Conundrum, Robok, SATAVIA and Techspert join the programme, which forms part of the UK Government's AI Sector Deal, supported by the Office for AI.
Announcing the 32 companies that have been selected for the programme,Tech Nation - the growth platform for tech companies and leaders - reveals new data that shows the UK leads Europe for AI investment.
The programme has been designed to champion and support the UK’s most exceptional deep tech scaleups through peer-to-peer learning and mentoring sessions, addressing the particular scaling challenges for companies in the AI sector. The programme forms part of the Government's AI Sector Deal, announced in 2019 to realise the social and economic benefits of AI and harness its potential to transform people’s lives for the better.
Conundrum uses AI-driven technologies to address personal data management, quality control and optimization. Conundrum oversees a whole production process and assists factory engineers in decision making, helping to reduce waste and downtime, and prevent defects and unexpected shutdowns.
Konstantin Kiselev, CEO of Conundrum, comments: “We are happy to be chosen for Applied AI 2.0, among so many outstanding businesses. Being recognized by Tech Nation is a solid stamp of approval, and a vote of confidence that helps Conundrum accelerate its business development and opens new opportunities for business in terms of new clients and new funding. We look forward to leveraging all the opportunities that lie ahead.”
Robok is using new techniques in computer vision and deep learning to build optimised 3D sensing and perception software solutions for low-power computing platforms. It’s enabling cars and machines to ‘see’ and ‘understand’ the implications of changes to their environment. They obtain 3D information efficiently from a combination of sensors (primarily cameras) and enable object detection, classification, localisation and depth estimation on low-power embedded systems.
Hao Zheng, CEO, RoboK, comments: “We’re looking forward to being part of a like-minded cohort and surrounded by support to accelerate the growth journey of RoboK.”
SATAVIA is helping to make flying smarter and greener. SATAVIA is the only solution delivering actionable insight in aviation which is able to combine and validate multiple environmental, weather, aircraft and maintenance datasets. It makes aircraft condition monitoring 20% more accurate, and delivers fuel savings and emission reductions.
Dr Adam Durant, CEO of SATAVIA, comments: “We are absolutely delighted to be selected for the Applied AI programme. Tech Nation has a fantastic global reputation for selecting and scaling high-calibre, cutting-edge companies. Participation in the programme provides our growing team with world-leading mentorship, networking and visibility. We look forward to being part of, and contributing to this high-calibre community.”
Techspert maps the world's expertise by using AI to match experts to business customer needs. Their platform provides an efficient and convenient interface for customers to engage in primary research, and gain insight through calls and surveys with precisely matched experts, as well as efficiently handling payments to experts for their time.
David Holden-White, Co-Founder and Managing Director of techspert.io, comments: “We're really excited to be on board with Tech Nation. The growth of the alumni speaks for itself and we look forward to working with Tech Nation to boost our growth trajectory.”
Fifty-nine per cent of companies joining the programme are based outside London, with the highest representation from the South East, East of England and Scotland. 44% of companies on the programme have a female founder, almost double the representation of female tech directors (23%) in UK tech. 34% of companies are applying AI to the construction industry, while 28% are using AI to solve healthcare challenges.
The UK leads Europe in AI investment, having raised $1.48bn in 2020 so far, in front of France ($538.83m) and Germany ($400.25m). The UK is currently third in the world for VC investment in AI after the US ($17.94bn) and China ($9.55bn)1.
Looking into sub-sectors, the majority of AI investment so far this year flows into Big Data ($872.42m), TMT ($712.96m), SaaS ($588.39m), and Fintech ($474.65m). AI investment in Mobility Tech has already surpassed 2019 levels by 240%, whilst Fintech is already up by 120%, SAAS by 36% and Cyber Security by 10%.
Demand for AI skills is continuing to rise in the UK, with an increase of 111% between 2017 and 2019. A quarter (25%) of all Data Scientist roles advertised in 2019 required AI as a skill, this was the highest proportion seen amongst digital tech roles in 20192.
Harry Rhys Davies, AI Programme Lead, Tech Nation commented: “The UK must take every opportunity to nurture scalable, globally-competitive, homegrown AI companies that solve real problems and have far-reaching impacts on the productivity potential of the economy.”
“The Applied AI growth programme aims to do exactly this, taking 32 of the UK's most exciting AI scaleups, and through peer-to-peer learning and mentoring removing many of the unique barriers to growth that companies in this sector face. Backed by leading VCs and led by an exceptionally talented group of founders, this cohort of companies is primed to make an impact.”
The 32 AI companies joining the Applied AI Growth Programme represent some of the best AI scaleups in the UK, having gone through a competitive and rigorous judging process. The programme will support companies to scale up and become the AI unicorns of the future. AI is already a strategic strength to the UK economy, with 1,344 AI companies and a number of well-known and established AI unicorns, including Darktrace, Benevolent AI and Graphcore.
The programme received 179 applications from across the UK and judges included Sana Khareghani, Head of the UK Government Office for AI; Tabitha Goldstaub, Chair of UK Government AI Council; Nathan Benaich, General Partner, Air Street Capital and Dr Mike Short CBE, Chief Scientific Advisor, DIT. Wilson Sonsini and CBRE are partners for the Applied AI 2.0 programme. Their experience and knowledge working alongside scaling companies will provide insight on international expansion and property management throughout the programme.
1 2020 Pitchbook data
2 2019 Adzuna data
Applied AI Cohort statistics
- £2.36m raised through grants and/or equity
- Average number of employees - 14
- 44% have a female founder
- 59% are HQ-ed outside of London
- £161k average revenue
- 91% B2B
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Source: Tech Nation, Pitchbook 2020 (referencing 2020 investment so far)