We have liftoff: the Startups 100 Index 2025 is a-go! Our latest ranking of the most promising UK startups is packed with exciting and socially-conscious businesses that are on the rise: but these are the most groundbreaking, original and down-right wild.
While some of these ideas sound like they’ve been ripped straight from the pages of a Star Trek script, they’re very real, and they’re already making tangible improvements to our present day.
Out-the-box ideas like these will most likely be making major waves in the industry this year, just remember you heard them here first.
1. MAGIC AI
Founders:
Mirror mirror on the wall, who’s the healthiest of them all? Thanks to this AI startup the answer might soon be you, but this isn’t fairytale magic. MAGIC AI uses complex algorithms and deep learning models to bring an AI-powered fitness coach straight into your bedroom mirror. It’s the world’s first AI personal trainer, and it provides live feedback, counts your reps and can even track and correct your exercise form.
So, all the benefits of a PT, but from the comfort of your own home and without an expensive gym membership. And unlike unwieldy exercise bikes or hefty treadmills, MAGIC AI, when not in use, appears to be just like a normal mirror that blends seamlessly into home decor. With such a groundbreaking business idea, it’s no mystery that founders Bhanot and Jindal have recently raised a further $5M in venture capital funding, as well as a partnership with Decathlon.
2. DRIFT Energy
In recognition of a sustainability leader that prioritises the health of the planet as part of its company mission.
Startups 100: Sustainability Award
Founder:
What if there was a way to harness a planet-scale class of renewable energy? The earth-sized idea first struck founder Ben Medland on a summer evening: unlock energy in the 70% of the globe we don’t yet have a way to address…the ocean. This led to the creation of the world’s first mobile renewable energy class.
Unlike wind turbines and solar panels, which are locked in place and at the mercy of the elements, DRIFT uses a fleet of hi-tech sailing vessels that harness the ocean itself to supply green hydrogen. For the non-marine biologists amongst us, that’s a clean energy source that’s the result of electrolysis of water.
It’s an idea so ingenious we proudly named it our Sustainability Award Winner for 2025. We’re not the only ones blown-away by the startup either, as it was named COP 28 Award Winner, and bagged £4.65M in seed funding. Next they have their sights set on a critical mission: abate one gigatonnne of CO2 by 2050.
3. Vikela
Founder:
“Non-believers bothered me so much that we shot a video of me being hit with an axe”. These are the startling words of Vikela founder Peter Gilleece, but what kind of innovation could inspire such a hair-raising act of self-belief? Vikela are the pioneers of the world’s first 3D printed body armour. Gileece was inspired, and shocked, by tales of friends in the army who said they found their armour so heavy and cumbersome, they’d purposefully remove it.
Gileece put his degree in mechanical engineering to good use, and designed a lighter, superior fitting armour which combines kevlar and carbon fibre (and crucially, unlike traditional body armour, it’s equally effective for both men and women). Oh, and it’s fully recyclable too: good for your internal organs, and good for the planet.
4. Untap
Founder:
Most of us don’t like to think about what goes on underneath a sewer grate: but the (admittedly smelly) secrets down there might just save your life. Untap Health has invented a health monitoring device that’s so small it can fit under a manhole, which is then used to test sewage for any traces of disease.
It might not be pleasant, but it’s impressive. Untap claim that they have the ability to detect one infected person in 10,000 healthy bodies, with a rate of 95% sensitivity and 99% specificity. It’s also designed to be plug-and-play, so it can be rapidly deployed in a number of scenarios without the need for extensive training.
5. HutanBio
Founders:
- Dr John Archer
- Dr Noor Azlin Mokhtar
- Suhaiza Jamhor
What’s the best route to help decarbonise long distance transportation? The most likely answer might surprise you: algae. HutanBio have been on a journey to find the perfect algal strain for producing biofuel, and they believe they’ve found it with HBx. It was quite literally a one in a trillion discovery: as over 1 trillion samples from the world’s oceans were screened to find a viable sustainable fuel alternative.
The humble aquatic organisms are now helping reduce carbon emissions for heavy land transport, long-haul aviation and cargo shipping thanks to HutanBio’s patented algae. HutanBio founder Noor Azlin even claims that every one tonne of HBx produced helps to remove nearly 2 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. With such a strong core value of sustainability, it’s no shock that support for the project continues to grow. So far £3.5M in seed investment has been raised, including investment from the Clean Growth Fund.
6. PEEQUAL
For the business that demonstrates committed diversity, equity, and inclusion initiative and how it has been embedded in the company.
Startups 100: DEI Award
Founders:
- Amber Probyn
- Hazel McShane
Sadly, gender inequality can be found at every level of society, both visible and invisible. But the disparity between genders has never been brought into sharper focus than when comparing queues for the loos at a festival. Founders Amber Probyn and Hazel McShane were sick of having to deal with mile-long lines just to relieve themselves, and launched PEEQUAL to even the playing field.
No longer a lad-exclusive option for micturition, PEEQUAL is the women’s urinal. The portable loos are “squat and go” and help to reduce wait times for women at busy events, being three times quicker to use than regular portable toilets. They’re not just efficient, but sustainable as well: transporting 56 units on a single lorry compared to 21 portable toilets. PEEQUAL is leading the charge for wee-quality, with Monzo CEO Tom Blomfield jumping on as an early investor.
7. Monk
Founder:
Ready to take a cold plunge into a healthier lifestyle? Monk is changing the way we think about cold water therapy by introducing us to the world’s first smart ice bath. Founder Laura Fullerton believes strongly in the benefits of cold plunge, including positive impacts on sleep quality and our mental wellbeing. Monk wants us to break our caffeine-addiction and get a boost from the ice bath instead.
The benefits aren’t just theoretical anymore though: thanks to Monk’s smart technology we now have the power to track those metrics. The Monk app connects to wearable tech and provides you with real data: your own personal water coach. Monk now counts James Watt, Ex-CEO of Brewdog, and former world heavyweight boxing champ and OBE Anthony Joshua as investors, which is an indication that this is just the start of the cold water conversion for 2025.
8. XR Therapeutics
Founders:
You might be familiar with Virtual Reality by now, but what about Extended Reality? XR is an immersive technology that blends the real world with a virtual one, creating an interactive environment. XR Therapeutics is putting that tech to an extremely good use: cutting-edge exposure therapy used to treat disorders and enhance the effectiveness of talking therapy.
XR Therapeutics uses the talking therapies already practiced by UK Clinicians but introduces the interactive visual element to increase the effectiveness of the treatment. The startup has secured £925,000 in a round led by the North East Innovation Fund, in addition to collaborations with five NHS Trusts across England, and they have introduced XRT Boundless. This means the treatment can be accessed remotely, and is a step forward for accessibility and reduction in NHS waiting times.
In conclusion
Hopefully all these game-changing startups will have lightbulbs popping off in your neocortex and have you shouting out “eureka!”, ready to dream up the next life-altering idea. These astounding true tales of invention are bound to demonstrate to any future-entrepreneur the importance of innovation, and also get any budding mad-scientists racing into the laboratory.
Please just make sure it’s for the good of humanity: we need more DRIFT Energy’s and Untap’s in the world to reverse climate change and fight disease, and not quite as many doomsday devices. But if you need any further cerebral stimulation look no farther than the myriad other inspirational entries on our Startups 100 Index.
