Tech Nation has today announced the 10 winners of its fourth Rising Stars competition, which recognises the brightest and best early-stage tech scaleups from every area of the UK.
Previous years’ Rising Stars Winners have included Selazar (from Northern Ireland), Circa5000 (from the North West) and SeedLegals (from London), who have received a combined £33.79mn in investment to date, demonstrating the ability of the Rising Stars to scale quickly, and their potential to become the UK’s tech ‘unicorns’ (companies with valuations of $1bn+) of the future.
This year’s winners have been selected by a panel of 7 judges (industry experts with extensive experience in starting and scaling tech businesses), including Emma Jones (Founder of Enterprise Nation), Nahu Ghrebremichael (Partner at Singular Ventures) and Jess Jackson (Head of Investment at GC Angels), based on their value proposition, competitive advantage, market traction, team experience and potential to scale. Tech Nation has been delighted to partner with multinational law firm Pinsent Masons to deliver Rising Stars 4.0.
RDvault, the Rising Stars 4.0 winner from the North West, has developed a fully automated, cloud-based R&D Tax Credits platform to empower SMEs to swiftly and easily claim R&D tax incentives from HMRC.
RDvault’s success as an early-stage tech company from the North West reflects the strength and fast growth of the North West’s tech sector overall.
According to data from Tech Nation, the North West is now home to 9 of the UK’s tech ‘unicorns’ (companies valued at over $1bn), and received $975mn in VC investment funding last year (a 43.7% increase on the $549mn received in 2020).
Tech job creation is also growing rapidly in the North West, with over 222,000 people currently employed by tech startups and scaleups in the region.
Going forward, RDvault – and all of the 10 Rising Stars 4.0 winners – will continue to be supported by the UK tech ecosystem as they are inducted into the Tech Nation alumni network.
Recognising and empowering all of the winners of the Rising Stars competition is at the core of Tech Nation’s mission to fuel the growth of tech scaleups who are helping us create a stronger UK economy, society and future.
Esme Caulfield, Competitions Lead at Tech Nation, said:
“This year’s Tech Nation Rising Stars 4.0 Winners demonstrate the very best of UK tech innovation. It’s been so exciting to see this year’s Rising Stars winners disrupting a wide variety of tech sectors. like fintech, lawtech and so many others, including – for the first time – deathtech. Perhaps even more excitingly, this is one of our most diverse cohorts yet, with the majority of winning companies having female founders or co-founders, and nearly three quarters hailing from outside of London.”
Shoayb Patel, Founder of RDvault, said:
“We’re very excited and honoured to be awarded this prestigious accolade from Tech Nation. Considering the impressive cohort and competition, we’re ecstatic about this amazing achievement. We’ve been helping all stages of companies, from bootstrapped startups, to established and listed organisations, to easily claim valuable R&D funding from HMRC without the need for specialist and expensive tax expertise. Winning this Tech Nation award is significant recognition of the innovative way we have changed how R&D Tax Credits are claimed in the UK through our automated cloud-based platform. This award is also a reflection of the zealous efforts of our hard-working team, who are continuously developing the software and our varied and loyal customer base. We’re fortunate to have such a dedicated and ambitious team helping us rise. Our customers have also helped us on this journey; their continuous feedback is always helping us improve the platform and make the R&D claims process even easier.”
