Startups

I’m sad to say that I have reached a certain age where I’ve started to make noises when sitting down and standing up (the ravages of time catches up to us all I’m afraid to say). However, I can at least take solace from the fact that I’m most certainly not alone. 

Even with the help of price comparison sites, finding the insurance that is right for you can prove to be the proverbial needle and haystack conundrum. However, Startups Magazine speaks to Johnny Stubbs, Head of UK Insurance and Business Development at digital insurer Getsafe, who are using technology and AI to enable customers to learn about, buy, and manage insurance conveniently from their smartphone, all without any paperwork, and within just a few clicks.

Artificial Intelligence, VR, AR and machine learning are all some of the hot topics at the moment, especially as our latest issue has a strong focus on AI and emerging technologies, so we thought there isn’t a better time to catch up with Andrson, a sound-driven A&R platform, which is a brand new AI and machine learning-powered tool using sound-based search to connect emerging artists to the right industry professionals.

This smart mouth guard protects more than just your pearly whites, it unlocks real-time feedback to protect players on and off the rugby pitch.

Having recently visited the CRL workspace in Hayes to meet this year’s cohort, sponsored by Mouser, I was overwhelmed with some incredible startup founders and the ideas that had inspired them. One of which was a pair of friends Pete Barr and Eli Heath, who together have created a social enterprise startup to enable people with disabilities to draw, through adding tools to a wheelchair.

RESOLV, a Saas platform that aims to provide seamless and remote access to Online Dispute Resolution services to commercial lawyers and mediators recently caught up with Startups Magazine and told us a bit about their journey so far…

Ukrainian company Jooble creates an IT product that defeated Western companies with investments worth millions in the competition. At the same time, the company has already created more than 400 jobs and continues to expand its staff to help people around the globe find jobs more effectively.

Growing up in a small seaside town, one of my earliest memories is sitting on the sea wall with my dad, eagerly tucking into a pot of cockles, all the while watching the comings, goings, and general hubbub of the fishing boats coming in and out of the harbour.

The wireless headphone space is becoming increasingly competitive, but imagine having a pair that when not in use can transform into a portable speaker – so when you are not listening to music by yourself you can listen out loud with others.

A startup who in my opinion is a very deserved winner, and one of the best UK Startups we have come across. If you have read the last issue you may be familiar with Tractable, a company that uses AI for accident and recovery, and although it focuses primarily on car accidents, there is potential for that to grow to cover natural disasters too.

“I never put myself forward for awards, so this was a really nice surprise,” is what Tamsin Dewhurst, Founder at Uptree said to me when I asked how she felt about winning our Founder of the Year award in this year’s Virtual Hustle Awards.

Maskey, the brand behind the UK’s first mask vending machines, has signed a deal with leading British retailer WHSmith to stock its individual fashionable face coverings on the shelves of hundreds of outlets on high streets and in train stations, airports and hospitals.

Online shopping is arguably one of the best inventions out there. Nothing beats that feeling of joy when your parcel arrives! But what about the times when your parcel isn’t successfully delivered and you arrive home to find a ‘sorry we missed you’ card through your letterbox? iParcelBox solves the problem of missed deliveries, providing a smart, secure and weatherproof parcel delivery solution that users can monitor and control from their smartphone.

Johnathan Bulmer, MD at Cleveland Containers here chats to Startups Magazine about how three food and drink businesses pivoted in the pandemic. As restaurants and other leisure businesses steadily start to reopen, there’s many stories of businesses which have been heavily impacted by the financial crisis the pandemic has caused. 

The technology industry is growing at a massive rate, and especially within hardware startups, there is such a large number of tech products coming onto the market every year. So how do you stand out and make sure you are seen above the rest?

Fashwire is a mobile and web marketplace for discovery where you can shop directly from over 300 fashion brands from over 33 countries you know and love and discover new ones from all over the world. Fashwire is changing the way we shop on our phones. By connecting consumers directly with brands all in one app, and it also allows brands to curate, create, and control all product and content in their profiles, which is different from a traditional retail model.

Johnathan Ransom, CEO & Co-founder of Square Mile Farms spoke to Startups Magazine about the challenges and opportunities that arose during the 2020 COVID crisis whilst raising from their network. Think back, post-2008 financial crisis, internet technologies and crowdsourcing both evolved to allow companies to easily raise funds from their network and community for the first time. The power and value of the crowd have only increased since then, helping businesses grow quickly and sustainably while reaching entirely new audiences.