10. Element

Founder: Matthew Hodgson, Amandine Le Pape
Founded: 2017
Website: element.io

Communications app Element is striving to change the way we securely message, using the state-of-the-art Matrix open standard network to give users ownership and control of their data, end-to-end encryption and an open network – making connections between people easy and negating the risk of data breaches.

Think of Element like Whatsapp, but without the fear its parent company can change its privacy policy and access your data at any time. It’s for consumers, communities and businesses, whilst a host of governments including the UK, US and Germany also use the app to communicate, which is testament to the app's reputation for reliability and security.

But what really makes it a disruptive startup and different from Whatsapp, Slack, Signal and Microsoft Teams is its affiliation as the flagship Matrix app. Matrix, in a nutshell, is a decentralised network. This enables Element’s users to have complete ownership and control of their data, as they get to choose how and where their service is hosted – on-premise, self-hosted or fully-managed and hosted by Element.

In these times of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), ensuring customer, company and client data is secure is a priority for all companies, and failure to comply can result in massive fines. Element therefore earns its place in our top ten because it provides the perfect solution for businesses struggling to keep data secure, and it does so seamlessly, whilst helping to create a new communications category worth $192bn.