The meteoric rise of the newest social networks is largely because of the work of creators rather than the network itself, which has many creators questioning the dependency on individual platforms. Creators spend countless hours developing content with little reward and face the constant risk of algorithm changes, policy shifts, bans, and monetization restrictions when they opt to build their followings on one of the popular social networks. Disciple Media is a SaaS platform that lets these individuals own the access to their audiences by allowing creators to build their own digital communities. The platform offers branded social spaces on the web, iOS, and Android that are easy to set up and maintain. Functions available include unlimited groups, messaging, push notifications, live streaming, and a host of monetization options including subscription, selling courses, and exclusive content. Disciple currently hosts over 2M users across 500 communities. London TechWatch caught up with CEO and Founder Benji Vaughan to learn more about how his own experience in the music business inspired the platform, the company’s strategic plans, and latest round of funding, which brings the total funding raised to $6.14M.
Venture Capital
Electric Gamebox Raises Another $11M for its Social In-Person Immersive Gaming Experiences
As the world emerges from the shadows of lockdowns of the last 16 months, consumers, starved for entertainment options out of the home, will be greeted with new and novel immersive experiences that fuse technology and groups together. Advances in motion tracking, touch screens, and sound technologies are making location-based entertainment solutions more compelling and attractive for those wanting to try something new. Electric Gamebox is a provider of social in-person multisensory gaming experiences designed to be enjoyed by groups of 2-6. The company currently has four locations that offer 30-60 minute experiences that are designed to collaborative and fun with plans for aggressive geographic expansion over the next few years. The Electric Gamebox experience requires a small physical footprint and the company plans to integrate into existing retail locations to increase its availability. Like Escape the Rooms, the gameplay is meant to be versatile for outings for groups of friends, dates, corporate team-building, birthday parties, etc. The company currently offers 6 games that it has developed with plans to bring more titles onboard including brand name franchises to enhance its experiential capabilities. Pricing for its London location starts at £9 for kids and £14 for adults for 30 minutes, making it quite accessible. London TechWatch caught up with CEO, Cofounder, and repeat entrepreneur Will Dean (founded Tough Mudder) to learn more about the inspiration for the business, how the company managed to expand despite lockdown during the pandemic, strategic plans, lastest round of funding from investors that include Philian, Brookfield Asset Management, Index Ventures, Project A, and ActivumSG.
Yellowpop Raises $4M to Make Neon Signs a Staple of Home Decor
The global online home décor market nearly reached $100B in 2020 and is expected to topple $350B by 2027. The pandemic reoriented how we view our homes and lockdowns led countless individuals to focus their attention and finances on improving the aesthetic of their living situations. Yellowpop is a direct-to-consumer home décor startup that’s hoping that LED neon signs will be a part of this increased shift. The company offers both custom options, where consumers can design their signs, and also from its collection, which includes limited editions co-produced with leading artists, designers, and creators. London TechWatch caught up with cofounder Jeremy Cortial to learn more about the inspiration that led to turning neon signs into art, the company’s strategic plans, recent funding round from Eutopia, and much, much more.
Lifted Raises Another $6.2M for its Comprehensive Home Care Management Platform
Isolation from the pandemic has been especially hard on older adults, many that are in need of some form of support (both large and small) for activities of daily living. Over the last decade, a record portion of the population has been turning 65 each year in the UK, fueled by baby boomers. The combination of these two factors has made home health care a pillar of the healthcare system to support the needs of the elderly population and their families. Lifted is a comprehensive home care management platform that makes it easy for families to access, use, plan for, and manage their home care needs. The home care industry is extremely fragmented and navigating the landscape can be difficult to find trusted providers. Lifted brings transparent, and reliable experience to the process with its own dedicated staff (other providers rely on contract workers), digital-first experience, and resources. London TechWatch caught up with CEO and Cofounder Rachael Crook to learn more about how her experience caring for her mother inspired the company, the state of the industry, strategic plans, and latest round of funding from investors that include Fuel Ventures, 1818 Venture Capital, Perivoli Innovations, the J.B. Ugland family office, Kluz Ventures through its new health affiliated fund Novit Ventures, and VOYAGERS HealthTech.
Urban Jungle Adds Another $11.4M to Expand its Home Insurance Offering
Millennials are more apprehensive about getting any type of insurance than previous generations. As more and more millennials forgo homeownership, they are exposing themselves to financial risk when they choose not to secure renters’ insurance for their possessions while renting. Urban Jungle is a digital-first rental insurance platform that offers fast, flexible and affordable insurance options that start at just £5/mo. Targeted towards younger consumers interested in preparing for their financial future, the company was able to double its customer base to 40,000 during the pandemic with plans to expand its offering. AlleyWatch caught up with CEO and Cofounder Jimmy Williams to learn more about Urban’s Jungle experience building traction during the pandemic, strategic growth plans, and latest round of funding from investors that include Mundi Ventures and Eka Ventures.
Forecast Raises $19M For its AI-Based Project Management Platform
Project management platforms are among one of the best investments that businesses can use to be competitive and increase productivity. While functionality and features vary from platform to platform, most project management tools focus on planning, resource allocations, time management, and change management. Forecast is an AI-powered project management platform that centralizes all projects, resources, accounting, collaboration, and business intelligence into a single location. The platform integrates a number of the most popular SaaS tools that businesses already using like GitHub, Google Drive, Asana, Okta, Jira, Excel, Quickbooks, Salesforces, Slack, and Trello. By integrating artificial intelligence, the platform is always learning and able to provide predictive estimates based on past historical projects resource management. Founded in 2016, Forecast has helped managed over 178,000 projects with 4M+ tasks. With the use of AI directly in the platform, customers have been able to reduce administrative work by as much as 50%. London TechWatch caught up with CEO and Cofounder Dennis Kayser to learn more about how a student project during university inspired the founding of the business, the benefits that AI is bringing to project management, the company’s latest round of funding from investors that include Balderton Capital, Crane Ventures Partners, SEED Capital, and Heartcore.
Synthesia Raises $12.5M for its AI-Powered Video Generation Platform
Last year, 92% of marketers said that video is an integral part of their marketing strategy. The average person will spend 100 minutes every day in 2021 watching online videos according to a recent study. As organizations are investing in videos, startups are building platforms to support the process. Synthesia is an AI-powered video generation platform that saves enterprises up to 100x the cost and time of producing a video. The company leverages deep learning to simulate real videos and real actors without the need for costly infrastructure like camera crews, actors, cameras, studios, and a lengthy post-production process. Clients are able to produce professional-quality videos in minutes with a single API call and a few clicks. The company is working on codifying the entire video generation process, where videos will be generated through code, offering unprecedented scalability and efficiency. London TechWatch caught up with Cofounder and CEO Victor Riparbelli to learn more about the future of video production, the company’s strategic plans, latest round of funding from investors that include FirstMark, Christian Bach, Michael Buckley, LDV Capital, MMC Ventures, Seedcamp, Mark Cuban, Taavet Hinrikus, Martin Varsavsky, and TinyVC.
Cado Security Raises $10M for its Cloud Native Digital Forensics Platform
The rapid acceleration of digital adoption has led to increased cybersecurity threats. Attacks are growing more commonplace and sophisticated in nature. While much of the focus has been on detecting threats, organizations are scrambling to figure out how to disarm a threat quickly and understand how it happened. Cado Security is a digital forensics platform that helps the enterprise quickly determine what architecture is impacted and the implications. Traditional digital forensics platforms offer similar solutions but pinpointing exactly where there is a vulnerability takes hours of manually combing through disparate data. With Cado’s automatic data capture functionality, organizations can now approach their investigations with a tactical approach at cloud speed. London TechWatch caught up with CEO and Cofounder James Campbell to learn more about the experience of founding this business at the onset of the pandemic, future plans, and recent round of funding, from investors that include Blossom Capital and Ten Eleven Ventures.
Doctify Raises Another $7.5M for its Healthcare Review Platform to Keep Both Patients and Providers Better Informed
70% of patients consider online reviews important when selecting a healthcare provider and 75% of people have searched for a physician online according to a recent survey from Patientpop. With reviews playing such a pivotal role in discovery, gathering reviews is not only essential as a marketing tool but also as a mechanism for clinicians to address issues that may be resulting in less than stellar patient satisfaction. Doctify is the tech-enabled healthcare review platform that provides both patients and healthcare providers with valuable insights. Founded by two physicians in 2015, the platform also offers patients the ability to schedule appointments and teleconsultations. Doctify is offered on a subscription basis to the healthcare provider and is free to use for patients. London TechWatch caught up with CEO and Cofounder Stephanie Eltz to learn more about the business, the company’s strategic expansion plans to further support its mission to keep both patients and healthcare providers informed, latest funding round from investors that include Keen Venture Partners, Amadeus Capital, Guinness Asset Management, and Tom Teichman.
Intelligent Power Generation Raises £2M for its Flameless Ceramic Turbine Generator That Reduces the Dependency on Fossil Fuels
Industrial generators have long relied on diesel fuel in locations like a construction site where diesel is already being used and is readily available or on gas in deployments at oil fields, where the fossil fuel is abundant. The next generation of generators is being developed to work with renewable fuel sources. Intelligent Power Generation (IPG) has developed a 100kW Flameless Ceramic Turbine Generator that works with any type of renewable fuel (hydrogen or biofuel) without any pollution. The climate tech startup is the first to offer this fuel-flexible application that’s commercially viable in terms of cost for businesses. IPG is currently focused on powering electric vehicle infrastructure, grid balancing for use with solar and wind applications, and temporary power solutions. London TechWatch caught up with CEO Toby Gill to learn more about the work that has gone into developing the company’s pioneering technology, future plans, and latest round of funding.