Seven of the UK’s brightest startup stars have been announced as the winners of the inaugural Internet of Things Launchpad competition.
Run by Tech City UK, Innovate UK and Cambridge Wireless, the competition was announced earlier this year by Prime Minister David Cameron to help boost the UK’s blossoming internet of things industry.
Based in either Cambridge or London, the startups will share a £1m fund to grow their businesses. They will also benefit from business support from some of the organisations’ private sector partners, which include EE, Seedcamp, Cisco and Hive.
Internet of things booms
The winning startups include a service for internet connected batteries, a defence scanner and a project to improve cycle journeys in London and Cambridge.
“It is an exciting time to be a tech business in the UK,” explained Digital Economy Minister Ed Vaizey.
“Investing in growth areas such as the internet of things is a key part of our long-term economic plan to back business, create jobs and secure a brighter future for Britain.”
Linking Cambridge and London
The link between Cambridge and London is an important one for UK tech, particularly when it comes to the internet of things.
Earlier this year, Huawei acquired Cambridge-based hardware startup Neul and announced plans to built an IoT centre of excellence in the city. Cambridge businesses often benefit from strong links to its university and has a strong history when it comes to hardware and technology.
The UK’s first internet of things accelerator was also announced in London this year.
The winners are…
- Digital Shadows Limited – A project to identify, enumerate and attempt to mitigate some of the IoT-related security risks facing businesses, cities and individuals
- Product Health Limited – A new service for connected batteries, representing a step change in the way batteries are managed in the off-grid energy sector
- ThinkInnovate Ltd – An IoT defence scanner, consisting of a portable scanning device, a mobile app and a web app and designed to increase confidence in IoT
- KisanHub and NWave Technologies – Wireless remote collection of data from multiple in-field sensors to make digitised farming enterprises a commercial reality
- 1248 Ltd – A project to encourage and improve cycle journeys in London and Cambridge, by discovering, processing and providing relevant sensor data
- OpenTRV Limited – A venture to work out the optimum combination of sensors to use inside buildings and outdoors to detect environmental information, such as the presence of people and the weather
- Superflux Ltd – A compact air quality monitoring and GPS tracking sensor that can be easily fitted to child’s pushchair