The London startups and scaleups to watch in 2021

If you’re not from London (or one of 38 other major cities around the world) chances are you might not have heard of the transport and journey planning app Citymapper. But if you’re one of the app’s millions of users, you likely never catch a bus, head for an underground station or jump on a train without consulting it first. (You also, probably, firmly believe that Google Maps is no replacement.)

Citymapper wants to do so much more than tell you the best way to get from A to B. In 2017, it also started running buses and a shared taxi service, with a plan to reinvent not just buses but also how transport systems are run. Citymapper was all set to become the brain of London’s enormously complex transport system (then the world’s).

But it did not really turn out like that. In summer 2019, Citymapper ended its shared taxi service. Instead, it is now focusing on selling a “subscription to mobility” — also known, in non-tech speak, as tickets. But investors are reportedly growing disillusioned with its inability to find a business model that works (and worried about Uber and Google’s moves in this space). It may be a tricky road ahead for Citymapper.

Further reading: What Citymapper did next

Chunky card machines in cafes and restaurants are a tool of the past. Instead businesses are adopting to contactless card readers which process payments with a smartphone or tablet through point-of-sale (POS) apps.

The fintech companies that provide the payment hardware and software can make a cut on each transaction and generally win pretty sticky customers, so competition is fierce in this lucrative market.

Three of the market leaders are Sweden’s iZettle, which was bought by PayPal, Silicon Valley’s Square and SumUp in the UK.

Of the three BBVA-backed SumUp is the smallest but it is still a big UK fintech. Since it was founded in 2011 SumUp has expanded into more than 30 markets, helped by a merger with Rocket Internet’s Payleven in 2016.

SumUp now also does invoicing, bookkeeping, third-party integrations of payments and more. The big question is how long it can remain independent and if it can keep fighting with the bigger rivals.

Wayve's AI-focused technology is an exciting prospect for mobility. It continuously learns from observing human driving and wants to be the first to deploy self-driving tech in 100 cities across Europe.

So far, it's raised $43m across three funding rounds; in 2020 securing backing from the Virgin Group and is part of the Microsoft for Startups Autonomous Driving programme.

Read more: 10 startups working on sustainable alternatives to everyday transportation

Elder is another addition to the rapidly growing agetech sector, and in 2020 it raised €17.9m.

Related: The secret of investing in the €3.7tn age tech market

Fintech Zilch is all about Gen Z and millennials, offering them a personalised credit line then paid back in instalments. Clearly it's doing it well, in November 2020 announcing the it had won the coveted consumer credit license from the UK regulator, the FCA — and is growing at an average of 1k new UK signups per day.

Read more: A better Klarna? Meet the fintech launching the “AmEx card for Gen Z”

Recruitment startup Beamery has built what it calls a 'talent operating system' that’s designed to help companies manage candidate relationships and streamline the hiring process.

The company’s software is being used by a number of big tech firms in the US that are willing to spend big in order to help them win the talent wars. Other customers include Coca-Cola, Grab and Balfour Beaty.

Related: European startups are moving to the US later. Why?

Writing a will isn't pleasant, but this 'deathtech' startup wants to make it a bit less difficult. Founded in 2015, it allows users to create a legally binding will without a solicitor.

In July 2020, it raised €22m, almost certainly in response to the need for digitised platforms during the pandemic, where demand for its services increased fourfold.

Read more: Death at a distance: can tech help us grieve remotely?

Impala plans to do for the hotel industry what Plaid did for the financial industry: open up its data to shake up management. In Feb 2020, it raised $20m in a Series B round led by Lakestar after raising $11m in October 2019.

Their system will allow disabled travellers to check exactly what features a room has, or choosy customers to pick, for instance, a room away from a noisy street. Pretty smart.

Read more: Travel tech startup Impala raises $20m just four months after raising $11m

2020 wasn't a great year for Plum by any means. The luxury competitor to Airbnb was planning a Series C raise in the summer, but instead it had to furlough half of its team.

Luckily, in October it announced it had secured £13m in backing from the UK Government's Future Fund and existing investors including Octopus Ventures.

Europe's Airbnb competitor was on track for unicorn status. Then Covid-19 struck.