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This article was taken from the November 2013 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
For the third year, WIRED's editors have visited the continent's startup hubs to identify the ten tech cities you need to know about. Our conclusion: Europe is on a roll. Here are the 100 companies causing the greatest buzz, according to the local commentators, investors and entrepreneurs we surveyed.
LONDON "London is on top of its game," says Joanna Shields, CEO of the government's Tech City initiative. "It has New York's urban diversity, LA's concentration of media, film, TV and creative industries and Washington DC's proximity of government, all in one place."
The three-year-old state project has been responsible for tax breaks for investors, the introduction of visas for entrepreneurs and the addition of a new division on the London stock exchange, the High Growth Segment. A number of high-growth companies were snapped up in the first half of 2013, including Summly and Mendeley, acquired by Yahoo! respectively and Reed Elsevier.
However, there remains a skills gap: according to the UK Commission for Employment and Skills, the UK digital sector needs around 30,000 people educated to graduate level or above each year, but applications to IT-related degree courses have almost halved in the last decade. Meanwhile, 44 percent of digital employers report difficulty in finding team members with the right technical and practical skills. "We need to do much more," says Shields. "I'm a big fan of
MOOCs [massive online open courses] and it's great to see US universities like Stanford and MIT opening up their courses for free. We have exciting plans in -development to start narrowing the -digital-skills gap in this country and creating opportunities for learning on a major scale."
1. SwiftKey
91-95 Southwark Bridge Rd, SE1 0AX
Founded by Cambridge graduates Jon Reynolds and Ben Medlock, SwiftKey is a keyboard app for Android phones. It works in 60 languages and syncs with Gmail, Facebook and Twitter, collecting data on previous typing habits to predict what users want to write. The app has been downloaded over 15 million times and was the best-selling Android app globally in 2012. The company has been licensing its technology to manufacturers and it estimates it will be embedded in 100 million devices by the end of 2013. It recently closed a $17.5 million (£10.7 million) series B funding round led by Index Ventures. "We create language models by exposing our algorithms to huge data sets, so we can create specific language models for any industry,"
Medlock explains.
2. GoCardless
22-25 Finsbury Square, EC2A 1DX
Fintech startup GoCardless allows users to tap into the direct-debit network, usually reserved for utility companies and mobile operators. "It levels the field," says cofounder Matthew Robinson. Working with banking authorities, GoCardless makes it simple for small businesses to take direct debit payments. It takes one per cent of each transaction, up to £2, and, says Robinson, revenue has grown 40 per cent every month since 2011.
3. MakieLab
32-38 Scrutton Street, EC2A 4RQ
MakieLab sells highly customised, 3D-printed dolls called Makies, who occupy an accompanying virtual world. "We set out to blend toys with games.
We make toys our customers can personalise through games and apps, then their toy is locally 3D-printed. Each toy is unique, and 'born digital'," explains founder Alice Taylor. "It's effectively the opposite of traditional toys, which are mass manufactured, with maybe some digital stuff bolted on." Makies became the first 3D-printed toys to pass the CE safety test in February and the Makies Doll Factory app, launched in March, was installed 150,000 times within a month.
Ones to watch
4. Shutl
5-25 Scrutton Street, EC2A 4HJ
Shutl's same-day fulfilment service offers customers rapid delivery of packages. Its algorithm matches orders with couriers, taking details such as location, cost and reviews into account, as well as when the customer wants the delivery. It is used by retailers such as Argos and Maplin.
5. Qubit
20 Broadwick Street, W1F 8HT
QuBit allows retailers to create dynamic, personalised sites tailored to users based on their past behaviour and preferences. Founded by four ex-Googlers, the company says it has doubled revenues in 2012. It attracted $7.5 million (£4.6 million) in Series A funding, led by Balderton Capital, in December 2012.
6. Adzuna
67 Wingate Square, SW4 0AF
Launched in 2011, Adzuna is a search engine for ads for UK jobs, property and cars. It was set up by former Gumtree employees Doug Monro and Andrew Hunter. It trawls thousands of sites to list items in a single vertical search and ties in with Facebook and LinkedIn. It claims to have 1.5 million monthly visitors, with revenue growing 50 per cent each quarter in 2012 and 2013.
7. DueDil
20 Broadwick Street, W1F 8HT
DueDil's free-to-access database brings together a wide range of company info -- including Companies House data and credit ratings -- in a simple interface. Users can search for accounts, shareholders and company directors. The company was founded by New Yorker Damian Kimmelman, who says the company, whose user base has grown around 20 per cent per month, is "close to turning a profit".
8. Transferwise
56 Shoreditch High Street, E1 6JJ
TransferWise is a peer-to-peer money-transfer service that undercuts the currency-exchange fees charged by banks. Founded by Taavet Hinrikus and Kristo Käärmann, TransferWise takes a £1 fee on transactions below £200 and 0.5 per cent of the payment amount on anything larger. It has processed more than £100 million in eight currencies and plans to add ten more by the end of 2013.
9. Hailo Cab
Somerset House, WC2R 1LA
Hailo Cab's mobile taxi-hailing app Hailo launched in London in November 2011 and is now used by more than 13,500 London cabbies -- around half -- and has been downloaded by 250,000 potential passengers. The company takes ten per cent commission. Following a $30 million (£18 million) series B funding round in early 2013, Hailo has launched in New York, Tokyo Washington, Madrid and Barcelona.
10. Graze
26 Dunstable Road, TW1 2JN
Graze delivers (mostly) healthy snacks such as dried fruit, nuts and dips across the UK by post.
The 250-strong team uses an AI algorithm to customise individual portions and optimise produce freshness based on customer preferences. Graze developed a kids' range in 2013, which offers snacks along with games and activities.
EUROPES OTHER HOTTEST STARTUP CAPITALS Moscow
PREVIOUS YEARS
WIRED's 2012 European startup guide
WIRED's 2011 European startup guide
Update: article originally stated "...Summly and Mendeley, acquired by Reed Elsevier and Yahoo! respectively." instead of "...Summly and Mendeley, acquired by Yahoo! respectively and Reed Elsevier." This has now been fixed.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
