1. Omnea Your AI concierge for every supplier decision. Omnea cures the nightmare of modern procurement. 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. Founders: Ben Freeman and Ben AllenYear founded: 2022Website: omnea.coIt was while working on a leading AI security platform that Ben Freeman kept tripping over the same blocker. Every business wanted the most efficient, up-to-date tech and for this, they needed procurement. But at the same time, nobody liked it.“I interviewed 300 procurement leaders,” says Freeman, “who all said, ‘our process is hated, our tools are clunky, and we want to do a better job, but the stack holds us back’.”Procurement has for years been perceived as an unavoidable admin burden, and legacy processes as just a grin-and-bear it issue. But, as costs rise and regulations like DORA and the EU AI Act demand sharper discipline for any AI-related acquisition or investment, organisations are wondering if there might be another way. Here’s where Omnea steps in.Built by Freeman and his co-founder, Ben Allen, Omnea is our top UK startup for 2026, an AI-first procurement platform that streamlines and automates the process of buying goods and services within an organisation, keeping everyone from finance, to legal and IT, happy.While they aren’t the first to have the idea (“we weren’t first to market, so we had to be best to market”), the founders see Omnea as leading a new software category – AI Supplier Relationship Management (AI-SRM) – to be the system of intelligence for all supplier data, much like CRM was for customer data. We weren’t first to market, so we had to be best to market. In on-the-ground terms, that means any team lead struggling to get their hands on, say, a media monitoring tool could close their neverending email chain and switch to Omnea, which will complete the data request, and route it to the right approver. If a new supplier is needed, Omnea can handle all the onboarding, compliance checks, and even duplicate detection.All contracts and renewals are tracked, while analytics provide spending and risk insights. On top of this, the platform’s smart AI can handle the FAQs for new collaborators.Different users can ask different questions. An employee can ask to buy something, and get nudged to existing tools or preferred suppliers. Risk teams can ask what vendors have outdated pentests. Procurement can ask to see all upcoming renewals. Everyone gets an answer grounded in their company’s data.Omnea works with businesses ranging from scale-ups to global enterprises, including Spotify, Monzo, and The Adecco Group.“We’ve now saved our customers well over 100,000 hours of manual work,” says Freeman. “One client cut its average cycle time from 40 to 15 days, another reduced new access requests by a third, and another captured 70% of supplier risks automatically with our AI.” We’ve now saved our customers well over 100,000 hours of manual work. That determination to meet customer needs has proved challenging at times. The company’s focus was tested early when a leading neobank requested full RFP (Request For Proposal) capabilities to source vendors. Rather than derail the roadmap, Omnea co-built the feature in an eight-week design sprint. “It was too good an opportunity to pass on,” says Freeman.Omnea is used for moving quickly, however. Since 2024, the company has grown its revenue 5x and tripled its headcount, with further hiring planned for both the UK and US this year.The business’ Series B round, led by Insight Partners and Khosla Ventures, raised $50m at the end of 2025. That injection, combined with a $20m Series A led by Accel one year earlier, means that the platform is primed and ready to go full scale-up this year.Omnea signals that the next frontier in enterprise software isn’t just smarter tools, but smarter workflows, powered by AI, and built for human CFOs and procurement professionals. Meaning that no great project ever has to stall again.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.