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.

Not just another startup/scaleup mentor network

As a startup, being part of Collider doesn't just stop at the programme. It's what we like to call a life long relationship, where we don't just reappear in your inbox every once in a while informing you of 10% off [insert startup offer here].

But really, this is important. There's all too much investment and no guidance, or an abundance of sickly, textbook sales training that leaves startups stuck on a cycle of "they loved me!" moving onto "but why hasn't it converted?" out there. That's not good enough for us, and certainly not good enough for our incredible startups.

Making the relationship count between accelerator and startup

It has to count – to make a difference and to really nurture the relationship, and sometimes, that means seeking advice elsewhere.

So what better people to go to than some of the brightest names in MadTech, including Sarah Wood, Anu Shah, Zaid Al-Zaidy, Rod Banner, Marion Barnard, Richard Fearn and Frank Kelcz – the exact list that joined us as part of our Scaleup Mentor Network last Friday.

https://twitter.com/RodBanner/status/862976298393772033

Not just another mentoring scheme

We believe the UK has a huge opportunity to build the next generation of companies in marketing and advertising that can make a global impact. Yes, that does mean the next unicorn.

And that's why we created the Scaleup Mentor Network, and also why it's different from everything else.

We invite only the very best names from the MadTech entrepreneurial world, VCs and agencies and the very best, most successful, rapidly growing Collider startups.

This time, we were joined by alumni Beem, LivingLens, Seenit, CampaignAmp and Pixoneye, and is also where we jotted down this incredible quote, comparing startup life to that of a child.

Collider Mentor Network Sarah Wood Seenit

Extended support

We also had the folks from Microsoft Bizspark join us, who brought along Ella Cockerell – expert in enterprise and with years of incredible sales experience. As we continue to develop our relationship with the Microsoft folk, our startups were left super pleased with having a new face in the room, and the added support Ella brought.

Collider Scaleup Mentor Network

The Mad World of MadTech: March Roundup

March was such a crazy month. So crazy, that we're posting this half way through April – we know, we know, oops. But needless to say, the amount that went on for our startups, both our recent grads (wahoo class of 2017!) and alumni was pretty impressive. So, without further ado...

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1. Huge bunch of our Startups spotted in KPMG MadTech Shift 100

MadTech is not only making our daily life more comfortable but also taking the lead in the current digital world. This is why KPMG has created ‘The Shift 100’ highlighting those entrepreneurs responsible for this new era we’re living in, with consumers being able to get far more quick, efficient and flexible services than ever before.

And whilst all of this industry development is incredibly exciting, party poppers and streamers went off in the office this March as a huge list of our alumni were selected as part of the MadTech Shift.

Big congrats to all of you! Read more here. 

2. We made it! Collider's Big Day was quite a success

The end of the month saw our annual Demo Day, which took place at the incredible Unruly offices.

Needless to say, it was PACKED, and with its unique commercial focus, we saw many brands from the likes of Microsoft, Yahoo and Ogilvy, impressive investors and awesome startups.

With our new-stye Demo Day, not only our fifth cohort startups pitched but some of our impressive alumni, ending with Good-Loop being crowned the winner of the popular vote.

You can read more about it here.

3. Pixoneye spotted on the ‘50 most disruptive UK companies in 2017’ list

As we know, the UK is standing out because of its innovative and entrepreneurial mindset in all industries, and tech is taking the lead, with the Pixoneye team clearly playing an important role.

‘Future 50’ ranking by Real Business has awarded a deserved position to our class of ’15 alumni this year. Great work guys!

Read more here.

4. Cooala landed in the Top 100 Europe award 2017

March saw yet another win for one of our alumni, Cooala, who found themselves listed in the Red Herring Top 100 Europe Award.

A huge congratulations to our class of ’14 team for this brilliant achievement. Read more here.

Launching in Amsterdam with a bang

We couldn't just launch in Amsterdam without something pretty special, which is why this week some of our team headed out to the Dutch capital for our second popup.

Bringing brands and startups together is what we do best, and so this time round we were joined by a number of senior team members from both KPN and NS, hosted in Deloitte's iconic The Edge building.

Working with Ellen, Amsterdam Collider's co-founder to help establish their challenges, we identified the best startups to select for the popup and work directly with the teams.

Joined by a number of Collider startups including Pixoneye, Scoop Retail, Syncspot, Locomizer and Seenit, Collider Booster startup Duel, we also welcomed three startups from Belgium and Holland – Cabture, Social Seeder and Storymail.

Trial funds were up for grabs, so the popup meant business and gave both the startups and brands the chance to really knuckle down to see where they could work together.

But KPN and NS struggled to only pick one each, and so with Social Seeder and Storymail picked as the number-one-let's-do-this, there were many other promises of future conversations for others.

Ellen said: We designed the popup as a highly interactive session, where the corporates shared their challenges and topics of interests, allowing to identify together relevant applications of the startups’ technologies. KPN and NS have each chosen a startup for a trial project and invited several startups for follow-on conversations."

You'll be hearing much more from us in Amsterdam as we're now open for applications, as we scour the globe for the very best startups to join our first ever programme in Amsterdam. You can apply right here.

The Mad World of MadTech: December Roundup

1. Seenit takes the win at TechDisrupt London

Our very own Seenit won the coveted Disrupt Cup at the 2016 Startup Battlefield at TechDisrupt London, and we couldn't be more proud! After two days of tough competition against 13 other startups, our class of '14 alumni smashed it and won the £40,000 prize.

Read more here.

2. Pixoneye gets the BBC talking

Turns out Prince Charles and Ozzy Osbourne are much more alike than we previously thought, which wouldn't be all that helpful for online advertisers trying to target the right audience. And yes, that's where Pixoneye comes in.

Read more here.

3. Locomizer's biological intelligence pushed new boundaries

Launched at Unbound, the team at Locomizer are now able to decipher irrational consumer behaviour using biological intelligence, so brands and agencies can reach out to relevant audiences.

Read more here.