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.
Venture Capital
Solidatus Raises £14M for its Data Management and Data Lineage Platform
Marc Andreessen famously proclaimed in 2011 that “software is eating the world”. Fast forward to today and it’s data eating the world. Data is growing somewhat faster or much faster than other types of data in 71% of enterprises according to Western Digital. By 2025, there will be 175 zettabytes (10,000 TB) of data. Solidatus is a metadata management and data lineage platform that’s focused on how enterprises view, manage, and understand their growing mounds of data. The company focuses on letting its customers harness the data economy, whether it’s for compliance, governance, introducing efficiencies, or even digital transformation efforts. Solidatus is currently used in a variety of industries including pharmaceuticals, banking, aerospace, manufacturing, consulting, and telecommunications. In 2020 alone, the company was able to quadruple its revenue as the pandemic introduced new complexities for data management across location and geography. London TechWatch caught up with Cofounder Philip Miller to learn more about the company, its future plans, and recent round of funding from investors that include AlbionVC, HSBC Venture,s and Citi.
Vivacity Labs Raises £5M to Help Improve Traffic Systems Using AI, Computer Vision, and ML
Intelligent transportation systems that use embedded technology in infrastructure and in connected vehicles are the future and will improve safety and mobility. In urban areas where there is limited land available for road expansion, managing traffic through technology is the only viable solution as interest for living in cities continues to soar. Vivacity Labs has built an AI-powered traffic signal system and network technology that reduces congestion, decreases pollution, increases vehicular, pedestrian, and cyclist safety, and provides municipalities with actionable data for urban planning. The company’s sensors and platform are designed with privacy in mind as all data is anonymized and cannot be used for nefarious purposes. London TechWatch caught up with CEO Mark Nicholson to learn more about how the company’s use of technology reimages our relationship with traffic as a society, the experience of building a startup whose customers are governments, the company’s future plans, and latest funding round from investors that include Mobeus, Downing Ventures, and London Co-Investment Fund.
BCB Group Raises $4.55M to Provide Institutional Banking Services to Serve The Crytocurrency Economy
As concerns grow over inflation and increasing interest rates, the cryptocurrency market has been looked at as a natural hedge to preserve capital. This popularity has led to more and more institutions looking to build exposure to blockchain and cryptocurrency. BCB Group, a provider of crypto banking services, makes cryptocurrency more accessible for cryptocurrency exchanges, market makers, funds and corporate traders, and cryptocurrency-specific projects. The company provides a host of services including exchange services, treasury management, custodial, wealth management, interest accounts, and foreign exchange. London TechWatch caught up with CEO and Cofounder Oliver von Landsberg-Sadie to learn more about the inspiration behind the company, the state of the cryptomarkets, the company’s future plans, latest funding round from investors that include North Island Ventures, Blockchain.com Ventures, Pantera Capital, L1 Digital, and Pack Capital. This is best described as a seed follow-on or pre-Series A raise.
Countingup Raises £9.1M to Make Currents Account and Tax Management Seamless Through Automation
Small businesses spend an average of 120 working days per year on administrative tasks. To help alleviate the accounting portion of this burden, most modern accounting software integrates directly with your bank thanks to open banking protocols. Countingup takes it one step further. It’s a business current account with an integrated tax management and accounting platform so that small businesses can manage and plan their finances in one app, simplifying both bookkeeping and taxes. London TechWatch caught up with CEO, repeat entrepreneur, and Founder Tim Fouracre (Founded Clear Books) to learn more about the company’s traction, future plans, and latest funding round from investors that include Framework Venture Partners, Gresham House Ventures, and Sage.
The February 2021 London Venture Capital Funding Report
After setting records in January, startup funding down 71.8% MOM and 51.3% YOY in February.
Limitless Raises £8M for its Crowdsourced Customer Service Platform
Providing a remarkable customer experience throughout the customer journey is critical to the growth of any company in today’s digital age, where consumers are sophisticated and have high lofty expectations. While there is an abundance of software to help you manage these needs, setting up a fully functional 24/7 customer service center to support the customer experience process can be quite resource-intensive in terms of capital and time. Limitless allows companies to leverage crowdsourced talent to provide customer service in what the company calls a GigCX model. Experts in the gig network are passionate about the brands they are willing to provide support for and are paid for each successful case they resolve. Think of it as Amazon’s Mechanical Turk for customer service. The gig experts are able to introduce flexibility into their schedules and earn incremental income while companies are able to provide a complete customer service experience at a fraction of the cost of maintaining their own operations. London TechWatch caught up with CEO and Cofounder Roger Beadle to learn more about the need for this in the customer experience space, the company’s expansion plans, and recent round of funding from investors that include Redline Capital, Genesys, AlbionVC, and Unilever Ventures.
Sirenum Raises £2M for Employers to Effectively Manage Shift Workers
The process of managing and organizing shift schedules for workers can be a daunting and time-consuming task for employers. For employees, disorganized shift scheduling creates uncertainty and affects their personal lives in a number of ways including daily activities and sleep. Sirenum is a technology-enabled management solution that allows employees to manage their shift-based workforce from a single centralized platform. The startup handles a variety of tasks including scheduling, payroll, compliance, and reporting. London TechWatch caught up with Cofounder Joshua Pines to learn more about how the company emerged from a solution built for the 2012 London Olympics, the company’s future plans, and latest round of funding from investors that include William Currie Group and former Tesco CEO Sir Terry Leahy.
Storyblok Raises its $8.5M for its Headless CMS with Visual Editing Capabilities
Headless CMS has become increasingly popular due to its inherent flexibility to display content on any type of device without maintaining individual applications for each. Content is stored in a repository and using an API, the content is presented to the front-end unlike other CMS systems, like WordPress, where the back-end and front-end are coupled, which results in complexities repurposing content for several different channels and mediums. However, headless platforms have not traditionally been user-friendly for those who are not technical as headless typically doesn’t allow one to easily visualize the impact of changes on the back-end. Storyblok solves this problem with headless CMS platform that is integrated with a native visual editing experience, making the solution ideal for both developers and marketers. The company currently powers over 60,000 projects including working with brands like Pizza Hut and Adidas. London TechWatch caught up with Cofounder and CEO Dominik Angerer and the company’s latest funding round from investors that include Mubadala Capital, firstminute capital, and 3VC.
Omnipresent Raises £11M to Help Companies Manage Their Remote and International Workforces
While the pandemic may have shuttered travel, in many ways, the workplace has become more global. The shift to remote working and work from home has now allowed employees to work without consideration for borders and the location of their traditional offices. However, managing a remote workforce has its own complexities from a human resources standpoint. Omnipresent is the SaaS platform that enables companies to tap into a truly global workforce without having to worry about managing the local requirements. The platform focuses on making sure that all employee issues are appropriately handled, compliant with local requirements, whether legal, payroll, tax, or benefits-related. London TechWatch caught up with Co-CEO and Cofounder Matthew Wilson to learn more about how the pandemic impacted the trajectory of the platform, the future of work, and the company’s most recent round of funding from investors that include Episode 1, Playfair Capital, and Truesight Ventures.