7 promising Bristol tech startups you should know about in 2024

The UK, with its leading startup ecosystem in Europe and ranking third globally for venture capital investment, has long seen London as its epicentre. Traditionally, while investments have been directed towards London, a decentralisation trend is now underway, with cities like Bristol emerging as prominent innovation centres.

Bristol has earned its recognition as one of the continent’s top 20 tech hubs in 2022. Dealroom also noted that since 2018, Bristol-based startups have experienced a significant increase in the size of funding rounds across diverse industries such as fintech, energy, transportation, and health. 

Last year, Bristol raised $437M (€400M) in venture capital investment, which signifies the city’s growing appeal to investors and its maturing startup ecosystem. Therefore, today, we will explore several major tech startups that have flourished in Bristol. 

Vaarst

Founder(s): Brian Allen

Founded: 2021

Hiring: Yes, check out opportunities here.

Vaarst, a Bristol-based cloud robotics specialist, is revolutionising offshore industries with its AI-based innovations. 

Founded in 2021, Vaarst offers autonomous and cloud-managed robotics solutions for a variety of sectors, including offshore wind, wave and tidal, scientific research, maritime security, and civil engineering.

Vaarst’s main focus is to reduce costs and enhance efficiency for marine operations. The company’s AI-driven underwater 3D SLAM-based vision is expected to reduce the number of people at sea, all while improving the data insights gained from offshore robots. 

With a recent funding round of $20M (€18M) led by Legal & General Capital and Equinor Ventures, Vaarst plans to execute its expansion plans. This includes establishing new branches in Austin, Texas, and Tokyo, alongside developing new technologies in computer vision and data management.

Immersive Labs

Founder(s): James Hadley

Founded: 2017

Hiring: Yes, check out opportunities here.

Cybersecurity training provider Immersive Labs helps organisations continuously assess, build, and prove their cyber workforce readiness. 

With a focus on people-centric cybersecurity, Immersive Labs provides realistic simulations and hands-on cybersecurity labs to evaluate individual and team capabilities against the latest threats.

Trusted by some of the world’s largest organisations and governments, including Citi, Pfizer, Daimler, Humana, Atos, HSBC, and the UK National Health Service, Immersive Labs enables its clients to measure their cyber defence capabilities.

After raising $75M (€68M) in 2021, Immersive Labs raised another $66M (€60M) in capital in 2022, with participation from existing investors such as Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Summit Partners, Insight Partners, Menlo Ventures, and Citi Ventures. The round was led by Ten Eleven Ventures, which supports the company to further improve its Cyber Workforce Resilience platform.

CellVoyant

Founder(s): Rafael E. Carazo

Founded: 2021

Hiring: Yes, check out opportunities here.

CellVoyant, a Bristol-based biotech startup, is on a mission to revolutionise stem cell-based therapies for chronic diseases. 

Founded in 2021 as a spinout from the University of Bristol, CellVoyant has developed patent-pending technology that uses AI-driven live cell imaging to predict and optimise stem cell differentiation.

By using AI and live cell imaging, CellVoyant aims to accelerate the development of transformative treatments for diseases such as cancer. 

The company’s platform enables scientists to gain a better understanding of cell mixtures and how they will evolve, which ultimately reduces failure rates, costs, and time to regulatory approval.

A recent funding round of £7.6M (€8.89M) led by Octopus Ventures will allow the company to double its team of scientists and machine learning engineers and expand its laboratory space. Other investors include Horizons Ventures, Verve Ventures, and Air Street Capital.

Albotherm

Founder(s): Molly Allington, Sian Fussell

Founded: 2021

Hiring: No

Albotherm, an indoor farming technology startup based in Bristol, is developing innovative glass coatings to reduce solar gain in buildings and greenhouses. 

Founded by Molly Allington and Sian Fussell in 2021, the University of Bristol spinout’s passive cooling technology offers a sustainable solution to regulate temperatures without electrical input.

The company’s reversible glass coatings transition from transparent to white, which allows buildings and greenhouses to maintain comfortable internal temperatures in hot weather. Albotherm’s coatings offer flexibility to suit various climates and environments with tunable transition temperatures ranging from 18°C to 45°C.

Albotherm is supported by a total investment of £1.6M (€1.87M) led by Green Angel Syndicate and supported by Oxford Innovation Finance, Bristol Private Equity Club, Cambridge Angels, Cambridge Agritech, and Science Angels Syndicate, alongside a £500,000 (€584,770) Farming Innovation Pathways Grant from Innovate UK.

Moneyhub Enterprise

Founder(s): Samantha Seaton

Founded: 2014

Hiring: Yes, check out opportunities here.

Based in Bristol, Moneyhub Enterprise is the a provider of open finance data and payments solutions. Founded on the principles of transparency and innovation, Moneyhub rose to become a key player in the fintech industry while serving clients across various sectors.

The company’s ISO 27001-certified software enables businesses to create personalised digital experiences and initiate payments through open banking, open finance, and open data. 

Moneyhub’s platform also allows organisations to aggregate data, gain valuable insights, and drive customer engagement through tailored products and services.

With a total fundraising of $81.5M (€74.7M), including investments from prominent backers such as Phoenix Group, Legal & General, and Lloyds Banking Group, Moneyhub has established itself as a trusted partner for more than 100 businesses worldwide. 

Its clientele include Aon, KPMG, Mercer, Nationwide Building Society, Samsung and Vodafone.

Matter

Founder(s): Adam Root

Founded: 2018

Hiring: Yes, check out opportunities here.

Founded by CEO Adam Root, Matter is a microfiltration technology company focused on addressing the pervasive issue of microplastic pollution. With a mission to stop microplastic pollution at its source, Matter develops innovative solutions for capturing, harvesting, and recycling microplastics.

Based in Bristol, Matter is working closely with domestic and commercial laundry appliance manufacturers to integrate its technology into their products ahead of incoming regulations requiring microfiber filters. 

In August 2023, Matter announced a successful Series A round of funding, raising $10M  (€9.1M) from investors led by S2G Ventures. Other investors include Ashton-Kutcher-backed SOUNDWaves and Leonardo DiCaprio-backed Regeneration.VC.

Adarga

Founder(s): Robert Bassett Cross

Founded: 2016

Hiring: Yes, check out opportunities here.

Founded by former special operations expert Robert Bassett Cross, AI developer Adarga uses AI to help financial institutions, intelligence agencies, and defence companies analyze huge amounts of data quickly and accurately, as well as identify potential threats.

Founded in 2016, Adarga has grown to a team of 26 employees, including data scientists from prestigious U.K. universities. The company has received support from Benevolent AI, a major player in the U.K.’s AI tech scene, which provides them with technical assistance.Adarga has closed a funding round worth $20M (approximately €18.4M) round led by BOKA in 2023. According to the company, the funding will be used to address the critical need for defence in national security and commercial organisations through its AI software.