Which start-up is going to be the next Deliveroo or Monzo? Tech Nation’s Rising Stars annual competition attempts to answer that question and, in London, it’s time to bet on ClearGlass, CoGrammar and Gener8.
The three companies have been named as the regional London winners of the early-stage tech competition.
Fintech ClearGlass acts as a digital intermediary between asset managers and pensions funds, helping them to decide the best ways to invest. The tech for good start-up CoGrammar, founded by Riaz Moola, operates the largest coding education provider in Africa, which trains full-time code reviewers across the continent to allow Western companies to access developers and create hundreds of jobs.
Then adtech start-up Gener8 allows people to monetise their own data by tailoring the digital ads they see online and share the revenue with consumers.
Speaking about the announcement, Tech Nation’s entrepreneur engagement manager for London, Eoin Marsh, said: “London’s strength as a global leading tech ecosystem is demonstrated by its position as third in the world behind only Silicon Valley and New York. The quality of London applicants to Rising Stars has been exceptional once again and for ClearGlass, CoGrammer and Gener8 to be announced as our semi-finalists it is real validation for their businesses in coming through an extremely competitive process.”
“We’re grateful to have the support of the UK – through Tech Nation – in our model of scaling African tech talent to the world,” added CoGrammar Moola.
This is the second year Tech Nation has held the Rising Stars competition. The entrants were required to be either at Seed or pre-Series A funding – so they will have only received one round of official equity funding – or generating annual revenues of up to £1.5 million. A total of 365 start-ups applied, up 39 per cent from last year, which has been narrowed down to 33 semi-finalists.
This will be narrowed down to 10 companies at a grand final in February next year. As part of winning, the start-ups will have access to pitch coaching, as well as the opportunity to connect with over 200 high profile investors and corporate leaders to take their companies to the next level.
Fintech SeedLegals, that combines big data and experts to help start-ups access legal help when raising funding rounds, was amongst the top 10 winners in the inaugural Rising Stars competition. The start-up’s founder and CEO Anthony Rose said there were three reasons that the company entered the competition last year.
“One, it raises your profile and spreads your name among other startups and investors. Two, being involved with Tech Nation is a great stamp of approval and builds trust and recognition. Finally, there is a feel-good factor in Rising Stars – our staff get excited by it, and it’s interesting to take part,” said Rose.
Winners of Tech Nation’s Rising Stars competition will be announced February 2020.
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