This week’s UK tech funding deals include autonomous vehicle software developer Wayve, white-labelled insurance provider Eleos, personalised fitness and nutrition app Hexis and more.
UKTN tracked £1.9bn worth of UK tech investment this week (6 May to 10 May), a 32% week-on-week increase across 12 funding deals. This figure includes £1.07bn of debt financing for loan providers Abound and Iwoca.
Here’s your weekly roundup of UK tech startup funding deals.
Wayve – £840m
Sector: AI
HQ: London
Round: Series C
Funding type: Equity
Investors: SoftBank, NVIDIA, Microsoft
Founded in 2017, Wayve develops AI software for autonomous vehicles.
Abound – £800m
Sector: Fintech
HQ: London
Round: Series B
Funding type: Debt/equity
Investors: Citi, GSR Ventures
Founded in 2020, Abound offers loans of up to £10,000. Abound claims its AI-powered affordability checks, which look at customer banking transaction data, significantly reduces the number of defaults on loans it provides.
Iwoca – £270m
Sector: Fintech
HQ: London
Round: Debt facility
Funding type: Debt
Investors: Citibank, Insight Investment, Barclays and Värde
Founded in 2011, Iwoca provides loans to small and medium-sized businesses
Dendra – £12m
Sector: Climate tech
HQ: Oxford
Round: Series B
Funding type: Equity
Investors: Zouk Capital, Aramco Ventures, Airbus Ventures, Understorey Capital and Helium-3 Ventures
Founded in 2014, Dendra restores large-scale ecosystems through a combination of field ecology and AI-analysed imagery.
Definely – £5.6m
Sector: Legal tech
HQ: London
Round: Series A
Funding type: Equity
Investors: Octopus Ventures, Cornerstone VC, Zrosk Investment and angels
Founded in 2017, Definely is a tool for lawyers to create, draft and review legal documents.
Nami Surgical – £3.2m
Sector: Health tech/robotics
HQ: Glasgow
Round: Seed
Funding type: Equity/grant
Investors: Eos Advisory, Investment Fund for Scotland (Maven, British Business Bank, Scottish Enterprise and SIS Ventures)
Founded in 2022, Nami Surgical is a University of Glasgow spinout that develops miniaturised ultrasonic medical devices for surgical applications.
Eleos – £3.2m
Sector: Insurtech
HQ: London
Round: Seed
Funding type: Equity
Investors: Fuel Ventures and Indico Capital
Founded in 2022, Eleos partners with brands to embed white-labelled income protection and life insurance.
Hexis – £1.6m
Sector: Health tech
HQ: London
Round: Pre-seed
Funding type: Equity
Investors: Apex, Sport Republic, Dopamine Sport Ventures and angels
Founded in 2018, Hexis is an app that provides personalised nutrition plans for athletes based on analytics.
GigPig – £1.3m
Sector: Events
HQ: Manchester
Round: Seed
Funding type: Equity
Investors: Angels
Founded in 2022, GigPig is a platform for hospitality venues to book live entertainment and discover new artists.
You. Smart. Thing. – £1.2m
Sector: Climate tech/travel
HQ: Birmingham
Round: Seed
Funding type: Equity
Investors: West Midlands Co-Investment Fund (Midven)
Founded in 2014, You. Smart. Thing. generates personalised low-carbon travel plans to reduce the climate footprint of event attendees.
OSY Group – £750,000
Sector: Food tech
HQ: Manchester
Round:
Funding type: Equity
Investors: Angels
Founded in 2018, OSY Group develops food packaging with an anti-microbial coating, extending the shelf life of the products within.
FungALL – £33,000
Sector: Agritech/climate tech
HQ: Manchester
Round: Grant
Funding type: Grant
Investors: Groundwork, Young Manchester, In Our Nature, Young Game, Changers and Step-Up Manchester
Founded in 2023, FungALL is a not-for-profit business developing urban circular farming technology for communities.
