On The Rise: Startups That Received Funding In October 2022
Another month, another series of funding rounds! As discussed in September's digest, the venture capital space has shouldered the weight of economic uncertainty recently – but that doesn’t mean the deals are off. In fact, it was difficult to narrow down this month’s shortlist of recently funded startups – there were so many great concepts and ventures to choose from.
Yet narrow down we did. Below is our list of brands ready to do some amazing work with their latest injection of capital – including some we’re proud to be partnered with ourselves. Let’s go…
Stability AI
Self-defined as “AI by the people, for the people”, Stability AI specialises in turning ground-breaking ideas into tangible solutions. Championing innovation over tradition, Stability AI’s builders use collective intelligence and augmented technology to create open AI tools that unlock new potential – and their £92.1 million October investment raised the company’s value to around £850 million. What’s next? They plan to evolve custom versions of its model and triple their headcount from 100 to 300. As their insurance partners, we personally can’t wait to see it all unfold.
Net Purpose
The Net Purpose team combines over a century of collective experience to transform the investment landscape for the better. Their mission? To empower investors and companies to achieve their sustainability targets. And they do it by collecting thousands of data points to map corporate performance accurately against global goals, generating information that wasn’t readily available before. They’re ambitious, driven, and backed by £12.7 million – with just under £10 million secured in the latest funding round to accelerate their growth.
SideQuest
Harness the power of technology and travel with SideQuest. Another Capsule client, SideQuest has built an alternative app store for the Meta Quest VR headset – allowing developers to create their own experimental games and other immersive experiences. With the platform, you can turn everything into a fun VR pastime – even your workouts. Founded by a husband-and-wife team, the startup has recently added £10.6 million to its growth bank, which they’ll be using to double (or maybe triple!) their existing workforce.
Acurable
Heard of the AcuPebble®? Meet the brains behind this innovative medical device. Acurable is a fast-growing company creating user-friendly wearable medical devices for patients to use at home. Their groundbreaking technology detects patient biosignals to diagnose respiratory diseases automatically. So far, they’ve raised £11.6 million – with £9.5 million secured in October alone. The funds will facilitate the launch of its home sleep-testing device in European and North American markets.
Daye
Making moves in the menstruation-tech sphere is Daye. As a female-founded startup committed to closing the gender gap in medical research, they develop products and services to fit conveniently into your life – including at-home STI testing, vaginal infection treatments, and comfortable period products. Daye gained £10 million from investors last month, adding to a sizable £15.5 million total from the likes of Hambro Perks, MassMutual Ventures, Cross-Border Impact Ventures, Simplyhealth, Index Ventures and Kindred Capital. Next on their to-do list? Expand into the US.
Hoxton Farms
London-based Hoxton Farms is, in their own words, “cultivating a revolution”. They combine cell biology and mathematical modelling to make a better type of animal fat – creating a cruelty-free, sustainable meat alternative that looks, cooks, and tastes like the real deal. As a client of ours, Hoxton Farms is particularly close to Capsule’s heart. But we’re not the only ones that believe in their mission – their work’s been recognised by Forbes, Wired, and the Financial Times, and they’re backed by £22.3 million in total (£19.6 million raised in October) to go towards a new pilot facility and recruitment drive.
Humaans
Looking for an HR platform that puts your people first? Look no further than Humaans. Just as their name suggests, this trailblazing tech stack is all about prioritising the ‘human’ in human resources. Their sleek, all-encompassing HR information system swaps out spreadsheets and clunky processes for deep integrations and workflow automations to upgrade the employee experience. Recently raising £13.1 million, they took their total funding to an impressive £16.7 million, which they plan to channel into their European expansion. Notable backers include Shopify founder Tobias Lütke and Slack founder Stewart Butterfield – so they’re already keeping very good company.
LØCI
Whether for lifestyle reasons or personal choice, the vegan diet is increasingly popular – with notable vegans including actors Sadie Sink and Woody Harrelson. Though he’s yet to ditch the meat himself, Leonardo DiCaprio is another Hollywood star to wave the sustainability flag. Investing £4 million inLØCI, a luxury vegan shoe designer, DiCaprio brings their total raised so far up to £5 million. LØCI is looking to make eco-friendly fashion more affordable, with other celebrity fans including Ben Affleck and Eva Longoria.
Moneyhub
Moneyhub is changing how big finance, retail, and telecom brands manage their accounts. With your pension, mortgage, loan, investments, savings, properties, and current account all accessible from one single platform, handling lifetime finances has never been simpler. Sharing a vision of a better financial future, Moneyhub is led by experienced developers and financial experts. This money management innovator has £61.9 million in backing, after raising £40 million in October. Investors include Direct Line founder and insurance tycoon Sir Peter Wood.
Tymit
‘Buy now, pay later’ – or BNPL – is everyone’s favourite credit model. Gone are the days of waiting on a refund for a product you didn’t use. Now, you can try before you buy. Founded by two brothers, Tymit is a BNPL provider dedicated to making credit instant, safe, and honest. Led by the Mike Ashley-founded firm Frasers Group, October’s Series A funding round saw them secure £23 million for new product development.
Noala
Waiting lists for speech therapy treatment can be years long – a shocking statistic when you consider just how essential verbal communication is. That’s why Noala is striving to make a change. With more than 30 years of in-depth experience within their team, Noala is a digital speech and language therapy platform that assesses individuals online to determine their needs. Users can then benefit from various interactive activities and weekly check-ins with qualified speech professionals. It’s a critical service. Thankfully, investors agree. The £3.6 million they raised in October means Noala can continue operating throughout the UK and the US, refining their platform as they go.
Sensat
As an advanced technology provider for civil infrastructure, Sensat translates the real world into a digital version. Developers can use this ‘digital twin’ to make informed project decisions. In this way, Sensat remedies possible design problems before they come into effect and ensures a more sustainable approach. To date, over 50 of the world’s largest projects rely on Sensat, including Heathrow Airport, Kier, and Network Rail. They’re determined to transform infrastructure in traditionally underserved industries. The latest £18.3 million investment will certainly help.
You could be next
As you can see, there remains a lot to be excited about in the VC market right now. Looking at some of these incredible concepts, it can only get better.
If you’ve got an idea of your own that you’re ready to throw out of the nest, let Capsule help you make sure it flies. As specialist insurance providers for high-growth companies, we help startups and scale-ups stay secure and compliant while they reach new heights. Let’s chat.