response. Its acts like an immune system to detect cyber-threats without the need for previous knowledge of the threats – allowing users to keep up to speed with the cyber attacks of today.

Who?

Darktrace was founded by mathematicians and machine learning specialists from the University of Cambridge, together with world-leading intelligence experts from MI5 and GCHQ.

What makes them different?

Darktrace is an entirely new technological approach to cyber defence that has transformed the way to tackle cyber threats. This unique system has taken inspiration from the human body itself and turned it into an Enterprise Immune System Technology. Since 2013 the business has had a 600% revenue increase, has doubled employees and was named ‘Best Security Company of the Year 2016’.

Day 8 – Antixantix

Tagline: The best GoPro video editing app for action sports.

When and where?

2013 in the United Kingdom.

Why?

Go-Pros are a fantastic way to capture action videos, however the reams of footage leading to long editing sessions can be a downside. Antix resolves this and makes optimising your Go-Pro footage a breeze. It uses artificial intelligence software to compile and edit your Go-Pro footage into a highlights video, requiring hardly any effort on your behalf. The technology does this by identifying movements through sensors in a smartphone – leaving you with quality and action packed footage.

Who?

Co-founded by Jonathan Girven, Adam Theobald, Harry Theobald and Priya Shah when they noticed a gap in the market for extreme sport video editing.

What makes this great?

The app is so simple it allows even the most inexperienced user to create high quality action packed videos to share. Antix also has a section called ‘AntixTV’ that hosts other people’s videos and builds their community.  

Day 7 – Raffler

raffler

Tagline: Watch ads and win cash!

When and where?

2015 in the United Kingdom.

Why?

Raffler takes a different approach to ads, offering ad viewers a daily free lottery entry in return for watching commercials. Like other free apps, the site earns money from advertisers. Users simply download the app, watch two 30-second advertisements and automatically are entered into a draw to win £1,000 or more. If the winner fails to collect their prize within 24 hours, the money rolls onto the next day’s prize amount. The aim of the app is to give as many people as possible the chance to regularly win prizes for free. The more people who watch the ads, the more the prize money increases.

Who?

Co-founded by Trinity College of Dublin graduates and friends, Joe Glick and George Hattrell.

What makes this different?

It reconceptualises both advertising and the lottery. Raffler gives you the excitement and thrill of being in the draw to win £1000 and it only takes one minute of your time.

Day 6 – Plumis

plumis

Tagline: Plumis’ ‘Automist’ product provides an innovative sprinkler alternative that uses a fine water mist to suppress fires.

When and where?

Founded in 2008, the company started in a project at the Royal College of Art and Imperial College Business School in London.

Why?

This technology was designed to offer an innovative approach to fire safety. Each year more than 60,000 fires occur in UK homes. As a result of extensive research on the UK fire protection industry  the Royal College of Art team started thinking of alternatives to fire extinguishers in residential blocks. They did this as fire extinguishers are increasingly seen to delay evacuations and result in untrained people fighting dangerous conditions. The idea of the Automist technology came from a brainstorming session with a number of firefighters at Chelsea Fire Brigade.

Who?

Founded by William Makant and Yusuf Muhammad (now acting as Managing Director and Design director, respectively).

What makes this different?

Plumis provides novel solutions for active fire protection. Therefore, increasing the efficiency in firefighting technology and as a result saving lives.

Day 5 – Aldatu Biosciences

aldatu

Tagline: Aldatu’s affordable drug resistance diagnostics matches HIV patients with effective drugs and saves resource-limited healthcare systems money.

When and where?

The core concept was developed at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Aldatu Biosciences was founded in 2014.

Who?

Founded by David Raiser and Iain MacLeod – both who attended Harvard and undertook extensive research on the HIV-1 virus. Aldatu now is a highly specialised team of scientists, consultants and researchers who are promoting health care around the world.

Why?

With 10% of people failing their HIV drugs test yearly because of resistance training prices, Aldatu have found a cost effective solution. They have developed a low cost, highly sensitive, genotyping platform called PANDAA (Pan Degenerate Amplification and Adaption) that overcomes the technical challenges associated with resistance testing and affordability. This therefore enables healthcare organisations to match HIV patients with effective drugs.

What makes this different?

Globally HIV drug resistance is on the rise and Aldatu are using innovative, low-cost diagnostic solutions to remedy this. Aldatu is also a great example of an organisation moving from the research stage to the successful formation of a start-up that properly protects its intellectual property.

Day 4 – ROLI

roli2

Tagline: Changing the way people make music.

When and Where?

ROLI was founded in 2009 in the UK.

Why?

It is clear now that before ROLI there was a huge gap in the market. ROLI revolutionised the way music is created by developing products that connect all levels of musical talent – extending the joy of music-making to everyone. ROLI’s CEO and founder Roland Lamb says of one of their recently launched products ‘BLOCKS’ that ‘many areas of life have been transformed by the digital. Music, though, remains a universal language that everyone understands, but only a few can speak. BLOCKS will change that, and enable people around the world to experience the joy of music-making for the first time’.

Who?

ROLI was founded by Roland Lamb after he invented the award winning piano keyboard ‘Seaboard’. The team is now a mix of people from many disciplines who are creating music-making devices for the digital age.

What makes this great?

ROLI has opened the doors of music to everyone. They offer affordable pricing, products for every skill level and enable those who enjoy music to be more expressive. The technology and design is also cutting-edge, as ROLI fosters their team to be creative.

 

Day 3 – View My Chain

view_my_chain2

Tagline: the only data driven sales progression tool on the market.

When and where?

Founded in 2015 in the UK.

Why?

The resource improves the current home moving process to speed up transactions and increase the certainty of a successful property purchase. This tool was created for Estate Agents, and other parties in the sales chain, to increase efficiency and visibility for sales progression.

Who?

Co-founded by Ian Lancaster and Sohail Rashid – both entrepreneurs. The duo collectively has vast experience in tech, data, digital and property.

What makes this different?

The platform maps out the process and uses specialised data to inform the sales chain progression. It uses key milestones related to a specific house purchase to offer certainty and visibility to the moving process. As a result, it makes the process faster and reduces the amount of sales that fall through – benefiting everyone. This innovative platform is all interactive and online, meaning within a closed community chain you can access the relevant information from your computer or phone at all times – never feeling in the lurch.

Day 2 – Snap Fashion

snap4

Tagline: Snap Fashion is changing the way that the world shops online – using clever visual search technology that allows users to find unique styles to suit them in seconds.

When and Where?

Founded in 2011 in the UK.

Why?

Snap Fashion is the first platform of its kind and is based on the idea that everyone should be able to affordably create their own unique style. You can search apparel by brand, colour, size and price. Also, the platform allows users to take photos of looks they love and get that matched to similar items available in-store or online. Snap Fashion already works with over 250 retailers and has been recognised by fashion and tech press across the world.

Who?

The app was developed by software engineer, turned entrepreneur, Jenny Griffiths whilst she was studying at the University of Bristol. IP Foundry are certainly not the first to notice Jenny’s impressive company as she was awarded an MBE in 2015 by the Queen for services to digital innovation.

What makes this great?

The easy to use web and app interface makes finding your dream outfit a breeze. You can turn on sale alerts, shop by colour, shape, price, style, brand and you can do all this from your phone. We can’t wait to see what Snap Fashion has in store for us next.

Day 1 – Space Ape Games

space_apes

Tagline: A diverse team of game makers, creating games that millions of people play and love for Apple or Android smartphones.

When and where?

Founded in 2012 and based in London.

Why?

Their mission is to make the highest quality and most successful mobile games in the world.

Who?

Co-founded by John Earner, Toby Moore and Simon Hade. John Earner and Simon Hade now sit on Space Ape’s Board of Directors and both have years of experience in the web/ gaming industry.

What makes this different?

So far, they have launched three successful games and over 30 million people have played them – a very solid effort. One of their games also received the sought-after ‘Editor’s Choice’ award from Apple. This is because their games use innovative technology that amplifies the gaming experience.

Admirably, they are passionate about their people and pride themselves on having staff representing 28 different nationalities.