“We can solve all the world’s energy challenges with no drawbacks,” said John Bucknell, CEO and Founder of Virtus Solis, a spacetech startup based in Michigan who is building astral solar power plants.

As many as 70,000 Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites are expected to be launched over the next five years, Goldman Sachs Research has reported, highlighting a growing and thriving industry that has come to rely on satellites for connectivity and observation. Satellites are used for anything from voice communications in remote locations to tracking populations of endangered species.

When we last spoke to Skyrora 18 months ago in our Jan/Feb 2024 edition, CEO and Co-Founder Volodymyr Levykin likened the company to being a “space taxi”. The vision was to disrupt the space industry by becoming the first private orbital launcher – designing, manufacturing, and deploying launch vehicles for satellites – all with sustainability in mind.

Trovr, a recycling technology startup transforming how the world manages single-use drink containers, has launched the QUBE in the UK – a smart recycling unit designed to offer independent retailers support with the upcoming Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) without the cost, complexity, or footprint of supermarket-scale systems.

With less than two weeks until the Budget speech, a leading voice in the quantum industry is warning the UK government needs to announce a Quantum Sovereign Wealth Fund or risk an innovation exodus.

Anna Jordan builds AI systems to help highway operators improve how roads function, and has been supported by three accelerator programmes led by Connected Places Catapult.

RAAAM Memory Technologies, a startup company which developed the next-generation on-chip memory technology, has completed an over-subscribed $17.5M Series A funding round.

In 2021, Jonathan Dyer co-founded Muon Space, an end-to-end space systems provider that designs, builds, and operates LEO satellite constellations delivering mission-critical data.

Queen Mary University of London has launched a new spinout, Procyon Diagnostics, to take omics-based single cancer early detection tests from research to reality. Cancer causes over a quarter of deaths in England, and early detection offers the best hope of survival.

Stasher is a luggage storage platform, connecting travellers with over 8,500 vetted locations across 75+ countries. What started as Oxford roommates charging friends to store bags near King's Cross has evolved into a profitable, multi-million pound business that's transforming urban travel infrastructure.

Aide Health, a UK healthtech startup, has launched the country’s first AI-powered “medical memory” designed entirely for patients – promising to end the age-old problem of forgetting what the doctor said.

Dr Amrit Chandan is using AI to capture workers’ sustainability knowledge, to help the next generation improve on its decarbonisation efforts

EQONIC Group has announced its battery technology that addresses the three critical challenges facing energy storage: cost, safety, and sustainability.

Rachel Curtis spent three decades in financial services, building a career focused on customer experience, operations, and marketing. But it was a digital transformation project that opened her eyes to the potential of a new kind of technology, and the gaping need for it.

OX Delivers, the UK-based electric vehicle startup, and Wahu Mobility, Ghana’s manufacturer of durable and connected electric bikes, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to explore opportunities to enhance electric mobility solutions that boost business, create jobs, and make a positive sustainable impact in Ghana.

French entrepreneur Garance Locatelli is making city cycle networks easier to navigate with a subway-inspired wayfinding system, developed through a programme delivered by Connected Places Catapult.

Erik Rask is the Founder and CEO of MedBeat, but before founding the startup, he was a medical doctor at the Children’s Heart Centre in Lund, Sweden.

In the May/June 2025 issue of Startups Magazine, we introduced four startups that we believe are the ones to watch in the medtech space.

Discovery Park, Kent’s hub for science and technology, announced the arrival of two biotech companies to its innovation campus. iLoF (Intelligent Lab on Fiber), a digital health company and MilaK, a precision fermentation protein business, have now moved into their new laboratory space in Sandwich, Kent.

While the Black Cats are climbing the Premier League table, Sunderland is also charging ahead – literally – with a trial of Kerbo Charge, a clever new way to make switching to electric vehicles a whole lot easier (and cheaper) for local drivers.