UKTN | The Podcast

Timo Boldt, founder and CEO of Gousto discusses growing his business from a Dragon's Den pitch to a market leader, how sustainability has always been at the heart of Gousto and the importance of new founders finding good mentors.  Gousto is a startup that sends pre-packaged meal kits with ingredients in the exact proportions required for the recipe. The company uses algorithms to tailor recipes to consumers' tastes, health requirements and to reduce food waste. Boldt pitched the startup on Dragon's Den in 2013 while suffering from food poisoning, and after rejecting two offers on the show, he grew the company to a valuation of almost $2bn. 

James Codling, managing partner at Volution discusses how despite a slowdown in funding and concerns over profits, the UK is still seen globally as a massive hub for fintech, how the hype around British fintech successes is not always spread evenly and why building a bank is the most difficult category of fintech one can pursue.  Volution is a London-based venture capital investor that focuses largely on fintech and software-as-a-service companies that have progressed past the seed and Series A stages. Codling explains that in the UK, there have been incredible efforts to support startups to get to the Series A level, but there has been a myth that once they get there, they can manage alone. Codling calls for a holistic approach from the public and private sectors when looking to support businesses. 

Dr Nick New, CEO of Optalysys, discusses why the UK must already start preparing for the benefits and the risks of quantum computing technology. New describes how while quantum computers can provide tremendous support for dozens of industries, it can also represent a new frontier of danger in the world of cybercrime.  Optalysis is a photonics-based encryption company that can protect data beyond the capabilities of electronic-based computing. New describes how the UK is well-positioned to become a global leader in photonics technology and how raising funding as a deep tech startup presents its own unique challenges.

Russ Shaw, Founder of London Tech Advocates and Global Tech Advocates, discusses London and the UK’s place in the tech world and how it differs from Silicon Valley, the urgent need to support digital skills growth to protect the tech ecosystem and why the new government needs to be clear on its tech policy strategy.  Shaw founded London Tech Advocates – a non-profit launched to champion and empower the burgeoning London tech industry in the early 2010s – and has since gone on to build a network of Global Tech Advocates, supporting tech hubs across the UK and internationally. Shaw also discusses his role in the UK’s semiconductor strategy and why Labour needs to clarify its position on it.

Robin Tombs, co-founder and CEO of Yoti, discusses why the road to fully implementing digital ID into society is a long and challenging one, how social media companies can avoid onboarding underage users and the great challenge to identity posed by the rise of deepfake technology.  Tombs co-founded Yoti – which develops age verification and digital ID technology – in 2014 after working in the online gambling space. Tombs saw the difficulty in verifying ages and identities and sought to develop capable of doing so. Yoti works with partners including Meta and Sony to detect user ages and supplies users with a digital card that it hopes will hold the same weight as physical IDs. 

Karen Meechan, CEO of ScotlandIS, discusses how Scotland’s tech industry, made mostly of small and medium-sized enterprises, is indeed thriving but is struggling to grow as the supply of digital talent is not meeting demands. Meechan has worked with ScotlandIS – an industry body supporting the nation’s tech sector – for 20 years. Meechan explains how bodies like ScotlandIS are working towards plugging the digital skills gap but need more support from the government at a local and UK-wide level. ScotlandIS was formed in 1999 through a merger of various industry groups including the Scottish Software Federation. The organisation manages various sector clusters in the country, with its member enterprises employing over 60,000 people. 

Maria Rotilu, founder and general Partner at OpenseedVC, discusses the thesis behind backing operator-led startups, and how Africa's large, youthful population - combined with decreasing barriers to innovation - is positioning the continent as a valuable investment opportunity.    Rotilu is an operator-turned-investor and founder, specialising in backing operators-turned-founders who are building tech startups as early as day zero. Before transitioning to investing, she spent the better part of the first decade of her career scaling multinational technology companies like Uber and Branch.co, holding leadership roles such as country manager and general manager.  Prior to OpenseedVC, Rotilu was a fund manager at Octopus Ventures' First Cheque Fund. Before that, she served as the managing director of the Oxford Seed Fund. OpenseedVC is typically the first investor, providing up to $150k and supporting tech startups in B2B software, AI, fintech, the future of work, or the future of health by leveraging an operator network to support them from start to launch. 

Victor Riparbelli, co-founder and CEO of Synthesia, discusses the various appeals of AI-generated video content, the importance of startups implementing strict AI safety controls, and how the UK doesn't have to follow what he sees as the EU's mistakes in AI regulation.  Riparbelli founded Synthesia along with Lourdes Agapito, Matthias Neissner and Steffen Tjerrild in 2017. The London-based company uses AI to generate videos hosted by artificial avatars based on user scripts. Its technology is primarily used by more than 55,000 businesses - including half of the Fortune 100 - for corporate education and communications. Riparbelli explains how at the time his company was founded, an AI boom much like the one occurring today was in full force, albeit with lesser technology. The Synthesia CEO credits the success of his company where so many contemporaries petered out to an early focus on turning complex research into marketable products. Synthesia has secured more than $155m since its launch and last year reached a unicorn valuation.

Dr Claire Thorne, co-CEO of Tech She Can, discusses her expectations from the next government to revamp the education curriculum for technology roles. She also addresses the various factors that impact why girls don't get into STEM, why a third of women are leaving the sector and the importance of investors being more conscious of who they're investing in. Thorne founded Tech She Can to help address the "nationwide" problem of too few women in technology roles. The aim of the charity is to see women play an equal role in creating and developing tech businesses, products, and services that will ultimately shape the world and make sure that tech works for everyone. Thorne, who has a PhD in physics, is also a venture partner at Deep Science Ventures, a VC firm funding startups focused on pharmaceuticals, climate, agriculture and computation sectors.

Eleanor Lightbody, CEO of Luminance, discusses the risks of businesses using ChatGPT, the importance of using the right AI model for the task at hand, and the need for flexible AI regulation that caters to different sectors. Founded by AI experts from the University of Cambridge in 2015, Luminance is an AI platform for lawyers. Built on a proprietary legal large language model, its AI reads and forms a conceptual understanding of legal documents in any language. From this, it enhances and expedites different tasks such as taking a first-pass review of any incoming contract to automatically flagging contractual anomalies. Lightbody joined the firm in 2021 after a six-year period at cyber-AI company, Darktrace. Luminance secured $40m in Series B funding in April 2024, with its backers including Californian investor March Capital, National Grid Partners and Slaughter and May. Luminance says its technology is used by 600 organisations across 70 countries.