1. Caura

Founder: Dr Sai Lakshmi
Founded: 2019
Website: caura.com

Today’s drivers have to navigate more red tape than ever before. Tolls, taxes, and MOT are just some of the boring and fiddly admin payments which, if missed, can lead to a nastily expensive penalty notice being slapped onto your dashboard.

Caura, our number-one startup for 2023, is here to put a brake on the madness. It’s a simple, but surprisingly disruptive idea – the UK’s first mobile platform for consumers to manage all their vehicle admin in just one place.

Sitting at the wheel is Dr. Sai Lakshmi, who founded the company after racking up some PCN’s himself and spending 10 – 15 minutes whilst trying to pay for things like the London Congestion Charge and parking. By combining the 25 admin websites and apps (and counting) that are currently available for motorists, Lakshmi has invented a first-of-its-kind app that brings real value to the modern consumer.

With low emission zones becoming the norm for major cities, Caura is poised to lead the way for greener driving

Available via the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, Caura enables motorists to manage all of their car administration, get reminders for important renewals like your insurance, tax and MOT and manage them all directly in-app in a couple of taps. Plus, the app even stores a digital driving licence!

Even more helpfully, drivers can use the app to settle airport drop-off charges, nationwide parking fees, emission charges like the London ULEZ or Bristol CAZ, and tolls such as the Dartford Crossing, saving consumers hundreds of pounds by avoiding fines.

With low emission zones becoming the norm for major cities, Caura is poised to lead the way for greener driving. Currently, it’s the only platform in the UK that enables motorists to pay for low-emission charges across eight major towns and cities including London, Birmingham and Bristol, which just became the latest UK city to announce a Clean Air Zone.

Further down the road, Lakshmi sees every UK driver (including EV owners) using Caura to manage their personal transport.

Our judges were impressed by Caura’s incredibly easy sign up process that requires only a valid number plate to get started. What’s more, Caura doesn’t charge any sign-up fee.

Over the past three years, London-based Caura has truly put the pedal to the metal, growing 800% and securing £3m in funding. Backed by Jaguar Land Rover and having recently signed an FTSE 100 company, Caura shows no signs of slowing down.

Further down the road, Lakshmi sees every UK driver (including EV owners) using Caura to manage their personal transport. It also plans to expand into the US and Europe.

Drivers everywhere have been crying out for a platform like Caura to revolutionise vehicle admin. Their solution has at last arrived, parking itself in pole position on the Startups 100 Index 2023.