Disrupt South West unveils 2018 Index at launch event

On Thursday 27 September, Disrupt South West hosted its invitation-only launch event, ‘DisruptSW reimagined’, to announce the results of its 2018 Index.

The inspiring event, held in Loco Klub, Bristol, celebrated the top 25 disruptive ventures with headquarters in the region which hold the greatest potential to influence, change or create new markets.

This year’s Index, a one-of-a-kind collaboration from ADLIB, Foot Anstey, and Tällt Ventures, was compiled after ranking South West businesses against three essential ingredients that have enabled them to disrupt their sectors: People, Product and Potential.

Following a rigorous judging process, the 25 disruptors of the 2018 Index were revealed at last night’s celebratory event following much anticipation. The top five disruptive start-ups were also given special recognition, in order of their ranking.

In first place was Micrima, a company with huge disruptive potential owing to their non-invasive and non-ionising wave technology for detecting breast cancer which received European regulatory approval in 2015, has been trialled on over 400 women in the UK and is currently trialling in European centres.

Riversimple came in second having designed the Rasa, a new car which emits nothing but a tiny amount of water and will do the equivalent of c250 mpg.

Olio was the third top disruptor, a company that connects neighbours with each other and with local shops and cafes so surplus food and other household items can be shared, not thrown away.

Interactive Scientific, number four, has developed the Nano Simbox, an immersive scientific exploration product which helps people think and learn about science.

Sharing fifth place were Healios, a digital mental health platform that combines technology with qualified professionals, and Immersive Labs which has developed a cloud-based platform for real-world cyber security lab exercises via a browser.

The ‘DisruptSW reimagined’ evening was attended by clients of ADLIB, Foot Anstey and Tällt Ventures, some of whom had been involved in the judging process, as well as a range of innovative start-ups and corporates in the region, investors and the media.

Nick Dean, MD at ADLIB, commented: “The index is truly representative of the diverse business world we enjoy operating in day to day; full of enthusiasm, incredible ideas and breakthroughs in innovation and technology.

“The pace at which businesses are being formed and coming to market is incredible and, similarly, witnessing the growth that can be achieved in the 10 months since our last event is equally impressive. ADLIB has never before been immersed in such a wide-reaching and innovative client base as we do today. And there’s no sign of things slowing down.”

Martin Cuell, head of technology and partner at Foot Anstey, said: “After the success of the first Disrupt South West event last year, this time we’re aiming to further demonstrate the depth of innovation and technology within the region – a technology super cluster.

“We’re hugely excited by the potential of the businesses in this year’s list. We’ll continue to support the Disrupt South West initiative by helping to develop the relationships and support collaboration in any way we can to continue the South West technology growth story.”

Matt Connolly, founder and CEO at Tällt Ventures, added: “The pace of innovation and level of local talent in the South West is brilliant – DisruptSW gives us an opportunity to celebrate that. We’re excited to follow what these ventures get up to, and see how they grow and disrupt their industries over the coming months.”

The purpose of Disrupt South West is to feature, highlight, showcase and inspire South West business success and growth stories, celebrating those businesses and people that truly disrupt and challenge the given.

Habu, a company developing software for flexible workspaces, was a finalist in Disrupt South West’s 2017 Index. Their technology, soon to also include hardware, provides a powerful and intuitive platform that meets the needs of a broad spectrum of flexible workspaces.

Since the 2017 Index, Habu has empowered its users with a dashboard aimed at the workspace community, enabling workspace managers to focus on other tasks. It has recently expanded to Peru, Nigeria and Indonesia, and has received considerable investment from both existing and new angel investors.

Another finalist from last year’s Index was Wriggle, the platform that helps people discover the best of local restaurants, cafes and bars. Since 2017, Wriggle has introduced a citywide rewards/loyalty programme, has welcomed some new members to their team and has seen a revenue growth of 160% on the previous year.

The 25 finalists in the Disrupt South West 2018 Index have equally been recognised for their remarkable success in disrupting across the categories of People, Product and Potential, and Foot Anstey, ADLIB and Tällt Ventures are looking forward to seeing what these businesses achieve in the year ahead.