Startups 100 2019: 71 to 75

Startups 100 Ranking: 71
Company name: Laundryheap
Founded: 2014
Website: https://www.laundryheap.co.uk/

On-demand laundry service offering same-day collection and delivery

The idea of an ‘Uber for Laundry’ has been around for a while, as ambitious cleaning companies seek to create a niche in today’s cash-rich, time-poor world. But Startups 100 2017-featured LaundryHeap says it’s gained a jump on the rest by offering collection and delivery within 24 hours as standard.

How can anyone guarantee such a quick turnaround, you might ask? Well the company has managed its own fleet of vehicles since inception, and partnered with service providers who are happy to work overnight. The consistently high ratings LaundryHeap has received on sites such as TrustPilot are testament to the quality of its service, and the fact that it can hit its demanding deadlines consistently.

Founded in London, the company is now active in nine cities across four countries and says it’s cleaned over 4.5 million pieces of clothing to date. These numbers are particularly impressive given the company sought little external funding during its first three years, instead preferring to bootstrap and grow through careful, judicious planning.

In 2017, however, it garnered nearly £3m in a ‘super angel’ round, which has driven a rapid period of expansion. Indeed the founders believe their model can be easily replicated across other markets, with minimal additional strain.

On demand companies are on the rise. Visit the On Demand Startups 100 Trends page to find other exciting business.

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Startups 100 Ranking: 72
Company name: Maddox Events
Founded: 2015
Website: www.maddoxevents.com

B2B events businesses focused on ending the scourge of gender inequality

The issue of gender diversity has never commanded a higher profile. As the world battles to end the scourges of unequal pay, everyday sexism and a chronic under-representation of women in senior roles, movements such as #MeToo are moving mountains with their tireless campaigning.

Maddox Events (a Startups 100 2018 business) has created an B2B events business to cater for this vital agenda. Founded by Michaela Jeffery-Morrison and brothers Patrick and Frederick Lewis, the company organises large-scale conferences focusing specifically on gender equality, with the goal of empowering women in a variety of traditionally male-dominated sectors. These events are augmented by digital content that homes in on the issues of diversity and inclusion.

The company’s portfolio includes the acclaimed ‘Women in Tech’ series, as well as similar events for finance, law, construction and sport. These events have attracted a host of big-name participants including Google, eBay and Net-a-Porter, and Maddox has expanded rapidly since its initial event in January 2016, just five months after inception.

The company has now established an international presence, branching out beyond the UK to plant its flag in key international business centres such as San Francisco, Cape Town, Hyderabad and Hong Kong. Maddox was named the fastest-growing events company in the UK and made the Startups 100 list in 2018.

Inspired by Maddox? Find out How to start an events business.

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Startups 100 Ranking: 73
Company name: mmadigital
Founded: 2015
Website: https://www.mmadigital.co.uk/

Customer acquisition specialist bringing new levels of service to claims industry

It’s fair to see the injury claims industry has a chequered reputation. Reports of soaring numbers of fraudulent claims, driving up everyday insurance premiums, have undermined the credibility of an industry which was created to help workers toiling in barbaric conditions during the Victorian era.

It’s high time the industry tightened itself up, and mmadigital is attempting to do just that. The company started out as a digital marketing agency for the legal sector but in 2016 decided to focus purely on customer acquisition, specialising in personal injury and clinical negligence claims. Rigorous vetting is baked into its DNA.

An in-house legal team validates each claim and passes it on to panel law firms only when appropriate. To back this up, mma has developed its own proprietary technology to collate a comprehensive bank of data from each potential claimant. The company has also joined forces with medico-legal consultancy Collaboras to generate highly qualified leads in that particular niche.

Having launched the new business model with zero funding apart from the £26,000 founder Dez Derry received from selling his car, mma is now achieving 100% annual revenue growth and has taken market share from National Accident Helpline and other established rivals.

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Startups 100 Ranking: 74
Company name: Ideal Flatmate
Founded: 2016
Website: idealflatmate.co.uk

Smart flatshare site using algorithms to help roomies find one another

For many twenty-somethings, life revolves around two distinct challenges: finding the right partner and finding the right flatmates. Dating sites have used algorithmic technologies to solve the first challenge, but no-one has thought about extending it to the second.

Until now, that is. Ideal Flatmate (85 in last year’s Startups 100) has taken the technology developed by sites such as Tinder and Match.com and extended it, helping clients find the person to live with. Unlike traditional rental agencies, which show searchers a flat and tell them nothing about the people living there, Ideal Flatmate recognises that, for most flatsharers, the living experience hinges on the relations they forge inside the property.

Users can opt to search for a property or a flatmate, ensuring both parties in the exchange are covered. In addition to individual searches, Ideal Flatmate has created a ‘groups’ feature which matches groups of freelancers with empty two and three-bed properties. And there are loads of extra features too, like an ‘ask the landlord’ option which enables flat-sharers to put their tenancy questions to an expert.

Founders Tom Gatzen and Robert Imonikhe have clearly identified a pressing market need, judging by the explosive growth of their site. Every month Ideal Flatmate receives 300,000 users and 10,000 property uploads, and the company is now branching out beyond London and into cities across the UK.

Ideal Flatmate opened your eyes to new possibilities? Find out How to become a property developer.

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Startups 100 Ranking: 75
Company name: Concured
Founded: 2015
Website: www.concured.com

Analytics platform which helps clients up their content marketing game

By 2021, so we’re told, content marketing is forecast to be a $400bn industry. Companies all over the world are abandoning traditional advertising in favour of blogs, videos and social media posts, realizing that this new-world approach offers major cost benefits and appears far more altruistic to customers.

There’s just one problem, however: We still don’t really know what to write about. Sure we can take an educated guess at what sort of content will work, based on our rough understanding of our customer base, but it’s very much an inexact science.

Enter Concured. The company has built a digital-first platform using artificial intelligence, machine learning and natural language processing, helping clients understand the context behind their content and plan their strategy based on contextual relevance.

Concured’s platform analyses a client’s content in just a few seconds, scoring individual posts and videos according to search analytics and social engagement. This analysis is combined with an equally forensic investigation of the client’s competitors and used to deliver highly targeted recommendations.

This pioneering technology has brought a string of accolades from the content marketing sector, and Concured has even been named a ‘Cool Vendor’ by Gartner, a highly prized award from one of the giants of the industry.