‘Wired’ Magazine named London as one of the hottest startup capitals. Amongst the ten hottest startups ‘Wired’ listed BIIA member Duedil.
Duedil’s free-to-access database brings together a wide range of company info — including Companies House data and credit ratings — in a simple interface. Users can search for accounts, shareholders and company directors. The company was founded by New Yorker Damian Kimmelman, who says the company, whose user base has grown around 20 per cent per month, is “close to turning a profit”.
In addition to Duedil there were other notable startups:
- GoCardless: Fintech startup GoCardless allows users to tap into the direct-debit network, usually reserved for utility companies and mobile operators. “It levels the field,” says cofounder Matthew Robinson. Working with banking authorities, GoCardless makes it simple for small businesses to take direct debit payments. It takes one per cent of each transaction, up to £2, and, says Robinson, revenue has grown 40 per cent every month since 2011.
- Hailo Cab’s mobile taxi-hailing app Hailo launched in London in November 2011 and is now used by more than 13,500 London cabbies — around half — and has been downloaded by 250,000 potential passengers. The company takes ten per cent commission. Following a $30 million (£18 million) series B funding round in early 2013, Hailo has launched in New York, Tokyo Washington, Madrid and Barcelona.
- TransferWise which is a peer-to-peer money-transfer service that undercuts the currency-exchange fees charged by banks. Founded by Taavet Hinrikus and Kristo Käärmann, TransferWise takes a £1 fee on transactions below £200 and 0.5 per cent of the payment amount on anything larger. It has processed more than £100 million in eight currencies and plans to add ten more by the end of 2013.
- Adzuna is a search engine for ads for UK jobs, property and cars. It was set up by former Gumtree employees Doug Monro and Andrew Hunter. It trawls thousands of sites to list items in a single vertical search and ties in with Facebook and LinkedIn. It claims to have 1.5 million monthly visitors, with revenue growing 50 per cent each quarter in 2012 and 2013.
“London is on top of its game,” says Joanna Shields, CEO of the UK government’s Tech City initiative. “It has New York’s urban diversity, LA’s concentration of media, film, TV and creative industries and Washington DC’s proximity of government, all in one place.”
The three-year-old state project has been responsible for tax breaks for investors, the introduction of visas for entrepreneurs and the addition of a new division on the London stock exchange, the High Growth Segment. A number of high-growth companies were snapped up in the first half of 2013, including Summly and Mendeley, acquired by Yahoo! respectively and Reed Elsevier
Source: Wired Magazine
