5 Up and Coming Start-Ups in 2021
Picking 5 interesting start-ups in 2021 is a tough job.
2021 has seen UK start-ups raise more than £14bn of funding in the first half of the year alone - pretty impressive as the economy begins to recover from a once-in-a-lifetime global pandemic. Even as we exit the EU, the UK has continued to be a leading centre of innovation and development.
But what really is a ‘start-up’? Most people will assume it means a new company just starting out, but we think this label can apply to any company that’s on a journey to do something new or different. Whether they are a month, a year, or five years into that journey, being a start-up is all about innovating to achieve something never done before - and hopefully doing social good along the way.
We’ve picked a handful of start-ups that we think are interesting… doing something different, doing something good, challenging the status quo. They may become huge successes, or they may not..but we think they deserve some attention for the mission they are on.
Multiverse
Starting off with one of the most talked-about start-ups this year. Originally founded in 2016, Multiverse nabbed a reported £100m in a new funding round earlier in 2021.
Multiverse’s mission is to bring apprenticeships into the 21st century, offering an alternative route to career paths that traditionally required a University degree.
They have a strong focus on creating opportunities for under-represented groups. More than half of the 5000 apprentices they have placed have come from under-represented ethnic groups, more than half are female and a third are from some of the most deprived parts of the UK.
“While talent is evenly distributed, opportunity is not. So we’re laying the path to success for exceptional people, whatever their background.”
Multiverse has created a thriving community bringing together apprentices, corporate partners, and mentors from many walks of life, all focused on equitable access to opportunities based on talent and ability, not the luck of the draw of the family and access they were born in to
Farewill
Another company that has been in operation for several years, Farewill have what for many will be a pretty startling mission - to be the “UK’s best-rated death experts”
The subject of death is never an easy one to tackle, with the pandemic bringing this into sharp relief for thousands of families that never expected to be dealing with the topic so suddenly.
Wills, probate, funeral arrangements - the whole ecosystem is outdated, slow, and painful. And dealing with it typically comes at one of the saddest and most challenging times in people's lives.
Farewill’s aim is to modernise the whole process, using simple technology to make it easier to ensure you have a will in place, have a funeral plan, and deal with probate if a death occurs in your family.
Farewill has grown rapidly to become the UK’s number 1 will writing service, offering an online option that lets anyone create a will in just 15 minutes. Their pricing is transparent and their range of free guides are all designed to take away the unnecessary frustration and anguish that the industry around death has historically created.
Whirli
If you are a parent, there is a good chance your point of view on toys involves - too much plastic, too much waste, too much cost.
Whirli aims to leverage the growing awareness and desire amongst Millennial and GenZ parents to act more sustainably, whilst still offering value for money and convenience.
Their toy subscription service allows customers to subscribe to a plan, choose the toys they want, keep and play with them for as long as they want, then send them back and swap them for something else. And if a toy becomes a keeper, you can simply buy it at less than the retail price - or if you have it for more than 8 months, it becomes yours for free.
Whirli’s own research shows that the parents spend £140 on average per child for Christmas, and on average a child receives 21 toys each - 23% of which are neglected within a month. Whirli believes that leads to 32m toys potentially heading to landfill if they aren’t lucky enough to find a new owner happy to take second-hand toys.
Whirli picked up £4m of funding at the end of 2020. It is hoped that with a range of subscription packages from just £9.99 a month, the combination of a simple user experience, a catalogue of well over 50,000 toys to choose from, and a growing movement to act more sustainably, this can be the beginning of something big.
Mama Bamboo
B-Corp business Mama Bamboo is tackling another huge environmental issue - single-use plastic nappies.
Founded in 2018, Mama Bamboo has created a range of products including nappies, baby wipes, and nappy bags that are all made from sustainable, organic, and biodegradable bamboo.
Creating a simple subscription model, subscribers can choose the products they want, the frequency they want them, and how they want to pay. The online platform allows simple adjustment to orders - size, volume, delivery dates - so parents never have to get caught short with midnight runs to the supermarket.
As a B-Corp, Mama Bamboo is taking its mission further than just creating and selling more sustainable products. They have invested in bamboo production, working with local growers in Africa to ensure the sustainability of both production and also the local communities involved in it. Their packaging is 100% home compostable, and they continue to agitate for change in the way traditional plastic waste is managed by local councils.
UpCircle Beauty
Another ‘start-up’ that’s not so new, UpCircle Beauty was started in 2016 with a simple idea - turning unused coffee grounds into beauty products!
Strongly focused on sustainable and environmentally friendly ingredients and products, UpCircle looks to take advantage of the waste that results from ⅓ of food being unused.
Expanding from coffee grounds into other fruit and tea-based waste, UpCircle expanded their collection and distribution through large-scale partners such as Ocado and Holland, and Barrett.
UpCircle managed to survive the challenges of the pandemic and exiting the EU by initially scaling back, but have grown rapidly in 2021 through continued range expansion and focus on sustainability.
Their packaging is 99% plastic-free, and they now offer plastic-free refills for the remaining 1%. They reckon they have now reused over 350 tonnes of coffee grounds, diverting 75% of this from ending up in landfill
This post was written by our Inner Circle member, Adam. If you’re in any need of Strategy or Commercial help, do be sure to book a 30-minute discovery call.