{"id":51530,"date":"2026-01-12T01:24:31","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T01:24:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/startups.co.uk\/startups-100\/?p=51530"},"modified":"2026-01-12T01:24:31","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T01:24:31","slug":"merlin-cloud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/startups.co.uk\/startups-100\/2026\/merlin-cloud\/","title":{"rendered":"84. Merlin Cloud"},"content":{"rendered":"

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See our guide to this year’s hottest new businesses and most exceptional founders in the complete 2026 Startups 100 index<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n[vc_column_text]Founders<\/b>: Luke Brown and Joseph Methven
\nYear founded<\/b>: 2023
\nWebsite<\/b>: merlincloud.ai<\/a>\n

If you run both a physical shop and an online store<\/a>, you’ll know that analytics data into your online business’s performance is much easier to find and analyse than for your brick-and-mortar shop.<\/p>\n

This is why Luke Brown and Joseph Methven founded Merlin Cloud. The lightbulb moment came while working with major retail brands, and seeing first-hand how much valuable customer data was being lost in-store. Businesses were investing heavily in online analytics, but had little to no visibility over what was happening on the physical shop floor.<\/p>\n

The co-founders knew that if they could bring the same level of insight and optimisation to physical retail<\/a> as exists online, they could transform how stores operate and help them make data-driven decisions on the spot.[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]What retailers lacked was a unified way to track, understand, and optimise customer behaviour in physical spaces. Queues, bottlenecks, missed upsell opportunities, and inefficient store layouts were costing them millions every year. At the same time, traditional tools were either too expensive, too complex, or too siloed.<\/p>\n

Merlin Cloud strives to solve this with a platform that collates data from cameras, kiosks, and QR codes into one AI-powered dashboard, giving retailers live insights into customer flow, engagement, and sales opportunities.<\/p>\n

The startup’s biggest challenge was proving that an AI-driven retail analytics platform could deliver tangible ROI for enterprise clients without calling for a huge upfront investment in hardware.<\/p>\n

To overcome this, Merlin Cloud focused on building modular, affordable licensing tiers, and partnered directly with brands like Samsung and Philips to co-develop and validate the system in live environments.[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]By delivering quick wins to clients, including reduced queue times and better optimised store layouts, Brown and Methven built credibility and momentum. Merlin Cloud now targets medium to large retailers, consumer electronics brands, and experiential agencies that manage physical retail environments. It currently serves several global brands, including Samsung and IQOS.<\/p>\n

Looking ahead, Brown and Methven see Merlin Cloud as the leading global platform for physical retail analytics and engagement. Their goal is to have over 10,000 active locations on the platform, and expand into hospitality and healthcare.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

View the full Startups 100 Index for 2026<\/h2>\n

1. Omnea<\/a>
\n2. HIVED<\/a>
\n3. MAGIC AI<\/a>
\n4. OXCCU<\/a>
\n5. Lightyear<\/a>
\n6. Neuranics <\/a>
\n7. Hormona<\/a>
\n8. Burbank<\/a>
\n9. Better Dairy <\/a>
\n10. Lenkie Technologies<\/a>
\n11. Userled<\/a>
\n12. Hoxton Farms<\/a>
\n13. Rensair<\/a>
\n14. PulpaTronics<\/a>
\n15. TradeKart<\/a>
\n16. 32Co<\/a>
\n17. Carmoola<\/a>
\n18. cheqd<\/a>
\n19. Sightline Climate<\/a>
\n20. Adamo Foods<\/a>
\n21. Bold Bean Co<\/a>
\n22. Beams Renovation <\/a>
\n23. Pan Galactic<\/a>
\n24. Capi Money<\/a>
\n25. Spotted Zebra<\/a>
\n26. ANTHROTEK <\/a>
\n27. Unravel<\/a>
\n28. Perci Health<\/a>
\n29. Untap Health<\/a>
\n30. Hair Syrup<\/a>
\n31. Connect Earth <\/a>
\n32. spacebands <\/a>
\n33. Unfabled<\/a>
\n34. Lightning Reach<\/a>
\n35. STOCKED<\/a>
\n36. Embeddable<\/a>
\n37. XR Therapeutics<\/a>
\n38. Literal Labs<\/a>
\n39. Scooch<\/a>
\n40. Openr<\/a>
\n41. Fibe Limited<\/a>
\n42. Inicio AI<\/a>
\n43. Peachies<\/a>
\n44. Better Nature <\/a>
\n45. Ctrl Alt<\/a>
\n46. Resting Reef<\/a>
\n47. Nila<\/a>
\n48. ROXFIT<\/a>
\n49. Finmile<\/a>
\n50. NavLive<\/a>
\n51. Volunteero<\/a>
\n52. Inntelo AI<\/a>
\n53. Zonova<\/a>
\n54. A&B Smart Materials<\/a>
\n55. Ethicronics<\/a>
\n56. Treeapp<\/a>
\n57. kennek<\/a>
\n58. Soil Benchmark<\/a>
\n59. Vox Aeris<\/a>
\n60. Asan Cup<\/a>
\n61. Nuuri<\/a>
\n62. Mindstone<\/a>
\n63. MYNDUP<\/a>
\n64. Enbiosis Biotechnology<\/a>
\n65. JUX Food<\/a>
\n66. Danu Robotics<\/a>
\n67. Wylde Market<\/a>
\n68. Air Aware Labs<\/a>
\n69. Mimicrete Ltd<\/a>
\n70. ALYVE<\/a>
\n71. Happl<\/a>
\n72. Living Things<\/a>
\n73. Grub Club Pets<\/a>
\n74. Mealia<\/a>
\n75. PetProov<\/a>
\n76. Lylo Products<\/a>
\n77. Chest<\/a>
\n78. ZIM Connections<\/a>
\n79. Uptime Labs<\/a>
\n80. Teal<\/a>
\n81. Zero Fintech<\/a>
\n82. Micro Thermal Energy <\/a>
\n83. Kanjo <\/a>
\n84. Merlin Cloud<\/a>
\n85. My Skin Feels<\/a>
\n86. Eleria<\/a>
\n87. Cashblack<\/a>
\n88. RevvedUp<\/a>
\n89. Cosysense<\/a>
\n90. SuperFi<\/a>
\n91. Loom<\/a>
\n92. Legacy Compass<\/a>
\n93. Meshed<\/a>
\n94. SWURF<\/a>
\n95. Main Squeeze<\/a>
\n96. Sampl Technologies<\/a>
\n97. Over the Moo<\/a>
\n98. Pioneering People<\/a>
\n99. Bikebook<\/a>
\n100. Recondition<\/a>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Founders: Luke Brown and Joseph Methven Year founded: 2023 Website: merlincloud.ai If you run both a physical shop and an online store, you’ll know that analytics data into your online business’s performance is much easier to find and analyse than for your brick-and-mortar shop. This is why Luke Brown and Joseph Methven founded Merlin Cloud. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91483,"featured_media":51617,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[195],"tags":[196],"class_list":["post-51530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-195","tag-196"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n84. 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