95. Shopwave

Founders: Ben Brown and Julian Polzella
Founded: November 2013
Website: www.getshopwave.com

Although many companies have offered software as a service point of sale (PoS) systems, Ben Brown and Julian Polzella realised there weren’t any systems combining all the functionality a retailer might need – from sales and stock management to marketing and data analytics.

Spotting a market ripe for disruption and using their experience building multi-channel voucher and deals network VouChaCha, the duo created Shopwave; an omni-channel, cloud based PoS. The system integrates payments, loyalty and data analytics to allow retailers to focus on customer service. Unlike its outdated predecessors, Shopwave runs on iOS on an iPad, allowing for greater mobility and a tidier counter space.

Currently most of the firm’s 100 customers are London-based independents including Timberyard UK, Street Kitchen and Arancini Brothers, but with £490,000 raised to date, talks are already underway to trial the product nationally with an ambitious £8m annual sales target by the end of 2016. The entrepreneurs sold their previous venture, VouChaCha, as part of Markcomedia in a £55m deal to Monitise PLC, and with Shopwave projecting £2m turnover for 2015 – this fintech disrupter is clearly one to watch.