8. Burbank Burbank’s world-first technology lets you pay online by tapping your card on your phone, just like in-store. Written by Helena Young Sponsored by Sage Published on January 12, 2026 About the Startups 100 Now in its 18th year, the Startups 100 is the definitive list of the most promising new UK businesses. There's no fee for entry or for inclusion in our index. The Startups team of new business experts judge all our top 100 entrants in collaboration with specialist industry consultants. See our guide to this year’s hottest new businesses and most exceptional founders in the complete 2026 Startups 100 index. Tech Award Winner In recognition of the inventors that are boldly going where no startup has gone before to create new, groundbreaking technologies. Go to award Founder: Justin PikeYear founded: 2021Website: burbankdev.co.ukJustin Pike had a problem. For years, his mother-in-law would call him to help her pay for items online because she didn’t trust the internet. “She’d ask, ‘Why can’t I just tap my card on my phone like I do in shops?’,” he recalls. It’s a question we’ve likely all asked ourselves.Now, Burbank may have answered all of these concerns with its world-first Card-Present over Internet (CPoI®). The PCI-certified technology lets consumers turn their mobile device into a card machine, so they don’t have to store any of their payment credentials.In layman’s terms (and for Justin Pike’s mother-in-law) whether you’re buying that late-night fashion haul or ordering a hangover-curing takeaway pizza, you can tap your card on your phone, enter the PIN, and pay. Just like you would in-store. And the impact will be massive.Online fraud poses a huge threat to consumer trust. Last year, multiple large retailers including Co-op, M&S, and Harrods spent months recovering from major cyberattacks that resulted in customer data being stolen – though thankfully nothing financial was taken.But the tech is an even bigger game changer for merchants, who are predicted to lose $91bn to online payment fraud in 2028. Burbank could put a substantial dent in this figure.That’s because, with CPoI®, if the card is real and the PIN is correct, payment processors don’t need to worry about issues like false positives (legitimate payments wrongly flagged as fraud) or chargebacks (disputed transactions leading to funds taken back from merchants).Of course, the biggest hurdle for any new payment technology is not building the feature itself, but ensuring it works seamlessly with the millions of legacy devices and banks already connected to Visa, Mastercard, and other networks. An issue the startup was well aware of.“Our transaction had to look exactly like it came from a standard in-store terminal,” the team explains. “If it didn’t, if the banks or schemes saw something unfamiliar, they’d stop it.” Our transaction had to look exactly like it came from a standard in-store terminal. Every problem needs a crack team to solve it. And while the Cardiff-based Burbank is only four years old, its team’s combined experience spans over a decade in mobile payment solutions. They utilised zero-trust architecture, where no user or device is inherently trusted.With everything virtualised in the cloud, and no keys kept on the phone, they ensured that even if a consumer’s device is compromised, the sensitive payment credentials remain safe on the server side. Or as they put it, “we moved all the complexity to the consumer’s device.”In March 2025 (the same month it secured £5m in seed funding) Burbank successfully completed the world’s first ever CPoI® transaction. One month later, it partnered with the creators of jPOS to begin rolling out the technology as a white label solution to global acquirers and payments services providers (PSPs).Combining experience with disruption, Burbank has closed a gap between modern smartphones and legacy payment infrastructure to fundamentally change who bears the risk of online fraud. No surprise, then, that it’s also the winner of our 2026 Startups 100 Technology Award.“CPoI® is live, certified, and ready to scale, not just in theory, but in practice,” says the Burbank team. And sons-in-law around the world can celebrate first.View the full Startups 100 Index for 20261. Omnea2. HIVED3. MAGIC AI4. OXCCU5. Lightyear6. Neuranics 7. Hormona8. Burbank9. Better Dairy 10. Lenkie Technologies11. Userled12. Hoxton Farms13. Rensair14. PulpaTronics15. TradeKart16. 32Co17. Carmoola18. cheqd19. Sightline Analytics20. Adamo Foods21. Bold Bean Co22. Beams Renovation 23. Pan Galactic24. Capi Money25. Spotted Zebra26. ANTHROTEK 27. Unravel28. Perci Health29. Untap Health30. Hair Syrup31. Connect Earth 32. spacebands 33. Unfabled34. Lightning Reach35. STOCKED36. Embeddable37. XR Therapeutics38. Literal Labs39. Scooch40. Openr41. Fibe Limited42. Inicio AI43. Peachies44. Better Nature 45. Ctrl Alt46. Resting Reef47. Nila48. ROXFIT49. Finmile50. NavLive51. Volunteero52. Inntelo AI53. Zonova54. A&B Smart Materials55. Ethicronics56. Treeapp57. kennek58. Soil Benchmark59. Vox Aeris60. Asan Cup61. Nuuri62. Mindstone63. MYNDUP64. Enbiosis Biotechnology65. JUX Food66. Danu Robotics67. Wylde Market68. Air Aware Labs69. Mimicrete Ltd70. ALYVE71. Happl72. Living Things73. Grub Club Pets74. Mealia75. PetProov76. Lylo Products77. Chest78. ZIM Connections79. Uptime Labs80. Teal81. Zero Fintech82. Micro Thermal Energy 83. Kanjo 84. Merlin Cloud85. My Skin Feels86. Eleria87. Cashblack88. RevvedUp89. Cosysense90. SuperFi91. Loom92. Legacy Compass93. Meshed94. SWURF95. Main Squeeze96. Sampl Technologies97. Over the Moo98. Pioneering People99. Bikebook100. Recondition Share this post facebook twitter linkedin Tags 2026 Written by: Helena Young Deputy Editor Helena is Deputy Editor at Startups. She oversees all news and supporting content on Startups, and is also the author of the weekly Startups email newsletter, delivering must-know SME updates straight to their inbox. From interviewing Wetherspoon's boss Tim Martin to spotting data-led working from home trends, her insight has been featured by major trade publications including the ICAEW, and news outlets like the BBC, ITV News, Daily Express, and HuffPost UK. With a background in PR and marketing, Helena is particularly passionate about giving early-stage startups a platform to boost their brands. That's one reason she manages the Startups 100 Index, our annual ranking of new UK businesses. Sponsored by: Sage Startups 100 Index Sponsor 2026 Sage exists to knock down barriers so everyone can thrive, starting with the millions of Small and Mid-Sized Businesses served by us, our partners and accountants. Customers trust our finance, HR and payroll software to make work and money flow. By digitising business processes and relationships with customers, suppliers, employees, banks and governments, our digital network connects SMBs, removing friction and delivering insights. Knocking down barriers also means we use our time, technology and experience to tackle digital inequality, economic inequality and the climate crisis.