Rising Stars
Take your startup to the next level
Searching for the UK’s next Rising Stars
Rising Stars is the UK’s newest and most exciting competition for innovative, early-stage tech startups, with a prize package designed to send your business into the stratosphere.
The competition’s winners will have the opportunity to connect their business with mentors, investors and influencers, and significantly raise the profile of your business.
Introducing Tech Nation’s Rising Stars…
Hundreds of applications to this year’s competition have been whittled down to just 10 Rising Stars. Our expert judging panel deemed the following companies as the brightest prospects in the UK tech scene. So without further ado, here are our 10 winning companies.
- Developing Experts
Norwich | Edtech | @developexperts
Empowering teachers and parents to teach science with confidence through a library of over 700 interactive, online science lessons.
- Metasonics
Bristol | Hardware & Devices & IoT | @MetasonicsCo
Developing the next generation of customised, scalable acoustic metamaterials, changing the way we use and interact with sound.
- People Matter Technology
Ringwood | SaaS | @peoplematterltd
A wellness platform that offers a safe online space where you can measure and improve your mental wellness at work.
- PPC Protect
Bolton | SaaS | @ppcprotect
Award-winning, automated software that stops click fraud immediately and protects future campaigns.
- SeedLegals
London | Fintech | @seedlegals
Leveraging big data and human experts to solve the problem of expensive, time-consuming legals for startup funding rounds.
- Serelay
Harwell | Tech For Good | @serelaytech
Enabling mobile device users to capture verifiable photos and videos, and platforms receiving these to query them for authenticity of content, time and location.
- Tended
Lincoln | Hardware & Devices & IoT | @tended
Offering intelligent personal safety wearables and monitoring systems that provide all-round safety solutions for individuals and businesses.
- Tickr
Liverpool | Fintech | @my_tickr
Investment products that allow customers to make money and have a positive impact at the same time, starting from just £5.
- Vet-AI
Leeds | Healthtech & Biotech | @PetJoii
Combining the expertise of qualified vets and groundbreaking new technologies to deliver mobile, on-demand veterinary care, direct to pet parents.
- Vitaccess
Oxford | Healthtech & Biotech | @vitaccess
A platform that produces real-time data on how diseases and treatments impact patients’ everyday lives, based on tailor-made apps installed on their smartphones.
Relive the Rising Stars Grand Final…
Our judging panel
Rising Stars is on a mission to find the UK’s brightest tech startups, but we can’t do it alone. That’s why we brought on board a leading judging panel to help us identify those burning brightest.
Andrew Jennings, Partner, TLT Solicitors 
Briony Phillips, Associate Director, Engine Shed 
Calum Forsyth, CEO and Founder, Seedhaus 
Daniel Reilly, Chapter Director, Startup Grind 
David Fogel, Co-founder, ADV 
David Gardner, Partner, TLT Solicitors 
Derek Shaw, Head of Investment Management, Scottish Investment Bank 
Etienne Piciocchi, Management Consultant 
Gaurav Bhatnagar, Head of Amazon Marketing Services UK 
Helen Milburn, Director of Tech Law, EY 
James Parton, Managing Director, The Bradfield Centre 
Liz Scott, Director, Finance, Tax and Innovation, EY 
Louize Clarke, Director, ConnectTVT 
Magda Posluszny, Associate, Seedrs 
Mark John, Co-Founder/Director, Tramshed 
Mark Lyons, Investment Director, Praetura 
Mark Sykes, National Head, BDO Drive 
Naomi TImperley, Co-founder, Tech North Advocates 
Rachel Peacock, Tech Specialist, Economic Development 
Richard Abrahams, Founding member – Raise, PWC 
Richard Charnley, Investment Manager, Northstar Ventures 
Richard Godfrey, CEO, Rocketmakers 
Richard Potter, CEO & Founder, Peak 
Sam Michel, Founder & CMO, Chinwag 
Sarah Reveillard, EMEA SMB Lifecycle Marketing Manager, Microsoft Bing 
Teddy Kim, Principal, Mustard Seed Impact 
Thanh Quan-Nicholls, Co-Founder Women’s Tech Hub Bristol 
Tim Kay, Director Technology and Media, KPMG 
Tracey Johnson, Project Director, Enterprising Barnsley
The prizes…
Opportunities to raise your profile at all stages of the competition.
For the winners:
Tailored/bespoke package of support worth over £4000 per winner that includes:
- 1-2-1 mentoring with a high profile mentor
- Facilitated introductions to investors and corporates
- Bespoke PR campaign
- One-to-one BDODrive Accelerate session focused on unlocking your growth potential and identifying the tangible steps you need to take
- Financial contribution towards a conference of your choice
- Pitch training and coaching
- Networking opportunities with investors, heads of accelerators, entrepreneurs and corporate leaders
When you apply:
- Submit an (optional) video pitch with your application and you could be selected for our ‘Pitch of the Day’ and be posted to our 85,000 Twitter followers
If you get shortlisted:
- Profiled as a top startup in your region
- Invited to our Semi-Final where you will receive pitch training from Sunderland Software City, meet previous winners and have the opportunity to network other awesome founders and our panel of judges
- Invited to our Grand Final in London to exhibit and network with a high profile audience of investors, corporate leader and entrepreneurs
If you’re selected to pitch at our Grand Final:
- Pitch in front of a high profile audience
- Opportunity to exhibit to over 400 attendees in London
The programme
We’ll provide all semi finalists with pitch training and expert advice. The judges will select the best startups for the Grand Final.
All finalists will pitch to become one of our Rising Stars. Our semi-finalists will have the opportunity to exhibit at the event.
Who is Rising Stars for?
From Cornwall to Inverness, we’re looking for the UK’s most ambitious tech startups to join Tech Nation’s first ever Rising Stars cohort. Does your business meet the criteria?
- Your business has been going for 1-3 years
- Its HQ is in the UK
- A digital tech business with a product or service to sell
- You’re at seed to pre-Series A funding stage. Bootstrapped? We’re looking for businesses with annual revenues up to £1.5m
- You have at least one active client or pilot
- You can commit to Rising Stars dates outlined in the timeline
- Last but not least, you’ve got the ambition to grow and scale
Please note, Rising Stars is not open to consultancies or agencies.
What our former winners have to say
In its former life, Rising Stars was a competition run by Tech North (known then as Northern Stars). 30 fantastic tech companies were successfully crowned as Northern Stars winners over the three years the competition ran.
Watch how Northern Stars gave former winners Dream Agility and Peak exposure on a global stage and enabled both companies to achieve unrivalled growth.
Dream Agility
Peak
Our sponsors
