For the first time, the influential Rising Stars tech competition which recognises the best early-stage scale-ups in the UK, has given top awards to two winners from the North East.
Sunderland-based Settld is the first ‘deathtech’ to win the competition, as the company has created a SaaS product that simplifies end-of-life admin for bereaved individuals and professionals. Settld automate the process of notifying and resolving over 750 banking, insurance, utility and other service provider accounts when someone dies, to turn an average 6-hour workload into a 15-minute task for the user.
Gateshead-based Zoa Rental is a UK-based rental-as-a-service platform that eliminates barriers to enable retailers and fashion brands to adopt a circular model.
Read more: £2m tech boost for North East food packaging specialist
The success of these early-stage North East tech start-ups reflects the strength and fast growth of the North East’s tech sector overall.
According to data from organisers Tech Nation, the North East received $283million in VC investment funding last year (a 66% increase on the $96million received in 2020).
Tech job creation is also growing rapidly in this region, with more than 42,000 people currently employed by tech start-ups and scale-ups in the region.
Vicky Wilson, Co-founder and CEO of Settld, said: “We are over the moon to have been chosen as a Rising Stars Winner.
“It’s a testament to the hard work of our small team, and it shines a positive light on the way Settld is using technology for good. We would like to dedicate this qward to our bereaved customers and to all those dealing with end of life admin.
“Settld is fixing a major pain point in people’s lives. Dealing with piles of account admin when someone close dies can be unnecessarily stressful and time-consuming. We are also streamlining the system for businesses, which helps them better support their customers at a time of need.
“Our mission is to simplify end of life admin and be a strong voice for bereaved consumers everywhere.”
Isabella West, Founder and CEO of Zoa Rental, said: “We are transforming the way customers shop, one rental at a time. We have a big vision - a more sustainable future for the fashion industry.
“Being recognised like this will help us build credibility and awareness in a year where rental is forecast to boom. COVID has posed a significant challenge over the past two years, so I am delighted for the team that their hard-work has been recognised.”
This year sees the most regionally and gender diverse set of winners in Rising Stars history, which showcase the pockets of innovation and entrepreneurship right across the UK, as seven out of the ten businesses hail from outside of London and the South East.
Six out of the ten companies have a female founder or co-founder, which mirrors the strength of female-founded businesses overall, which have already attracted more investment in 2022 so far than the whole of 2021 and 2020.
Nine out of ten of this year’s winners also said they have taken steps to make their businesses more diverse and inclusive over the last year, citing strategies including using inclusive language in job descriptions, providing D&I training to their teams, and having transparent pay structures.
Going forward, Settld and Zoa Rental will be supported by the UK tech ecosystem as they are inducted into the Tech Nation alumni network.
Previous winners Selazar (from Northern Ireland), Circa5000 (from the North West) and SeedLegals (from London), have received a combined £33.79million in investment so far.
This year’s winners were selected by a panel of judges including Emma Jones (Founder of Enterprise Nation), Nahu Ghrebremichael (Partner at Singular Ventures) and Jess Jackson (Head of Investment at GC Angels), based on their value proposition, competitive advantage, market traction, team experience and potential to scale.
Esme Caulfield, Competitions Lead at Tech Nation, said: “This year’s Rising Stars demonstrate the very best of UK tech innovation. It’s been so exciting to see them disrupting a wide variety of tech sectors. like fintech, lawtech and so many others, including - for the first time - deathtech.
“This is one of our most diverse cohorts yet, with the majority of winning companies having female founders or co-founders, and nearly three quarters hailing from outside of London.”
The winners
Settld - Vicky Wilson (Deathtech) North East
MYNDUP - Joel Gujral (Healthtech) East of England
Kythera AI - Matthew Jack (Gaming) Scotland
Zoa Rental - Isabella West (Retail) North East
RDVault - Shoayb Patel (Fintech) North West
HR DataHub- Alexa Grellet (HRTech) East of England
Renude - Pippa Harman (Healthtech) London
Kuberno - Zoe Bucknell (Lawtech) South East
Xigxag - Kelli Fairbrother (Digital Entertainment) South West
Naurt - Jack Maddelena (Smart Cities) South East
The stats
Combined average raise of the Rising Stars winners - £678,000
Total combined raise of the winners - £6,780,000
Average number of employees for Rising Stars 4.0 winners - eight employees
Percentage of Rising Stars that are revenue-generating - 80%
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