Introduction
Tech North, the organisation set up to champion and nurture tech startups in the North of England, has announced the 20 finalists of its Northern Stars competition.
More than 57 startups pitched across the seven cities of Newcastle, Sunderland, Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds and Hull. Think X-Factor for tech startups, only with actual talent and less singing.
Set to duke it out in Manchester on November 24, 10 winners will be chosen from a panel of judges that includes Bloomberg's Chris Low and Seedr's Dave Haynes.
The eventual winner will get a package of support from Tech North including a place in the Tech North pavilion at TechCrunch Disrupt in December, the opportunity to pitch to investors in January and a place at the SXSW Interactive Festival in Austin Texas in March 2016.
Click on to find out more about the finalists.
Can the North of England rival London's Tech City?
1. Airstoc
Sheffield-based Airstoc takes a different view on stock imagery — literally. A sort of "Shutterstock for the sky", it sells drone-shot aerial footage that filmmakers, webmasters and other creative types can use in their projects. Airstock also puts customers in touch with drone operators anywhere in the world to spark up bespoke projects, with shots priced according to image quality (HD, 4K or 5K).
2. M14.Industries
If niche network company M14.Industries doesn't win for its Bristlr app, it's bound to be a close shave. Described as "Tinder for beards" Bristlr is a mobile app that aims to connect people with particularly hairy faces. Aside from direct messaging, the platform also lets people advertise to find their ideal folically-gifted partner.
3. Clowdy
Clowdy is a platform for creative professionals to showcase their work and get credit for collaborating on projects. Incorporating elements of LinkedIn, Soundcloud and Facebook, it uses a tagging system to credit users for anything from playing guitar on a soundtrack to starring as an extra in a small production. Ultimately, Manchester-based Clowdy aims to give the those in the creative industry the recognition it thinks they deserve.
4. Deliverd
Sheffield and Manchester-based Deliverd is the latest "Uber for food" startup looking to knock Just Eat and HungryHouse off the top spots. Due to launch soon, Deliverd partners with kitchens in UK cities to deliver food to your work or home address through its mobile app or a browser. It has an awards scheme in the pipeline, which is good news for your wallet, if not for your waistband.
5. Dizinga
An online Mecca for independent designers, Dizinga aims to make it easier for artists to sell their designs online. After submitting their designs, the Leeds-based startup publishes them on hoodies, smartphone cases, tee shirts or mugs - etc - using "premium materials". And then takes a cut, of course. Through its partner system, Dzinga also looks to solve the problem of designers losing web traffic through selling their creations on external ecommerce sites by allowing them to embed their online stores in their websites.
6. EvaluAgent
Middlesborough-based EvaluAgent provides a cloud-based software suite designed to help staff in contact centres do their jobs better. It does so through EvaluAgent Modules, which range from gamification (turning your everyday job into an internal competition), Quality Monitoring (helping measure and improve staff performance), Agent Coaching, Customer Surveys and First Contact Resolution.
7. Formissimo
There isn't an online shopper in the world who hasn't placed an item in their basket before closing the browser window or failing to go through with the purchase for some other reason. Formissimo's job is to find out what happened, and why they didn't go through with the sale. The Salford-based startup reckons its analytics platform, which integrates into websites using two pieces of JavaScript code, is 10 times quicker to set up than Google Analytics — and easier to use.
8. Geek Talent
Recruitment software startup Geek Talent is already riding high after landing a place on a coveted "bootcamp" course run by Google. The Sunderland-based startup's talent acquisition software brings together information from across the internet to help companies fill roles and make informed decisions "up to 1,000 times faster". Oh, and did we mention they have a former CERN scientist onboard?
9. Gnatta
Founded in 2011, Gnatta was created by former University of Stirling Student Jack Barmby. The Bolton-based startup's software consolidates a company's communications — from online reviews to social media conversations — into a single interface. It claims that this can make it easier to stub out negative comments, cope with growth, identify key influencers and spot posts as they go viral.
10. Soda Software Labs
Profile by Manchester-based Soda Software Labs gives people a "reputation score" by taking data from online platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram, and blending it with third-party data sources. The idea is that the scores can then help companies decide whether they want to do business with you or not. It's a bit like a credit rating, but for your digital life.
11. IN-PART
In-part offers companies access to new technology and collaboration opportunities from a range of universities in the UK and around the world. Its platform is tailored to several industries and showcases research centres and facilities and that can help progress the commercialisation of research.
12. Leaf FM
Best described as Spotify and YouTube's love child, Leaf.fm is an emerging Spotify competitor that lets you listen to music on your smartphone or tablet for free. With no subscription required, it connects to YouTube and other freely available social content to play tracks which can be collated into playlists. In a few months since launching, Newcastle-upon-Tyne-based Leaf.fm has gained users in 187 countries.
13. Metafused
Metafused is billed as an intelligent marketing platform that combines internal analytics data with external data to automatically create marketing campaigns and respond to customer queries. Because its platform is automated, the Manchester-basted startup claims to shave money off campaign budgets while speeding up the decision making process.
14. Mr Lista
Billed as the "ultimate wish list maker", MrLista takes the wish list feature found on many ecommerce sites and magnifies it into a dedicated web app. Users can create gift wish lists for occasions such as birthdays, housewarmings, baby showers or religious holidays from any browser or mobile website.
15. Polen
Polen allows web stores to turn a percentage of online customer purchases into charitable donations. With the app installed, visitors see a pop-up window that gives them the option to dedicate a percentage of the sale to a nominated charitable cause at no extra cost.
16. Peak
Manchester-based Peak helps companies of all sizes learn what business intelligence (BI) platform suits them best. From QlikView and Tableau to Tibco Spotfire and Jaspersoft - Peak looks at all of the major players see which software suite would align with a company's strategy and help them meet their corporate goals.
17. Pimoroni
Sheffield's Pimoroni (which stands for Pirate, Monkey, Robot, Ninja — obviously) designs and locally manufactures add-ons for computing devices such as the Raspberry Pi. Its Maker shop has expanded to over 500 products since launching in May 2013, and it has overseen two successfully funded Kickstarter campaigns.
18. Receptive
Based in Sheffield, Receptive is a dashboard that lets cloud-based software companies gather feedback from its online users. After integrating a JavaScript snippet into their app, Feedback can given using sliders and text fields, and an auto-email feature lets developers keep customers up-to-date on what requests they're working on.
19. Reframed.tv
Reframed turns live YouTube videos into a shared social experience by displaying associated tweets in real-time. When streaming a live edition of PMQs, for example, any tweets containing the #PMQs hashtag would flash up next to the video the moment they are posted, creating a live dialogue of feedback as the event unfolds.
20. Skignz
Skigns (a mashing together of "sky" and "signs"), which emerged from Stockton-on-Tees, is an augmented reality app that lets people broadcast and view messages in the sky using their smartphone. While it feels a little ahead of its time, it's an interesting idea. People could share their opinions at football matches, advertise tickets in front of stadiums (not that we're condoning touting, of course) or promote offers if they're running goods stands — all without speaking a word.
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