PRESS RELEASE : Government backs next generation of tech scale ups [November 2024]

The press release issued by the Department for Business and Trade on 14 November 2024.

The Department for Business and Trade has announced four tech scale up businesses as winners of the Unicorn Kingdom Pathfinder Awards.

• Four tech scale up companies announced as winners of the Unicorn Kingdom Pathfinder Awards (UKPA) across innovative categories such as AI and cyber security.
• Programme aims to nurture the world’s most talented scale ups within the UK’s tech ecosystem and help them establish a base in the UK economy.
• The UK has more unicorns than France and Germany combined and continues be a prime destination for tech businesses from across the world.

Four innovative tech scale up businesses tackling challenges from connecting cancer patients to clinical trials, to improving IT systems’ resistance to cyber-attacks, have been announced as winners of the Unicorn Kingdom Pathfinder Awards (UKPA) – the largest global awards for tech scale up companies.

The awards, hosted by the Department for Business and Trade (DBT), provide a unique opportunity to unearth the most promising businesses in tech and builds on the success of the UK’s Tech Rocketship Awards in 2023, which resulted in £67.4 million investment into the UK.

The government is focused on transforming the UK into even more of a magnet for investors and global businesses of all shapes and sizes. The awards serve as a reminder that the UK is the place to do business, helping to advance further opportunities for investment and growth.

Finalists were drawn from four categories: AI, Cyber Security, Connected and Automated Mobility (CAM) technology and Digital Trade Solutions.

The winners were announced yesterday at LinkedIn’s HQ in London, where the 10 finalists pitched to a leading panel of judges from the tech industry. They also heard from entrepreneur Alpesh B Patel OBE in a fireside chat, alongside panellists Envisionit Deep AI and Shopline – two successful businesses that have set up in the UK.

On Thursday, the winners will also attend a roundtable at No10 to discuss their success at the awards, and explore ways in which the UK can maintain its position as a premier destination to grow a business.

Minister for Small Businesses Gareth Thomas said:

We have a thriving tech sector worth over $1 trillion, and our Pathfinder Awards are vital in encouraging more tech scale ups from around the world to do businesses here in the UK.

Not only does the UK have more unicorns than France and Germany combined, but our country continues to be a prime destination for tech businesses from across the world to come and succeed.

Winners of the UKPAs will receive a tailored growth programme to scale up their business in the UK, including support from leading industry and government sector specialists and expertise from DBT’s Global Entrepreneur Programme.

Winners: 

• AI: Massive Bio – an AI-driven platform connecting cancer patients to bio-pharmaceutical clinical trials. The primary goal is for individuals with cancer to be directed to clinical trials tailored almost precisely to their specific condition through accurate and rapid analysis.
• Cyber Security: CyLock – provides a simple solution to test IT systems’ resistance to cyber-attacks, facilitating ready-to-implement solutions for clients to overcome cybersecurity vulnerabilities.
• Digital Trade Solutions: Grubtech – empowering restaurants and grocery chains to adopt omnichannel capabilities without the burden of changing core solutions like point of sales.
• Connected and Automated Mobility: Bottobo – specialises in developing robotics solutions designed to streamline industrial processes and enhance operational efficiency. Mainly focusing autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) and software platforms revolutionising the way warehouses and distribution centres fulfil orders.

Cagatay Culcuoglu, Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer at Massive Bio said:

It’s amazing to win the UKPA award for AI. The UK is a great place to expand globally and for business operations. We are looking forward to building our footprint in Commonwealth nations with the support of DBT and help cancer patients identify the right clinical trials.

Diego Padovan, Chief Executive Officer at CyLock said:

In cyber security, trust is something that is essential to provide your products. This kind of competition is crucial to building trust with our customers.

Mohamed Hamedi, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer at Grubtech said:

It’s great to have the UK as a base to accelerate our global expansion. Thank you to DBT for supporting us to open doors, remove barriers, and helping us to hit the ground running.

Sancak Gülgen, Co-Founder of Bottobo said:

We really appreciate the support from the UK government for startups and future unicorns. The most important part is that they have a clear plan for the future needs of the technology and focus for us.

Increasing investment is a mission at the heart of this government. Britain is back and open for business, and our thriving tech sector, already worth $1.1 trillion, shows that the UK is the investment destination of choice.

The UK is one of only three economies in the world with a trillion-dollar tech sector, closely behind the US and China, and we’re encouraging more tech scale ups to come to the UK and operate here.

Our new Industrial Strategy will be international from the start, taking learnings from the best of what has been achieved globally. It will build on the UK’s strengths to support even more international businesses to thrive in our market. That’s why digital and tech is one of our growth sectors that will be a focus of the strategy.