LinkedIn Top Startups 2023: The 20 UK companies on the rise
The past year has been challenging for companies across sectors, marked by continued inflation and a turbulent job market. And with significant drops in venture capital funding, startups have not been immune, with late-stage funding down 75% for UK startups in the first half of 2023, compared to the first half of 2022.
However, times of uncertainty can push companies to adapt and innovate – and lead to new opportunities for emerging industries. Artificial intelligence startups, for example, are raising 66% more capital on average than they were in 2021, while LinkedIn data shows green entrepreneurship is growing at a faster rate than overall entrepreneurship.
Our seventh annual LinkedIn Top Startups list is a testament to that spirit of innovation, featuring 20 young UK companies that are growing quickly and gaining attention. These are the startups that have trailblazed their way through recent economic and workplace challenges – and managed to stand out to investors and top talent along the way.
To compile the list, we looked at LinkedIn data across four pillars: employee growth; jobseeker interest; member engagement with the company and its employees; and how well these startups pulled talent from our flagship LinkedIn Top Companies list. This year, we also adjusted our eligibility requirements, lowering the age criteria to five years or younger in order to feature more companies in their earlier, venture stages of growth. (You can learn more about our methodology at the bottom of this article.)
This list is ultimately meant to be a resource for you. At each company, you’ll find actionable insights on the roles, skills and functions in demand. See a startup that sparks your interest? Connect with employees you may know at each company, or turn on job alerts to stay on top of future opportunities.
Here are this year’s 20 Top Startups in the UK – join the conversation using #LinkedInTopStartups.
Full-time headcount: 180 | Headquarters: London | Year founded: 2018 | Most common skills: Business Management, Digital Literacy, Digital Marketing | Most common job titles: Business Development Representative, Business Operations Manager, Customer Experience Manager | Largest job functions: Operations, Healthcare Services, Sales | What they do: Peppy is a health app for businesses that want to support their employees, providing access to health professionals through chat, live events and virtual consultations, as well as vetted multimedia resources and programmes.
Full-time headcount: 115 | Headquarters: London | Year founded: 2018 | Most common skills: Data Science, Communication, Business Management | Most common job titles: Business Development Representative, Customer Experience Manager, Software Engineer | Largest job functions: Sales, Engineering, Business Development | What they do: V7 creates software to help machine learning experts train their artificial intelligence systems to do certain tasks.
Full-time headcount: 70* | Headquarters: London | Year founded: 2019 | Most common skills: Digital Literacy, Business Management, Development Tools | Most common job titles: Full Stack Engineer, Customer Experience Manager, Business Operations Analyst | Largest job functions: Operations, Engineering, Sales | What they do: Otta is a platform designed to help people find jobs in the technology industry.
Full-time headcount: 65 | Headquarters: Bristol | Year founded: 2019 | Most common skills: Business Management, Project Management, Web Development | Most common job titles: Software Engineer, Account Executive, Full Stack Engineer | Largest job functions: Business Development, Engineering, Marketing | What they do: Ecologi is an environmental firm that provides climate action services such as tree planting to companies and individuals.
Full-time headcount: 160 | Headquarters: London | Year founded: 2020 | Most common skills: Data Science, Development Tools, Web Development | Most common job titles: Machine Learning Engineer, Data Engineer, Product Manager | Largest job functions: Engineering, Sales, Information Technology | What they do: Sylvera's platform provides carbon data that's designed to help businesses and governments invest in real climate impact.
Full-time headcount: 80 | Headquarters: London | Year founded: 2019 | Most common skills: Digital Literacy, Teamwork, Time Management | Most common job titles: Account Manager, Customer Experience Executive, Business Operations Associate | Largest job functions: Sales, Business Development, Operations | What they do: GetHarley is an aesthetic dermatology company that connects consumers to clinicians who recommend products and treatments for everything from acne to ageing.
Full-time headcount: 130 | Headquarters: London | Year founded: 2019 | Most common skills: Communication, Digital Literacy, Business Management | Most common job titles: Product Manager, Customer Success Manager, Business Development Representative | Largest job functions: Business Development, Sales, Customer Success and Support | What they do: Ben provides businesses with a flexible employee benefits platform that allows staff to pick and choose the benefits they're most interested in.
Full-time headcount: 60 | Headquarters: London | Year founded: 2019 | Most common skills: Digital Literacy, Teamwork, Business Management | Most common job titles: Information Technology Project Manager, Operations Manager | Largest job functions: Operations, Product Management, Business Development | What they do: Set up by two meat lovers who were disheartened by the vegetarian options available to consumers, THIS™ makes plant-based food products.
Full-time headcount: 70 | Headquarters: London | Year founded: 2019 | Most common skills: Digital Literacy, Social Media, Teamwork | Most common job titles: Marketing Executive, Social Media Manager | Largest job functions: Marketing, Media and Communication, Sales | What they do: Wild sells natural, refillable deodorants, shampoos and soaps through an online subscription service.
Full-time headcount: 95 | Headquarters: London | Year founded: 2019 | Most common skills: Telecommunications, Project Management, Computer Networking | Most common job titles: Engineer, Customer Service Executive, Sales Manager | Largest job functions: Information Technology, Engineering, Customer Success and Support | What they do: Connect Fibre provides broadband services to homes and businesses across the UK.
Full-time headcount: 140 | Headquarters: London | Year founded: 2020 | Most common skills: Data Science, Digital Literacy, Business Management | Most common job titles: Software Engineer, Product Manager, Banking Analyst | Largest job functions: Research, Information Technology, Business Development | What they do: BeZero Carbon is a global carbon ratings agency, providing ratings for carbon credit projects. Their ratings are designed to help improve transparency in the voluntary carbon market.
Full-time headcount: 60 | Headquarters: London | Year founded: 2019 | Most common skills: Business Management, Capital Markets, Project Management | Most common job titles: Quality Assurance Engineer, Software Engineer | Largest job functions: Entrepreneurship, Engineering, Operations | What they do: Built by professionals with experience from Credit Suisse, J.P.Morgan and UBS, Titanbay is a platform that allows investors to access funds across the world and build diverse portfolios.
Recommended by LinkedIn
Full-time headcount: 105 | Headquarters: London | Year founded: 2019 | Most common skills: Digital Literacy, Data Science, Development Tools | Most common job titles: Legal Specialist, Business Development Representative, Frontend Developer | Largest job functions: Legal, Engineering, Sales | What they do: Legal tech firm Robin AI sells software to law firms that helps them to create, review and search contracts more efficiently.
Full-time headcount: 228 | Headquarters: London | Year founded: 2018 | Most common skills: Business Management, Data Science, Development Tools | Most common job titles: Software Engineer, Product Manager, Data Analyst | Largest job functions: Engineering, Information Technology, Finance | What they do: Fintech firm Zilch has developed a buy-now-pay-later product that's accepted in around 40 million locations worldwide.
Full-time headcount: 90* | Headquarters: London | Year founded: 2018 | Most common skills: Psychology, Data Science, Business Management | Most common job titles: Clinical Psychologist, Mental Health Consultant, Psychologist | Largest job functions: Healthcare Services, Engineering, Business Development | What they do: HelloSelf is an online therapy and coaching platform that matches users with mental health professionals and support programmes.
Full-time headcount: 120 | Headquarters: London | Year founded: 2020 | Most common skills: Business Management, Digital Literacy, Data Science | Most common job titles: Account Executive, Software Engineer, Business Operations Manager | Largest job functions: Operations, Sales, Engineering | What they do: Hofy is a service that businesses can use to provide their employees around the world with the equipment they need to do their jobs.
Full-time headcount: 2000 | Headquarters: London | Year founded: 2019 | Most common skills: Business Management, Communication, Data Science | Most common job titles: Software Engineer, Business Development Manager, Business Development Representative | Largest job functions: Business Development, Sales, Engineering | What they do: Fintech startup Teya helps small businesses to take payments and reward their most loyal customers.
Full-time headcount: 70 | Headquarters: London | Year founded: 2018 | Most common skills: Web Development, Development Tools, Human Computer Interaction | Most common job titles: Software Engineer, Web Developer, Engineering Manager | Largest job functions: Engineering, Arts and Design, Marketing | What they do: Veed.io is an AI-powered online video editing platform that aims to make creating videos easy and accessible to everyone.
Full-time headcount: 130 | Headquarters: London | Year founded: 2018 | Most common skills: Development Tools, Web Development, Data Storage Technologies | Most common job titles: Software Engineer, Customer Experience Manager, Product Manager | Largest job functions: Engineering, Customer Success and Support, Sales | What they do: Used by the likes of Prezzo and Halfords, Wagestream's app is designed to enable frontline workers to manage their pay and overall financial wellbeing.
Full-time headcount: 120 | Headquarters: London | Year founded: 2021 | Most common skills: Digital Literacy, Business Management, Data Science | Most common job titles: Product Manager, Customer Service Representative, Product Design Consultant | Largest job functions: Customer Success and Support, Healthcare Services, Engineering | What they do: Numan is a men's health company that sells erectile dysfunction and hair loss products, among others.
You can also check out the Top Startups in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands (Dutch & English), Singapore, Saudi Arabia (English & Arabic), Spain, Sweden (Swedish & English), Türkiye, the UAE (English & Arabic), and the US.
Methodology
LinkedIn measures startups based on four pillars: employment growth, engagement, job interest and attraction of top talent. Employment growth is measured as percentage headcount increase over methodology time frame, which must be a minimum of 10%. Engagement looks at non-employee views and follows of the company’s LinkedIn page, as well as how many non-employees are viewing employees at that startup. Job interest counts rate at which people are viewing and applying to jobs at the company, including both paid and unpaid postings. Attraction of top talent measures how many employees the startup has recruited away from any global LinkedIn Top Company, as a percentage of the startup’s total workforce. Data is normalised across all eligible startups. The methodology time frame is July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2023.
To be eligible, companies must be fully independent, privately held, have 50 or more full-time employees, be 5 years old or younger and be headquartered in the country on whose list they appear. We exclude all staffing firms, think tanks, venture capital firms, law firms, management and IT consulting firms, nonprofits and philanthropy, accelerators and government-owned entities. Startups who have laid off 10% or more of their workforce based on corporate announcements or reliable public sources between July 1, 2022 and the list launch are not eligible. These decisions are made by the LinkedIn News team based on company statements and/or reputable news outlets.
About company insights
*Company insights were sourced from LinkedIn Talent Insights. Data reflects aggregated public member data from active LinkedIn profiles in the relevant country and includes full-time employee profiles associated with the company on LinkedIn. We exclude members who identify as part-time or contractors. Headcounts are provided by the companies directly, unless otherwise noted with an asterisk. Those headcounts are based on LinkedIn data. All insights reflect a 12-month time period looking back from July 2023. Skills data was derived from measuring the most frequent skills among a company’s employees. Most common job titles represent the occupations that are most common within each company. Largest job function measures the function area most prevalent within each company.
Reported and proofread by: Sam Shead
Methodology and insights by: LinkedIn Economic Graph team
Special Projects Leads: Marina Valero , Michele Pierri , Juliette (Faraut) Bell
Community Segments Lead: Yessi Bello-Perez
Managing Editor: Siobhan Morrin
Regional Lead: Julien Wettstein
International Executive Editor: Sandrine Chauvin
Some amazing organisations on this list - really impressive!
Congratulations to all of the startups ! keep up the great work 👏 LinkedIn News UK
Good to see three of these top 20 are in the #cimatetech space. Two of them are in the top 5! Well done to Ecologi | Certified B Corp, Sylvera and BeZero Carbon!
Epic list!
Nice list. Hope to be in 2024 List!