Almost 800,000 new businesses were registered in 2022 (up 4.5% in 2021). That’s positive. It’s a strong measure of economic activity and a sign that entrepreneurs are doing well in the UK.
Covid brought rapid change. There was a surge of new companies as we all entered the Covid era in 2020, which was maintained in 2021 and 2022 as rapid changes in the economy led to new businesses being formed – a pattern also seen in other countries, including the US, France, and Singapore. 2022 was almost 16% up on 2019 and well above the pre-pandemic trend.
Startups play a pivotal role in driving innovation, economic growth, and job creation in the United Kingdom. Their importance in the UK economy cannot be overstated, as they bring fresh ideas, novel technologies, and disruptive business models to the forefront. These young enterprises contribute significantly to fostering a competitive environment that spurs established companies to adapt and evolve.
On several occasions, the newsweekly has spoken to young entrepreneurs who have established start-ups in the UK.
Learning made easy without guilt or shame of feedback
“How will you build a company being a mother of two young kids?” a VC investor asked Rajeshwari Iyer, Co-Founder & CEO, MPhil from Cambridge and PhD from Imperial, when she and her co-founder Kavitha Ravindran were raising money for their Ed-Tech start-up,sAInaptic. Iyer and Ravindran who met in Cambridge while studying, started sAInaptic, an AI-based learning web-app that automatically marks descriptive student responses to open-ended questions to give instant, personalised teacher-like feedback, while drastically reducing the marking workload for teachers. It is commercialised as a web-app and sold to students as a monthly subscription for independent, feedback-driven revision and to schools as annual subscriptions, for auto-marked homework and tests. sAInaptic is entering a global billion-dollar tutoring & assessments market, starting with schools, with a bold vision to integrate with any online course using an API. sAInaptic has over 15k+ users from over 1000 schools and 19 countries; more than 40 schools have used the app, including top grammar schools in the country.
First reusable period underwear product in the UK
Ruby Raut is the founder and CEO of Wake Up Kick Ass (WUKA), a female-led start-up, making the UK’s first reusable and leak-proof period wear. This coincides with WUKA’s new ad campaign, launching this month, which aims to ignite powerful conversations and resonate with millions of women, especially in the South Asian community. Speaking to Asian Voice, Ruby, who hails from Nepal, said, “Inspired by using my mother’s old sari rags for pads as a child, I created a modern-day, sustainable alternative- WUKA period pants. To date, WUKA has prevented a staggering 1.2 billion tampons and pads from ending up in landfills. This environmentally conscious approach has had a positive influence on the lives of over half a million women and girls in the UK and around the world, providing them with a more comfortable and eco-friendly menstrual experience.”
WUKA stands for Wake Up Kick Ass and was the first reusable period underwear product in the UK. We are now an award-winning, inclusive and sustainable brand stocked in retailers nationwide with over 500,000+ customers worldwide.
UK's first AI personal trainer announced a £2 million investment
MAGIC AI (https://magic.fit), the UK's first AI Personal Trainer, announced a £2 million investment led by the billion-dollar Venture Capital (VC) fund Fasanara Capital, alongside London’s SFC Capital to expand the company's innovative technology across the UK.
MAGIC is the UK's first AI personal trainer, using cutting-edge holographic technology to offer an immersive fitness experience. Celebrity athletes and sports stars appear as a hologram inside MAGIC’s AI wall mirror. They coach users via a series of programmes, giving what feels like 1:1 personal training in strength, dance, boxing, yoga, and sports techniques.
CEO and Co-founder, Varun Bhanot, said “I went through my own personal health journey losing 25% of my body fat, but in the process realised how old-fashioned and expensive personal training was. I thought there must be a way to automate this experience at scale using AI and data-driven hardware.
“I faced imposter syndrome and had no clue how to build a hardware company, but I didn't let that stop me. During the Covid-19 pandemic, I sold treadmills online, raising £50k to develop our first prototype from my parents’ basement. After countless rejections, I leveraged that prototype to secure this round. Now, we are democratising personal training, aiming to tackle the UK's alarming inactivity levels and the £6B/year NHS spending on obesity-related ill-health”
Nurturing and supporting this dynamic sector is crucial for ensuring sustained economic development and global competitiveness.
UPI, cornerstone of PM Modi’s vision for India
Back in India, the Universal Payments Interface (UPI), a cornerstone of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision for India's digital expansion, is crucial for building the nation's online infrastructure. Launched in 2016, UPI has spurred digital transactions, with around 350 million users now utilisng it for instant money transfers and payments. July saw nearly 10 billion transactions, over 50% higher than last year. However, UPI's progress in rural areas is hindered by limited internet access and lower literacy rates outside urban regions.
Modi's government promotes cashless payments through the India Stack, a suite of digital infrastructure to formalise India's cash-based economy. UPI has also attracted foreign investment interest, with Google and Walmart's PhonePe creating popular payment apps. Other nations like Singapore and the UAE have integrated elements of India's payment system into their own frameworks.
12 Flags aims to guide entrepreneurs beyond the startup phase
Rakesh Kapoor, the former Reckitt Benckiser CEO, has initiated a $100 million (£80 million) fund named 12 Flags to back Indian consumer-focused startups. The fund, situated in Mayfair, has garnered investments from institutional and university endowment funds. Its focus lies on identifying promising Indian brands catering to domestic consumers, rather than replicating Western counterparts. Kapoor's extensive experience in brand-building for the long term will shape the fund's philosophy, gradually shifting towards fewer but larger investments. With 37 years at Reckitt, including 8 as CEO, Kapoor drove the company's expansion in health and nutrition, highlighted by the $16.7 billion acquisition of US nutrition firm Mead Johnson. Kapoor, now a non-executive at NHS England, retired in 2019. 12 Flags aims to guide entrepreneurs beyond the startup phase by leveraging Kapoor's brand expertise and industry contacts, with plans to deploy the $100 million investment over the next three years.
