(Check out part 1 of this guide here…)
6. Jukedeck
In 2015, Jukedeck won TechCrunch Disrupt London, a clear sign to its founder Ed Rex that the startup was well on its way to success. The fact the startup also managed to close a £2 million funding round is yet another sign that Jukedeck is destined for great things. But, what makes this startup stand out?
This startup is very much positioned in the entertainment sector, with its selling point being its ability to enable any user, no matter their musical ability, to create a royalty-free soundtrack. Users can then use the resulting soundtrack on the pod casts and videos the upload online.
Many users search for hours trying to locate the best soundtrack, or struggle to fund a unique one, so here Jukedeck has won many fans with its speedy artificial intelligence music composition technology. Users can have their very own, unique track ready in only seconds without the concern of having to pay any royalties.
7. FinGenius
FinGenius appeared back in 2014; a resulting startup from Accenture’s Fintech Innovation Lab London 2014 and Level39. This startup is firmly planted in the banking sector and is an artificial intelligence (AI) platform, designed to make the sector a lot easier for the average person to understand.
People are becoming increasingly used to seeing AI being used to improve user experiences, although before FinGenius, most people would only expect it to come from companies such as Facebook, Twitter or Google. The FinGenius AI platform is designed to be able to answer questions from customers and employees, thus making banking subject matter a lot less murky area to wander through.
The best part about FinGenius is that it answers questions in a non-cryptic manner, which is a huge selling point. It uses plain language and answers are tailored to each individual user. Obviously FinGenius offers a huge number of benefits to banking customers but it also ensures that organisations can spend less time and money answering customer queries, because the AI platform can now take care of such things.
8. Songkick
Songkick was founded by Ian Hogarth, Michelle You, and Pete Smith back in 2007. Since its initial founding, Songkick has secured funding from numerous sources including The Accelerator Group, SoftTech VC, Y Combinator, Sequoia Capital, Index Ventures, Three Six Zero Group, Access Industries, and Betaworks.
Last year, the startup secured $29.2 million in funding, which pretty much ensured that the year 2015 was a very good year and more than set Songkick up for an even better 2016 but what is Songkick exactly?
Tapping into the needs of music lovers everywhere, Songkick enables its users to keep track of favourite artists and bands, thus ensuring concerts are never missed out on! Alerts can be customised and users informed whenever a concert is announced or tickets put on sale, so that users never have to miss out on their favourite performances ever again!
9. Velocity
Velocity is essentially a mobile payments platform and was co-founded by Zia Yusuf and Alex Macdonald. Having received $16 million in Series A funding in June last year, Velocity’s services are now live throughout London, New York, Toronto, Montreal, San Francisco, Miami and Los Angeles.
Providing a solution to diners everywhere, Velocity provides a service where, upon entering a partner restaurant, you can log in to its platform on your mobile device, check in, eat your dinner and then leave, without having to wait for the waiter to bring you the bill. Your bill is automatically charged to the card you have registered with Velocity’s app, saving both you and the restaurant a lot of time (and ensuing impatience).
Restaurants are all pre-approved by Velocity, so users can be sure they will get a tasty meal, as well as be assured they won’t have to wait around for ages, firstly for their bill and secondly for the card machine, which can sometimes take what seems like hours to eventually be brought round to the table!
10. Lyst
Founded by Sebastjan Trepca, Devin Hunt, and Chris Morton in 2010, Lyst is essentially an online marketplace where users can find all the fashion they dream about in one accessible place. Having received over $60 million in funding, Lyst now has offices in New York and London and is continuing to expand year on year.
Since being founded Lyst has come on leaps and bounds and is now touted as being one of the most prosperous online fashion stores…ever. One of its best-selling points is that it personalises users’ shopping experiences, making sure that everything shown is relevant to a shopper’s individual tastes. Its continued expansion will no doubt be firmly welcomed across the fashion community.