South East: Tech Nation reveals the five top early-stage tech companies

Tech Nation announced the five regional winners based in the South East of England of its Rising Stars 3.0 competition. In its third year, Rising Stars 3.0 is the UK's only national competition for innovative, early-stage tech companies, designed to showcase the best in the country and to help companies on their growth journey. 

The five regional winners for each region and nation across the UK have been selected by a panel of industry experts, and are regarded as tech leaders within their respective regions. These companies will now compete nationally for the chance to be named as one of Tech Nation’s 10 Rising Stars 3.0. The Rising Stars UK Winners will be revealed in February 2021.

Tech Nation’s Rising Stars are on track to become the world-leading tech companies of tomorrow, using technology to tackle the world’s greatest challenges. The competition provides the opportunity for the best of the nation’s early-stage scaleups to meet leading investors, influencers and corporates.

Esme Caulfield, competitions lead, Tech Nation commented “Everyone knows that 2020 is a challenging year. We're honoured that so many companies took the time to apply for Rising Stars 3.0, and are truly excited about the calibre of our regional winners. It's great to see companies from every imaginable sector in the competition, and from every corner of the UK - from Aberdeen to Falmouth and everywhere in between.

“The 55 Rising Stars Regional Winners are companies that are proving their resilience and adaptability, building products that will support businesses and customers both now, and into the future. They are all deserving of recognition - and here at Tech Nation, we're thrilled to celebrate and showcase them.”

Elizabeth Corse, entrepreneur engagement manager - South East, Tech Nation commented “Rising Stars is a wonderful competition that highlights and showcases the most exciting early-stage tech scaleups in the UK. The South East provides an array of tech specialisms and our regional winners really do reflect that variety. We have first-time founders, a serial founder, an international founder who chose the UK to set-up their ambitious scaleup business and a founder under 30 who, between them, represent adtech, data security, cyber (privacy), augmented reality and HR/ recruitment tech. I’m incredibly proud of what the South East has to offer and I know these companies are all ones to watch. Congratulations to all 5 regional winners and I'm excited to support them as they progress through the competition.”

The Five Regional Winners from the South East of England:

Glimpse Protocol (Winchester, Adtech & Marketing) Founders: Mark Stoter, Alasdair Macdonald and Tim Holmes-Mitra

A revolutionary advertising platform with privacy at its core, Glimpse Protocol has invented a new data model to allow online businesses to reach precise consumer audiences, while protecting consumer privacy and without using any third-party data sources. It offers an ethical, compliant and efficient ad marketplace for advertisers and publishers.

Mark Stoter, CEO and co-founder of Glimpse Protocol commented “We're thrilled that Glimpse Protocol has been chosen as a Rising Stars Winner for the South East. We're excited to showcase a new, ethical approach to advertising with our breakthrough privacy technology”.

Percept Imagery (Brighton and Hove, Retail Tech) Founders: Akshay Saswade and Rohan Satpute

Percept Imagery enables personalized shopping experiences that blend online and real worlds. Its augmented reality platform, Sprie ®, enables retailers to personalize online shopping by allowing shoppers to try out products in the real world before purchasing them. Sprie seamlessly integrates AR with existing brand eCommerce websites, social pages or QR Codes, and enables retailers to showcase entire inventories without the need to download an app.

Akshay Saswade, co-founder of Percept Imagery commented “2021 looks like a very exciting year in Percept Imagery's growth story and we are thrilled to represent Brighton and the South East”.

PORT.im (Hassocks, Insurtech) Founders: Julian Saunders, Dan Eltis and Piyush Shah

PORT.im is transforming the way businesses manage privacy. The end-to-end service manages all aspects of privacy from the website through to the compliance documentation. Recognising that privacy is an area fraught with difficulties for businesses, PORT.im is on a mission to help businesses build trust with their customers and comply with the regulations.

Julian Saunders, co-founder & CEO of PORT.im commented “We’re delighted to be selected to represent the South East as we set about revolutionising privacy compliance for startups. With new features launching and an imminent investment round, the timing couldn’t be better for us”.

That Works For Me (Guildford, HRtech) Founders; Jessica Heagren, Nicola Good and Gemma Blake

Small businesses and agencies often stop themselves from accessing the expert help they need and deserve, because they believe they’re too small or can’t fill a full-time role. That Works For Me is a digital platform that allows businesses to access thousands of experienced professionals, ranging from social media managers to lawyers - all looking to work flexibly, remotely and outside of the 9 to 5. Over 90% of businesses find the skills they need.

Jessica Heagren, CEO & co-founder of That Works For Me commented “Being a Tech Nation Rising Star Winner for the South East region feels absolutely incredible. There has never been a better time to raise the profile of the work we're doing to match experienced, talented working parents with growing businesses that need their help. Having such a well respected and credible organisation recognise our work gives us even more drive and inspiration to keep working hard (around our families!) and doing what we do best. This is the most exciting landmark ahead of our one-year birthday in a few weeks time, we're blown away and we will be celebrating in style.....over Zoom!”

Worldr (Slough, Cyber Security) Founders: Max Buchan and Dzmitry Maskaliou

Worldr is a privacy and security-focused alternative to Slack. It deploys into large organisations that are not able to use third-party communication tools because of the threat they represent to data security. Worldr combines the usability of cutting-edge communication with the security of an in-house application.

Max Buchan, founder & CEO of Worldr commented “We're so excited to be able to represent technology in the South East. It's fantastic to receive this recognition just as we start rolling out Worldr through the UK and Brazil!”

The benefits of taking part in Rising Stars:

• Pitch training and coaching by Pitching for Success
• Meet potential investors through a series of VC office hours and AMAs
• Opportunity to showcase your business to a curated audience of investors, accelerators, entrepreneurs and corporate leaders
• Tech Nation content campaigns and profile raising
• Induction into the Rising Stars and wider Tech Nation alumni network