Fuel Ventures is a technology fund focusing on marketplaces, fintech, platforms, and SaaS startups in the UK.  The Fuel Ventures Portfolio (the ''Fund'') invests at the most lucrative early stages of internet technology companies that have exceptional growth potential and substantial returns can be achieved. The Fund focuses on marketplaces, platforms, and SaaS business models, identifying investments in seed and growth stages. Bringing together great entrepreneurs into an environment of innovation, collaboration, and support in RocketSpace in the heart of London. We provide a unique combination of mentorship, experience, and access to the investment required to drive a business and ideas to success. Founded in 2015 by entrepreneur and investor Mark Pearson, Fuel Ventures is focused on bringing a unique approach to early-stage investment.

Fuel Ventures

The Guinness Ventures team have been investing in early-stage businesses since 2010. Guinness EIS provides scale-up capital to private companies and Guinness AIM EIS invests in AIM-listed companies. We invest in outstanding entrepreneurs and businesses with disruptive and ambitious growth plans. We have successfully supported the growth of over 100 companies since 2010 and are always excited to meet passionate entrepreneurs.

Guinness Ventures

Downing Ventures is a division of Downing LLP. They invest venture capital into early and growth stage technology businesses. Our belief is that technology now forms an integral part of the everyday lives of consumers, corporations and governments. Further, they believe that they are now experiencing the benefits of the second wave of technology development, which is now based on sound infrastructure. Investing into this trend, they look for: Visionary entrepreneurs, with the ability to execute as well as dream. Large (potential) addressable markets. Distinct product / service advantages. Limited adoption risk for customers. They seek to invest 250,000 to 5 million per company. They will  invest in seed-stage deals and Series A deals, and then look to continue to support those companies through phases of subsequent growth. Fundamentally, they back entrepreneurs. They are supportive, hopefully helpful, investors.

Downing Ventures

Capita provides customer and business process management, and professional support service solutions primarily in the United Kingdom. It offers a range of back office, middle office, and customer-facing services. The company provides services in the areas of administration and business support, customer remediation, business process outsourcing, consultancy and change management, customer management, financial services, human resources and recruitment, information technology, insurance services, legal process outsourcing, life and pensions, property and infrastructure, service design, software solutions, and travel and events. It also offers services in the areas of finance, life and pensions, share registration, and fund administration, as well as in public engineering projects. The company provides its services to customers in central government, corporate, defense, education, emergency services, financial services, health, housing, insurance, local government, life and pensions, police and justice, retail, retail banking, telecoms and media, transport, travel and leisure, and utilities sectors.

Capita

Distributed

Distributed is a software development company that develops an on-demand Elastic Team that allows getting things done faster. Through the Distributed platform, clients can work with fully managed, globally distributed teams of highly skilled software engineers allowing them to build and maintain software faster, more efficiently, cost-effectively, and with more visibility than ever before.  The company was founded in 2017 and is based in London, England.

Distributed is a UK-based talent platform that connects businesses with on-demand distributed tech teams. The platform offers a vetted global talent pool specializing in programming languages including Java, Python, MATLAB, C++, and data visualization and analysis tools such as Tableau and Pandas.&nbsp;

The on-demand economy has finally reached white collar work.

Online Freelancing Platforms

BT closes in on £30m tech freelancers deal with Distributed

To accelerate BT's digital transformation and innovation agenda by providing on-demand access to Elastic Teams™️ of technology professionals, enabling BT to build high-quality digital products and platforms faster and more efficiently.

Platforms that offer expertise related to web, mobile and software development with freelance developers fluent across major programming languages.

Distributed is a UK-based talent platform that connects businesses with on-demand distributed tech teams. The platform offers a vetted global talent pool specializing in programming languages including Java, Python, MATLAB, C++, and data visualization and analysis tools such as Tableau and Pandas.&nbsp;Distributed offers Elastic Teams, enabling clients to work with fully managed, globally distributed teams of skilled software engineers. The teams can be scaled up or down based on client needs and offer flexibility in team composition with various programming skillsets.Key customers and partnershipsNotable clients included BT, British Petroleum, Tesco and Mastercard. As of October 2024, over 2,000 freelancers were registered on its platform.

Textbroker is a platform for creative writing freelancers to connect with businesses. Textbroker freelancers work on projects such as social media posts, news stories, and blog posts. The platform provides content in over 35 languages, while connecting businesses with freelancers in the target country. Platform pricing starts at USD 2.3 cents per word.Key customers and partnershipsAs of October 2024, the platform served over 80,000 clients, including eBay, Otto and RVshare. The company also had 100,000+ registered freelancers on the platform as of October 2024.

Textbroker

Procurement Freelancers provides freelancers for procurement functions such as sourcing/category management, quality control and assurance, and advisory. Its algorithm calculates the relevance between experts' skills and client briefs by scoring criteria like skills, experience, and language. It prioritizes search criteria based on user preferences to deliver the most accurate match.The platform is free to use for freelancers, while clients purchase subscriptions to hire and manage freelancers at no added cost.In March 2019, the company acquired Dragon Sourcing, a procurement and sourcing service provider.Key competitors: None under coverage. (The platform connects enterprises with procurement-based freelancers)

Procurement Freelancers

Kolabtree is a UK-based freelancer marketplace connecting businesses and scientists. The platform provides businesses with skills such as data analysis, product development, scientific consulting, desk research, and other science related services within 24 hours of receiving business requests.Kolabtree also provides concierge services for writing, with fees ranging from USD 2,000 to USD 4,000, depending on the timeline. Similarly, its concierge services for statistical analysis are priced between USD 250 and USD 625, also based on the timeline.The company generates revenue via a 20% service fee charged to the freelancers based on the total project invoice.Key customers and partnershipsAs of October 2024, Kolabtree served over 3,200 businesses including notable enterprises such as NASA, Volkswagen and Moderna. Further, the platform had over 20,000 scientists and experts as of October 2024.Key competitors:&nbsp;None under coverage. (Kolabtree offers a freelancing platform connecting enterprises with scientists).

kolabtree

Codersera is a freelance marketplace for enterprises to find software engineers. The company claims to provide the top 1% of developers through its five tier vetting process. The platform’s freelancers cover a spectrum of developer and data science technologies such as iOS, Android, Python, and Java. Additionally, freelancers provide SaaS platform development, testing and QA services and migration away from legacy systems.Key customers and partnershipsAs of October 2024, the platform had over 20,000 vetted freelancers and 100+ clients on its platform.

Codersera Inc

Upwork is an online labor marketplace that assists in engaging freelancers and businesses in discovering direct labor arrangements for both short and long-term projects. Upwork’s roots date back to 1998 and 2003 when online talent marketplaces Elance and oDesk were founded. In December 2013, Elance and oDesk announced its merger with a combined freelancer base of over 8 million (5 million from oDesk and 3 million from Elance). Subsequent to the merger, Elance-oDesk continued to report losses and required a bailout package of USD 30 million from Benchmark Capital in November 2014. The company was rebranded as Upwork in May 2015.&nbsp;Unlike Fiverr, Upwork encourages freelancers to develop a profile focused on specific expertise, helping them build a niche reputation. Fiverr, on the other hand, allows freelancers to offer a wide range of services through individual gigs, enabling them to market multiple skill sets simultaneously. In&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/16664">February 2023</a> Upwork expanded its offerings to include full-time hiring for businesses with features such as finding, vetting, hiring, onboarding, and paying professionals for full-time work arrangements.&nbsp; Additionally, in&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/24502">December 2023</a>, Upwork launched Chat Pro, a GPT-4-powered app in beta, to enhance work efficiency. In&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/35568">October 2024</a>, Upwork introduced&nbsp; Uma, an AI assistant, the Business Plus plan for Expert-Vetted talent, Featured Jobs, and Boosted Profiles. At the time, the company also announced a 21% workforce&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/35569">reduction</a> aiming to save USD 60 million annually.Upwork also offers several solutions to streamline hiring: Talent Scout, connecting clients with pre-vetted freelancers; the Work Marketplace and Project Catalog for easy hiring; and the Virtual Talent Bench, which helps businesses build and maintain a network of freelancers for ongoing collaboration.The company generates revenue via a 10% project fee charged from clients, and freelancer subscriptions priced at USD 20 per month.In&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/03/upwork-ceo-on-ipo-day-we-do-not-incentivize-for-less-pay-for-freelancers.html">October 2018</a>, Upwork listed on the NASDAQ to raise approximately USD 187 million. In FY2023, Upwork generated USD 689 million in revenue (up 11% YoY). The company guided FY2024 revenue between USD 760 million to USD 780 million, representing 11.7% YoY growth at the midpoint. Diluted earnings per share (EPS) stood at USD 0.13 in FY2023, compared to a loss per share of USD 0.69 in FY2022.Key customers and partnerships&nbsp;The company recorded 868,000 active clients as of August 2024, with notable clients including Microsoft, Airbnb and NASDAQ, among others.In&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/33129">August 2024,</a> Upwork partnered with Beeline to&nbsp;integrate its talent pool into Beeline’s vendor management system (VMS), offering access to over 10,000 professionals across 125+ categories. Previously, in&nbsp;<a href="https://investors.upwork.com/news-releases/news-release-details/upwork-partners-catch-expand-freelancers-access-benefits">January 2022</a>, the company partnered with Catch to offer freelancers access to personal payroll and healthcare benefits.&nbsp;

Upwork

Platforms that provide expertise in specialized areas such as law and scientific research.

Platforms that provide expertise in writing, translation, and editing.

Platforms that provide marketing expertise across email, SEO, and social media marketing functions.

Platforms that focus on offering expertise in design and creative functions such as photography, video editing, and animation.

Platforms that offer expertise across multiple verticals such as design and creative, web, mobile and software development, finance, and marketing.

Solutions use AI/Ml for to match freelancers with clients and to vet freelancers

Some solutions introduced by players in this hub are using a B2B SaaS model

Distributed

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