The London startups and scaleups to watch in 2021

In another attempt to digitise the logistics industry, the digital forwarder startup Beacon operates across ocean, air, trucks and supply chain finance — and its main focus is improving cash flow. In its Series A round of June 2020, it earned the interest of Jeff Bezos and 8VC, raising $15m.

Flatfair is a platform that allows landlords to offer 'deposit-free' renting to tenants who would otherwise struggle to pay for expensive deposits often well above their monthly rent. Tenants are given a 'trust score' which landlords can view before accepting new tenants, which includes independent adjudication over end-of-contract disputes.

2020 saw an explosion of interest and investment for the software company, which helps medical practices send patients text reminders about their appointments and during the pandemic launched an NHS Digital approved video consultation feature. Its team grew by an impressive 193%. But what happens next?

In early April Credit Kudos raised £5m in a round led by AlbionVC. Yes, even mid-lockdown. As part of the Covid Credit team (alongside Fronted and 11:FS), it helped UK freelancers claim money from the government.

With events moving almost exclusively online during the pandemic, Ably was bound to benefit. From live scores to instant messaging and personalised experiences, the startup deploys cloud infrastructure and APIs that allow smaller events to customise event experiences and larger enterprises to offload operational and technical costs of real time messaging. In April 2020, it raised €6.4m in a Series A round led by MMC Ventures.

Coconut is a digital business banking app for the self-employed, limited companies and 'micro-businesses' of 1-10 people, similar to Tide and Germany's Penta. In 2019 it opened a portal for accounts, allowing employees to track income and expenses easily for accountants to process. In 2020, it hit 350% of its crowdfunding target — £2.4m. Seems like it's working.

Capdesk has helped 1k European companies digitise their equity management, from Secret Escapes and Curve, to Nutmeg and Voi. It's currently working on its expansion into Sweden, France and the Netherlands, but the whole of Europe is on the horizon.

With parents in crisis mode, especially during the first lockdown, Lingumi was there to help — especially non-English speaking parents, of course, as the app targets children aged 2-6 with a first language already in play.

Based out of London, tiney is designed to help parents find Ofsted-certified childminders, but also to train childminders to run their services out of their own homes. In early 2020 it raised £5m in a funding round led by Index Ventures, and founder Brett Wigdortz also started Teach First — the biggest employer for Oxbridge grads which recruits students straight out of university to teach at state schools. With childcare a necessity in today's world, tiney should be on your list — especially as they're keeping all tiney homes open during periods of lockdown.

Founded in 2017, Beautystack helps entrepreneurs sell beauty treatments on a global platform. The startup has been called "genius" by Vogue, and it teamed up with cult beauty brand Bleach London to launch its first wig collection — an industry set to reach revenues of more than $10bn by 2023. Its founder and chief executive Sharmadean Reid was on our list of top 20 European tech Instagrammers to follow

SeedLegals is out to cut the bulk of legal paperwork that startups have to deal with, claiming to have automated every step of a funding round — and boasting more than 15k companies on its platform. Read more about its move to France, which it hopes will secure its place as a cornerstone in the industry: UK's SeedLegals launches in France