A viral TikTok sensation, Hair Syrup offers affordable, high-quality oils and haircare treatment to tackle different kinds of everyday hair problems.
See our guide to this year’s hottest new businesses and most exceptional founders in the complete 2026 Startups 100 index.
Marketing Award Nominee
To recognise the startups that demonstrate the most creative and effective method for building early-stage brand awareness.
Founder: Lucie Macleod
Year founded: 2020
Website: hairsyrup.co.uk
Tangles, dryness, dandruff, oily scalps – these are all common hair woes we’d love to wash down the drain. And Hair Syrup founder Lucie Macleod knew these problems all too well.
Having struggled with damaged hair in her final year of university, Macleod was on the hunt for a product to help restore its strength and shine.
But after scouring the high street, she found that most treatments were either too expensive for everyday shoppers, or offered formulas that lacked natural ingredients and didn’t actually do what they promised.
Macleod’s unsuccessful search sparked the idea to start her own haircare brand – one that offers natural haircare without the hefty price tag. Following Hair Syrup’s launch on social media, demand for the products grew faster than Macleod could make them.
Friends and family were eager to try her formula, and when her first TikTok video gained over 500,000 views and thousands of comments, she was bombarded with requests to try her products – turning what was once a simple side hustle into a solid business opportunity.
Building on her viral success, Macleod took her brand to the national stage by appearing on Series 22 of the BBC show Dragons’ Den, though she failed to secure investment.
However, despite the Dragons’ rejection – with guest judge Trinny Woodall commenting that she didn’t “invest in trends” – Macleod wasn’t deterred. Thanks to this appearance, the Welsh brand went on to partner with major retailers, including Boots and Superdrug.
Today, Hair Syrup is one of the most successful TikTok brands – where it has 436.3K followers – plus it has increased its turnover from £120K in 2022 to a hair-raising £5m.
At just 26, Macleod’s resilience and natural flair for digital marketing left a strong impression on our judges. We’re thrilled to welcome the business to this year’s list and to bestow Hair Syrup with a nomination for the Startups 100 Marketing Award for 2026.
View the full Startups 100 Index for 2026
1. Omnea
2. HIVED
3. MAGIC AI
4. OXCCU
5. Lightyear
6. Neuranics
7. Hormona
8. Burbank
9. Better Dairy
10. Lenkie Technologies
11. Userled
12. Hoxton Farms
13. Rensair
14. PulpaTronics
15. TradeKart
16. 32Co
17. Carmoola
18. cheqd
19. Currence
20. Adamo Foods
21. Bold Bean Co
22. Beams Renovation
23. Pan Galactic
24. Capi Money
25. Spotted Zebra
26. ANTHROTEK
27. Unravel
28. Perci Health
29. Untap Health
30. Hair Syrup
31. Connect Earth
32. spacebands
33. Unfabled
34. Lightning Reach
35. STOCKED
36. Embeddable
37. XR Therapeutics
38. Literal Labs
39. Scooch
40. Openr
41. Fibe Limited
42. Inicio AI
43. Peachies
44. Better Nature
45. Ctrl Alt
46. Resting Reef
47. Nila
48. ROXFIT
49. Finmile
50. NavLive
51. Volunteero
52. Inntelo AI
53. Zonova
54. A&B Smart Materials
55. Ethicronics
56. Treeapp
57. kennek
58. Soil Benchmark
59. Vox Aeris
60. Asan Cup
61. Nuuri
62. Mindstone
63. MYNDUP
64. Enbiosis Biotechnology
65. JUX Food
66. Danu Robotics
67. Wylde Market
68. Air Aware Labs
69. Mimicrete Ltd
70. ALYVE
71. Happl
72. Living Things
73. Grub Club Pets
74. Mealia
75. PetProov
76. Lylo Products
77. Chest
78. ZIM Connections
79. Uptime Labs
80. Teal
81. Zero Fintech
82. Micro Thermal Energy
83. Kanjo
84. Merlin Cloud
85. My Skin Feels
86. Eleria
87. Cashblack
88. RevvedUp
89. Cosysense
90. SuperFi
91. Loom
92. Legacy Compass
93. Meshed
94. SWURF
95. Main Squeeze
96. Sampl Technologies
97. Over the Moo
98. Pioneering People
99. Bikebook
100. Recondition
