Exclusive: Female founders dominate cohort of fast-growing start-ups

Fifty of the UK’s fastest growing start-up firms are set to join a tech accelerator that has helped launched the likes of Wise and Skyscanner – with nearly half of the new cohort founded by women.

The new crop of startups, selected by the Bay Area to London networking body Silicon Valley Comes to the UK (SVC2UK), features firms including connectivity firm PureLiFi, local transport provider RideTandem and Oxford Heartbeat, a digital health platform.

This year’s group marks SVC2UK’s most diverse to date, with 46 per cent  of the firms led or founded by women, and 32 per cent of the founders coming from a diverse background, SVC2UK said.

Janet Coyle, managing director for business growth at SVC2UK said the new group underscored the diversity of the UK’s tech talent.

“Britain is producing game changing companies across a range of high-growth sectors and it’s fantastic to see representation of businesses from many regions of the country in this year’s cohort,” she said.

“It’s also refreshing to see the increasing number of companies with female founders and from diverse backgrounds. 

“As two of the world’s leading hubs for technology and entrepreneurship, the UK and the Bay Area have an important role to play in promoting a fairer and more inclusive global business ecosystem.”

London firms make up the bulk of the list, with 58 per cent hailing from the Capital, alongside a host of firms from Manchester, Edinburgh, Birmingham.

Launched in 2006 by Sherry Coutu CBE, Reid Hoffman and Ellen Levy, SVC2UK is run by international promotional outfit London & Partners. 

The body has guided some 880 firms through its Scale Up Club CEOs and founders, including London-based companies Wise, SkyScanner and The Drum. 

In full: Scale Up Club’s 2022 members

55/Redefined 

ACUA Ocean

Afrocenchix

BankiFi Technology Limited

Béa Fertility

Captur

Classlist

Collctiv

CrowdProperty

Cyacomb

CyberQ Group

DigiDoe

DirectID

enferm

Feast It 

FranScape

GEEIQ

Greyparrot

Inovus Medical 

iWarranty Limited

JustWears

Kidadl

KogoPAY Group

LOVIS

Movemeback

Muse Finance

MyPocketSkill

MyWay Digital Health

NearSt

Organise

Oxford Heartbeat

Petalite Limited

pirkx

PollenPay

pureLiFi

Recruitment Smart Technologies

RelaxMyDog

RideTandem

Rovco

Shares

Sign of the Times

SPOKE

Syrona Health

The Mothership

TravelLocal

Treasury Spring

Tumelo

Valla

Virtual Internships