The Mad World of MadTech: May Roundup

There's never a dull day in startup land, with May going down as a month of PROGRESS. We've seen impressive positions in rankings, our recent 2017 grads growing and achieving great challenges, thrown our own event for some of the UK's leading brands and of course, enjoyed a surprise or two...

 1. Good-Loop’s ethical ads displaying on The Londonist

Nothing can stop these guys who seem to be on quite the roll, and of course, we couldn't be prouder! Our recent grad, who was also winner of the Collider 2017 Demo Day, have secured several exciting achievements recently.

This time, Good-Loop's ethical ads are now live on The Londonist! You should really go check it out, especially given you'll be giving a donation to charity.

 2. Rate8 are stomping!

But that’s not all from our recent grads this month, as Avi, founder of Rate8 from this year's cohort, was selected as a Founder of the Future by Founders Forum.

Huge congrats to you Avi!

 3. Seenit to double team by 2018

The Seenit family keeps growing and growing… to the extent that next year, they'll be twice the size they are now!

As we're sure you've seen yourself, this team are really nailing it, and much comes down to Founder and CEO Emily's attitude, who understands the importance of having an inspired, motivated and engaged team, which is, needless to say, a key factor for success.

You can read more here.

4. Seenit and Pixoneye stopped Startups 100 list

Collider alumni in Startups 100

Seenit and Pixoneye have both been awarded deserved positions in the longest-running index of the best new businesses.

Huge congrats to both teams!

5. Brand Event was a not-to-be-missed one

https://twitter.com/ColliderGB/status/867083402029256704

It was a pleasure to be surrounded of some incredible brands in our Big Brand Event last week – we kept this intimate, with the ultimate goal of discovering the similarities between totally different brands (and their methods) when it comes down to innovation.

A huge thanks to dunnhumby, Diageo and BT for joining us in the panel, along with Iain from CampaignAmp, another of our 2014 alumni, who gave a brilliant startup view.

6. Beem shows off new logo!

Collider alumni Beem

Alumni Beem have a new logo and we love it! This fancy prism works as a perfect metaphor for the team as it represents their business idea and what their day-to-day looks like.

Such a nice symbol and even better story from Co-Founder Lee, riiiiight here.

Best Things We've Heard All Week | MadTech Roundu

Last week was a week of random facts, and our top MadTech news will provide just that. Here are the best things we heard all week.

1. Self-driving cars could flip the auto insurance industry on its head

We caught up with our good friends from LV who produced this little nugget of information.

It's thought there will be a huge shift of responsibility from driver to car manufacturer, as well as a general price decrease.

And that got us thinking – where will insurers now focus to grow their market, and, more importantly, how will they advertise better to build a share of sectors like health which are seen as a big opportunity?

2. The Next Web was awesome

And the incredible LivingLens got through to the final of their scaleup pitch event. Congrats!

We actually joined our partners, Startup Amsterdam, at their stall this time and were really impressed with the quality of startups we met. Don't forget, we're still accepting applications for our first Amsterdam cohort!

https://twitter.com/Livinglenstv/status/865278436381773826

3. The Europa's nominees featured some of our key community

That's right, Richard Fearn and Gabbi Cahane – we're looking at you!

If you want to vote, you can do so here.

4. A slice of proof that we've got to do more

Yep, we weren't best pleased with this update, but with this bad news can come positivity if we all try. What were your thoughts?

Best Things We've Heard All Week: MadTech News

The working week never feels long enough, but if someone suggested lengthening it, we'd laugh, cry and result in a resounding no. (Come on, even you entrepreneurial types).

But with so much going on in MadTech, from adtech and martech news, industry events, recent raises and inspiring people, here's our summary of the best things we've heard all week.

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1. "As the world gets more serious, social media becomes more trivial".

As a die hard lover of the Nokia 3210 ("I mean... it has snake"), Bob Geldof is never going to be the biggest fan of social, but his views gave us some serious food for thought.

Our marketing lady Tazz headed to a breakfast meet up with the man himself, who blames social media for many people's misjudgement, raising the point that speaking out on social isn't 'doing something' or 'doing good', it's just a self fulfilling prophecy which blocks us from making things count.

https://twitter.com/TazzGault/status/857596591338917888

2. We coined FONK.

Thanks Gabbi.👌

https://twitter.com/GabbiCahane/status/857980672929124354

3. Business is to "work with people who believe what you believe".

You know the quote? It's pretty powerful, no matter how many times you hear it. And that's why Co-Founder Rose thought this article – 27 things one person learnt from Simon Sinek – is well worth a read.

Point one: It took Simon over 11 years to become an overnight success...

4. Will the UK manage to fill the gap between seed funding and Series B?

It's a common debate in the office, and this week in particular, it became a bit of a theme.

We read this article from the Financial Times, and enjoyed a heated debate at FastPay's meet up, discussing the crucial matter of how to scale a digital media business. We'd love to hear your thoughts?

https://twitter.com/ColliderGB/status/857871545997430785

5. The llama at Kamarama's legs are too short.

Well, according to Co-Founder Andy anyway, who spent Friday afternoon with the Unilever Foundry judging a panel.

https://twitter.com/andyt8/status/860482978815803392

The Mad World of MadTech: April Roundup

MadTech has many verticals, with April proving just that, going down as a month of awesome coverage, impressive awards and enviable partnerships. Check out our top four updates from the Collider alumni.

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1. Good-Loop's Amy named by BBC as an ‘entrepreneur women using tech for good’

Not only did Amy impress our audience on Demo Day, she's now stunned the BBC thanks to her inspiring storing on why she decided to fund her startup.

Shocked by the huge existent inequality between countries and with a background in advertising, Amy decided to try and make the world a better place using adtech. Good-Loop aims to make a real positive impact by rewarding viewers of video ads with donations to their chosen charities.

Such a great example to follow! Read more here.

2. Emily from Seenit wins Entrepreneur Award from ‘10 Digital Ladies’

Our very own class of ’14 alum are making us proud again!

This time Seenit Founder and CEO, Emily Forbes, was a main guest at the event run at google HQ celebrating women who have successfully launched their own digital business. And not only that, but she ended up being crowned the Entrepreneur Award winner of the year.

From a background in film production and with almost no digital experience, Emily has built into a £1.1m business in just three years.

Big congrats to you Emily! Read more here.

3. LivingLens partner with world leader in experience management

The new product LivingLens and Qualtrics are releasing together will allow organisations to form a better customer understanding, giving them the ability to tell their stories and share feedback, all thanks to LivingLens' rich video content ability.

Read more here.

4. Sonovate name Pixoneye as ones to watch

The Pixoneye team have been spotted on the '50 Fastest Growing Companies in the UK' list by Sonovate. Congrats!

The Mad World of MadTech: February Roundup

1. Startup alum Locomizer rank in AI Tech Startups to Watch 2017

Following a number of pretty exciting updates (including a cheeky interview in Forbes), our class of '13 alumni are making us proud again.

Tech.eu has highlighted the biological intelligence tech team as one of the startups tech enthusiasts should keep an eye on for the upcoming year.

Great work guys. Read more here.

2. LivingLens secures £1.3m funding AND becomes finalist for SXSW Accelerator Competition

The LivingLens team are having a pretty impressive few weeks with two top announcements, starting with an incredible £1.3m funding round.

The mix of investors includes the Angel CoFund, angel investors from their involvement in our accelerator programme and successful marketeers and financiers.

This follows their recent win after being selected as a finalist for SXSW Accelerator Competition, in which only those leading startups from around the world are selected to take part in.

Good luck for the upcoming pitch event on March 12th!

Read more here.

3. Seenit and SyncSpot's founders stopped Forbes 30 under 30 list

A huge congratulations to Emily from Seenit and Jubair from SyncSpot for making the Forbes 30 under 30 list – a serious achievement.

Read more here.