25. Creoate

Founders: Ashley Horn and Fahad Khan
Founded: 2020
Website: Creoate.com

Here at Startups.co.uk, we love any company that helps other small businesses to flourish, which is why we’re thrilled to feature Creoate as our top 25 startup.

Creoate was founded by Ashley Horn and Fahad Khan from a love for small businesses, and their own experiences in running a multi-brand store in London. Horn and Khan noticed that with hundreds of new products emerging every day through booming ecommerce platforms such as Instagram, it was becoming increasingly difficult, risky and time-consuming for independent online stores to locate the best brands for their website to sell.

Creoate was founded by Ashley Horn and Fahad Khan from a love for small businesses

Using a thorough review system that checks brands for everything from diversity to creativity, Creoate has built a marketplace full of inventive and affordable products that retail SMEs can trust – marking their territory among the ecommerce giants.

Both founders have a background in building financial products for SMEs, and the platform also provides a suite of tools for independent businesses, reducing middlemen costs by up to 40%.

Creoate’s unique and innovative model empowers SMEs to succeed.

Amongst their biggest successes, Creoate now serves over 50,000 retailers in 10 countries, providing more than two-third of retailers’ monthly stock. This year, the company raised £3m in funding in a seed round, which it won’t find any trouble spending. Between March and August 2021, Creoate reported a whopping 25,000 retailers had signed up to the site – that’s a 1,600% increase year on year, and signals an exciting start to the future ahead.

Creoate’s unique and innovative model empowers SMEs to succeed. If the platform’s own success is anything to go by, it shouldn’t have any issues there.