It is always interesting to see which start-ups are succeeding. Not only because it offers insight into what the next big thing is, but because most of us like to see where the world’s best ideas are coming from. Are today’s successful entrepreneurs all under 30? Or are they on their second start-up and a bit older? Are they based in London or Edinburgh? Here you may find some answers to those questions. Below is our pick of 5 UK start-ups that we believe are all going to be big things in 2015 and years to come.
BIZZBY
Founders: Rohan Sinclair Luvaglio, Michael Camilleri-Ferrante and Howard Lewis
Launched: January 2014
Website: www.bizzby.com
BIZZBY is looking to “change the way people and businesses work in a smartphone world” starting with its on-demand app which can send a local professional to you in 30 minutes or less.
From handymen to bakers, the ‘three tap’ app offers consumers access to a vetted workforce, available 24/7, with payment for the service made via its in-house mobile payment system InstantPay. To date Bizzby has over 5,000 service professionals signed up to its platform and more than two million job requests. The app has been downloaded 80,000 times in 11 months (one of them being me – and it really is cool). Revenues have grown to £850,000 for year-end 2014, with a staggering £3.7m turnover projected for 2015.
Founders Rohan Sinclair Luvaglio, Michael Camilleri-Ferrante and Howard Lewis have big ambitions for the company with the ultimate goal to see “BIZZBY it” gain similar traction to the ever popular “Google it” phrase.
miPic
Founder: Carl Thomas
Launched: January 2014
Website: www.mipic.co
Drawing on the power of the sharing economy, London-based miPic successfully merges social media with art. Its app allows you to make money from your smartphone image library by selling your photos to a global audience.
Founder Carl Thomas created the platform on the basis that millions of us carry images that have the potential to be hung at a gallery, sold at a retailer or sent as a gift but don’t have the ability to monetise these images. The app solves this problem by letting you upload your images from Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and the like straight to its gallery for global sale.
Since its launch at the start of the year, the miPic app has been downloaded in over 71 countries and has over 1,000 “mobile artists” from around the world. It also counts Sir Richard Branson as a fan after beating 450 companies to win the Innovation Award at the 2014 Pitch2Ritch competition judged by Branson and leading entrepreneurs.
Rormix
Founders: Amman Ahmed, Emma Owens, Chris Farrell and Mark Wheeler
Launched: April 2014
Website: www.rormix.com
With hours of new content added to video hosting websites every day, finding new music has been a convoluted, difficult process. Until now. Manchester-based Rormix has developed a platform that makes it easy to discover emerging (unsigned) talent.
Users can ‘like’ or ‘skip’ after viewing the first 15 seconds of each video. Videos are tagged with the names of commercial artists from similar genres, so it’s easy for users to find music that appeals to them. Unlike other video hosting websites, the app uses unique in-video embedded billboard style adverts instead of annoying 30-second videos to generate revenue.
With 60,000 monthly users and 5,000 artists already using the app, we think this start-up is set to become the go-to place for new music discovery in 2015.
Cocoon
Founders: Dan Conlon, Colin Richardson, Nick Gregory, Sanjay Parekh and John Berthels
Launched: October 2014
Website: https://cocoon.life/
Given the steady rise in “smart” technology, Internet of Things and cloud-based devices in recent years, it wasn’t going to be long until a smart solution was launched for the home security market. And now we have it…
Cocoon’s founders realised that home security hadn’t developed much at all in the past 20 years. So they began development of a security product that would be simple to use, easily accessible and “beautifully designed”.
Using sensors and machine learning technology known as SUBSOUND, Cocoon is a security device which learns what activity is normal in your home and then alerts you via mobile notifications, audio and HD video the moment that anything unusual happens. Able to protect your home from just one device, the technology can be installed “in seconds” and is so advanced that it can sense activity through walls and closed doors and even continues to learn – storing data and information about your home activity in the cloud.
A genuine ‘Made in Britain’ product – designed, manufactured and assembled in the UK – the start-up recently raised £130,000 in an overfunded crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo with backing from over 755 investors to ramp up its expansion.
Frugl
Founders: Suzanne Noble and Tikiri Hulugalle
Launched: March 2014
Website: www.frugl.com
Ask many Londoners about their experience of the city and you’ll often hear the same word: expensive. But now new start-up Frugl is here to help.
Founder, CEO and born and bred Londoner Suzanne Noble noticed that with the rise of the internet, discovering under the radar events had actually become more challenging – a problem the Frugl ‘discovery’ app aims to solve.
With all events £10 and under or free, and listings that are updated daily, users can explore an unrivalled list of exciting, yet affordable, events in their area, with detailed information, directions and tickets just a tap away.
Having personally funded the venture with a little help from Virgin Start Up Loans, the founders say they are currently focusing on growing their user base rather than generating revenue. But with 10,000 downloads to date and winning Smarta Mobile Business of the Year, the start-up looks set to follow in the footsteps of high-achieving rival YPlan.
Now is time for a test. What do all 5 of these start-ups have in common? Yes, you are right, they are all apps. So perhaps the only start-up trend that we can really take away is this: almost any idea is a good idea given a good interface in the way of the mobile app. It doesn’t matter how old you are, where you are, or if you have business experience… with a good idea positioned as an easy-to-use mobile app… you are on your way to being on this list next year.
Read about the mobile app that lets you use your mobile like your desk phone here.