Bloomberg set out to find 25 UK startups that were thriving in 2023, and we were a little nervous. The year did not begin well, as we noted when we kicked off the search in June. Fears about a recession were rising, expenses were going up, and the venture capital firms and investors that provided fuel for the country’s startups had scaled back. Arm Holdings Plc, the Cambridge-born semiconductor designer that’s put its technology in almost every smartphone, decided to list in New York, in what felt like an existential crisis for London’s 300-year-old exchange.
But the country’s startups showed up in force. More than 1,500 applications came in for this inaugural list. The final 25 companies were created by people with a vast array of experiences and backgrounds from all over the UK. We have London-based fintechs, AI-generated avatars, data science that helped map the Covid-19 pandemic and a group building quantum computers in Haywards Heath. There are names you’ve seen in the shops and in the news, as well as some you’ve probably never heard of. They’re all working on new, innovative ideas that have caught the eye of investors and customers and impressed us with their plans to improve everything from the environment to kids’ entertainment.
In no particular order:
