12 Clusters of Tech Contents 12 Clusters of Tech September 2020 – August 2021 4 Regional 3 Summary 6 Introduction Established Introduction Leaders This is the story of technology in the UK. Over 12 months, London Tech Week and UK Tech Cluster Group will explore the unique ecosystems and tech trends in every region of the UK. From space tech in the South West to cybersecurity in Northern Ireland, 12 Clusters of Tech charts the companies, sectors and case studies that make up the entire UK tech landscape. 8 Scaleup 10 Ones to 12 Stories Watch Hotspot 1: Cyber

14 Hotspot 2: Data 16 Hostspot 3: FinTech & InsurTech

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2 12 Clusters of Tech Wales 12 Clusters of Tech Wales 3 Regional Summary

The Welsh Tech and Digital ecosystem is a thriving and rapidly-expanding sector. Wales’ start-ups and scale-ups are adding to a growing base of established companies (SMEs to Primes), growth platform. The Alacrity Foundation Government data agencies delivers a world-leading accelerator program for graduates, providing practical business and Enterprise organisations. training, software skills and mentoring to help launch entrepreneurial businesses. In addition This varied tech ecosystem is developing to the academy and accelerator support, IoT a deep-level understanding, commercial and Advanced Manufacturing start-ups are experience and scaling opportunities across well catered for at Eagle Labs. Highly Tech and into Cyber, Data and FinTech. specific support for opto-electronic companies in the Health and Aerospace sectors is provided Did you know? The sector includes: through the Glyndwr OpTIC Technology Centre in St Asaph. The centre provides world-leading THE TECH SECTOR • household names founded in Wales, such product development and consulting facilities. IN WALES EMPLOYS as InsureTech’s Admiral, Go Compare and Lastly, the rapidly-expanding HealthTech & UPWARDS OF Confused.com MedTech sectors in Wales are led by a range • technology centres for globally-recognised of innovative start-ups, scaling and fully- brands like Aston Martin, Airbus, Thales, BT, established tech organisations like Concentric 40,000 and Sony and Creo Medical. • a High Performance Computing (HPC) facility PEOPLE with market leader Fujitsu The tech sector in Wales is growing rapidly with (2019). • contract manufacturing at the £100million of Venture Capital investments in Newport Wafer Lab with world-leading tech 2019 and an estimated £8.5bn contribution manufacturer IQE to the economy.The increasing expertise in Industry 4.0 technologies is augmented by The strength and opportunities in the tech innovative startups and a bedrock of more ecosystem in Wales, including the variety and established companies using technology to quality of start-ups that are emerging from provide a competitive advantage – providing a these green hills, is highly notable. Lab by resilient and attractive sector. Sector support Transport for Wales has emerged out of a is underlined by the ’s new desire to provide a growth platform to nurture Digital Strategy for Wales, Seed and Early Stage young companies in the transport sector and to equity funding from the influential Development engage with new customers as they expand the , the Angels Invest Wales network, size and scope of their transport infrastructure. the Business Growth Fund (BGF). This is in The Startup Academy by Tramshed Tech addition to regional funding available from delivers a 12-week programme of networking, Capital Region, City Deal, instruction, coaching and support, culminating the Mid Wales and North Wales Growth Deal, in a demo-day and investor pitching session which have already delivered approx. £800m of to provide new companies with a structured funding into the sector.

4 12 Clusters of Tech Wales 12 Clusters of Tech Wales 5 IQE “As we go forward to higher Established performance requirements with www.iqep.com 5G, then the need for compound Location: Newport and IQE’s products will increase. A lot of other connected devices – Leaders Established: 1988 including driverless vehicles with all their sensor technologies, power management and IQE is the leading global supplier of atomically engineered wafers that are made into so on – will be dependent on them. Wales has a long history of commerce, from the advanced compound semiconductors. IQE- Because it’s a global business, we recruit in former coalfields in the industrial heartland of South manufactured wafers are used in almost every Wales to the strategically important Port of Holyhead mobile phone on the market and provide Wales, across the UK and internationally. in the North. Whilst agriculture and tourism continue unique capabilities for sensor technologies We have strong links with Welsh to dominate much of the landscape outside of such as 3D and Facial ID sensing. concentrated population areas, Wales’ cities are universities, and also with the likes of Bristol increasingly becoming centres of service and digital and Manchester, as well as institutions companies, with Cardiff currently the fastest-growing in Scotland. We’re working particularly city in the UK. Did you know? closely with Cardiff and Swansea: just last year, launched two WALES'S CITIES Masters degrees specific to compound HOST OVER semiconductors” 3,600 TECH Chris Meadows, Corporate Systems Manager, IQE BUSINESSES

Admiral Airbus Cyber Security

www.admiral.com www.airbus-cyber-security.com Airbus is a global leader in aeronautics, space and related services. In 2019, it generated revenues of €70 billion Location: Cardiff Location: Duffryn and employed a global workforce of around 135,000, Established: 1992 Established: Circa 1990 with over 6,000 in Wales. In Broughton, north Wales, Airbus manufactures wings for its commercial aircraft, and in Newport, , Airbus specialises in secure connectivity, cyber solutions and the security of critical Admiral is a multi award-winning FTSE 100 company, established in 1992 as a modest car insurer with just five infrastructure in the UK, serving as a key partner in employees. Admiral has grown in size and scope from car to now offer a variety of products including government and NATO-led information infrastructure travel, home and multicover insurance. Technology is at the heart of driving Admiral’s business forward. Admiral programmes. has a large, established tech department and is a member of the #TechSheCan charter to inspire more women to play an equal part in the tech landscape by removing barriers and providing an environment where female talent can flourish. “Airbus is proud to be a Welsh business. We are committed to working in partnership with the Did you know? “Being based in Wales has played Welsh Government and Wales' a big part in Admiral’s success; the world-leading academic institutions on wing ADMIRAL HAVE OVER 7,000 EMPLOYEES WORLDWIDE, quality and commitment of our technology and cyber security research, 5,000 OF WHICH ARE employees in Wales has played a huge part in investing in local people and maintaining BASED IN SOUTH helping us grow from a start-up to the UK’s Wales' position as a major tech hub and an WALES. leading car insurer in just over two decades.” economic success story." David Stevens, Director, Dr Kevin Jones, Chief Digital / Information Security Officer (CISO), Airbus

6 12 Clusters of Tech Wales 12 Clusters of Tech Wales 7 "We know that digital Delio tools are only as Scaleup good as the way they www.deliogroup.com are applied to our customers. That's why we take the time to Location: Cardiff explore and understand the very Stories Established: 2015 different needs of the financial institutions we serve, creating As the number of start-ups continues to grow Delio's configurable white-label technology, empowers in Wales, a strong sector cohort is breaking financial firms to connect their clients with private tailored solutions that solve their through and beginning their exponential market investments quickly, transparently and specific challenges. Over the growth. Establishing this network of successful compliantly. Through their digital tools, institutions last five years, the demand for entrepreneurs and sharing their knowledge can originate, distribute, manage and report on of markets and lessons-learned, to provide investment opportunities through one digital hub. our technology has increased mentorship to the next cohort, is a key focus for the This makes their private markets proposition more significantly. Financial firms Welsh tech sector. manageable and accessible to their wealthy clients know they need to digitise their and investors. Delio has established an international Scale-Up success stories in Wales have benefited client base of more than 80 organisations, including investment propositions and do from: a strong Angel investor network; access to Barclays, ING and UBS. With over sixty employees, not always have the capacity or world-class talent via our university and HE sector; Delio is now represented across the UK, Australia, resources to do so themselves. and a growing informed network of business North America, the Middle East, Asia and Europe, advisors and support services. This is underlined working with top-tier financial institutions, angel Delio offers them the solutions by continued support from Welsh Government, networks and family offices. Delio has experienced which they can tailor around their who consider the start-up and technology sectors rapid growth in the last three years. Delio has tripled operational processes and the as strategically important as part of their inward- their team since their first investment round in 2019, investment and International Strategy. opening offices in Dubai, , Switzerland and needs of their clients." New York . Gareth Lewis, Chief Executive and Co-Founder, Delio

“Part of the reason AMPLYFI is AMPLYFI growing so fast is our location. Veeqo People join our team from all over www.amplyfi.com the globe to solve hard problems without www.veeqo.com compromising on their quality of life. Location: Cardiff Location: Swansea AMPLYFI’s combination of ground-breaking Established: 2015 technology, culture and Welsh countryside Established: 2013 allows us to compete for the smartest people AMPLYFI’s Insights Automation with the biggest organisations in the world, "I wanted a new Platform powers decision making in which in turn helps us build better solutions challenge, and global organisations like BP, NatWest, there was this pull the US Air Force and Stanford for global decision makers.” University. The platform uses data Chris Ganje, CEO, Amplyfi back to Wales. It's great science and machine learning to to have the chance to get extract value from the billions of into a company when it's news articles, patents, papers and documents that are available across relatively small and young, The Swansea-based technology firm, has developed the internet, helping organisations and help it to reach exciting an all-in-one platform to help online retailers manage react faster to disruption and to heights. And it says a lot inventory and ordering, and deliver the best customer change with conviction. about where the company is experience to customers everywhere. Veeqo was founded by experienced ecommerce retailer Matt Warren to allow going when Matt Warren, their customers, small and large, to stay on top of being the founder and CEO, is fast-paced omnichannel retailers. The investment received willing to put money into by Veeqo allowed them to add features and functionality to their platform, hire teams in key areas and scale up their HR this early on." growth strategy by utilising inbound marketing, outbound Cerys Davies, Head of HR, Veeqo sales and strategic channel partnerships .

8 12 Clusters of Tech Wales 12 Clusters of Tech Wales 9 Concentric “Since launching Ones to in early 2020, and accelerated by the www.concentric.health need for remote care pathways Location: Cardiff in response to COVID-19, we’ve Watch Established: 2019 seen the transformational impact of introducing Concentric at Concentric is a digital consent application which transforms world-leading centres such as the paper process of giving consent for treatment. Based Imperial College Healthcare in Wales and in use by clinicians internationally, Concentric NHS Trust and Chelsea and Health is transforming how we make decisions about our There has never been a better time for tech health, supporting patients to engage with, understand and Westminster Hospital NHS and digital startups in Wales. There are a large own decisions about their care. Trust. Concentric supports number of support mechanisms, funds and patients and clinicians with expertise available for businesses in the area. Startup friendly spaces are offering communities trusted, personalised, accessible of like minded people areas to collaborate and information, supporting innovate successfully. Many startups are coming informed, shared decisions, both out of local spaces such as Tramshed Tech, Barclays Eagle Labs, NatWest’s Entrepreneur within the hospital walls and at Accelerator and publicly funded hubs. home.” Dr Dafydd Loughran, CEO and Co-Founder, Concentric Health

RiverSimple Configur

www.riversimple.com www.configur.tech Location: Llandrindod Wells Location: Cardiff Established: 2005 Established: 2019

Not many car designs set out to change Configur is a data-driven software company, the world. From Powys to the planet, empowering businesses and organisations by Riversimple has spent 15 years developing simplifying their digital transformation journeys. the technology and business strategies that Configur Codex, their recently launched have led to its carbon-fibre Rasa vehicle. groundbreaking data platform, makes it simple for Founder Hugo Spowers has a track record in businesses and organisations to store, secure and good-looking motors. safely share data. Configur’s aim is to encourage companies of all sizes to be confident interacting with their data, unlocking new insights and savings “Coming to Wales has been much better than we ever expected. We didn’t across the organisation. realise just what advantages it would have. We get a lot of support from the Welsh Automotive Forum. It’s fantastic for us, being able to leapfrog “We’re very lucky in Wales to have a welcoming tech community built and establish cross-sectoral collaborations. We’ve also got a fantastic around hubs such as Tramshed Tech. Whilst the pandemic may have relationship with the Welsh Government and they really have been extremely reduced face-to-face meetings, the partnerships and contacts we’ve made supportive. This is a much better environment than if we’d stayed across the border; over the years have continued to be a big part of our success.” for what we’re doing, it’s easier to do it here in Wales.” Josh Evans, Co-Founder, Configur Hugo Spowers, Founder, Riversimple

10 12 Clusters of Tech Wales 12 Clusters of Tech Wales 11 Hotspot 1 Awen Collective

Did you know? www.awencollective.com Awen Collective produces Cyber cybersecurity products which help THE WELSH Location: Caerphilly to secure critical infrastructures Established: 2017 and manufacturers for a safer CYBER HOTSPOT society. The International Strategy for Wales launched by Welsh COMPRISES Government in early 2020 announced Cyber as one of the 3 key OVER 400 SME’S, target sectors for which Wales is recognised as a world leader. 9 PRIMES, 7 ACADEMIC “We’ve grown rapidly since founding; working with large organisations such The hotspot benefits from innovative support. The support as Raytheon, the UK’s water companies, and secured a large contract from includes conferences like bSides Cymru which curate a roster of RESEARCH international speakers, dedicated accelerators such as Alacrity, the UK Ministry of Defence. We have also been on the first cohort of several who provide a funded 15-month accelerator programme and CENTRES AND initiatives, including CyberASAP, the IoT Accelerator Wales, Tech Nation Cyber and specialist consultancies with global reach such as 13 Fields. A PLETHORA Wales is also home to an increasing community of remote- the Google for Startups UK Immersion Programme. In Wales, we have access to top working employees for globally recognised leaders such as OF DEFENCE quality talent straight out of the wonderful universities. We’ve found that Wales Sophos, ControlPlane and GitLab. The proximity to Cheltenham ORGANISATIONS is a great place to live and work. We attract great people to work with us; when we and the NCSC and the associated cyber community allows AND strong bonds to permeate the Welsh border, with new cross- solve cyber problems, we look both globally and locally, as our target market is here border tech organisations like TechSPARK Wales about to come GOVERNMENT in Wales too - Wales-based manufacturers and critical infrastructure organisations - on stream to take advantage of the political impetus behind the AGENCIES. with whom we are gradually building up very good relations.” Western Gateway alliance. Daniel Lewis, CEO & Co-Founder, Awen Collective

“Our work supports Cardiff University, Airbus the UK Government’s Wolfberry Wolfberry is an award-winning and rapidly-expanding Cyber Security consultancy, whose goal is to make cyber Centre of Excellence in Cyber Industrial Strategy, www.wolfberrycs.com security accessible, understandable and affordable for Security Analytics which aims to put the UK at any organisation. The specialist team at Wolfberry have the forefront of the Artificial Location: Cardiff and Dubai a vast knowledge of the latest trends, technologies, and attack vectors. Wolfberry’s aim is to provide support to Intelligence and data revolution. Established: 2016 organisations working across all sectors and protect Our ambition to be a world www.cardiff.ac.uk their processes and data from all types of cyber security leader for innovation in AI for risks, both internal and external. Location: Cardiff cybersecurity also underpins Established: 2017 the Welsh Government’s international strategy, which “It’s an exciting time to be working in this field in The Airbus Centre of Excellence is a leading UK has cybersecurity as a core pillar. Wales. We’re very lucky to have the Cyber Wales academic research unit for cyber security analytics, The centre is interdisciplinary by cluster, a group of cyber security businesses that focused on the interpretation and effective design and is drawing together supports both North and South Wales. Just six of us went communication of applied data science and artificial intelligence methods through interdisciplinary insights expertise in cyber security from to their first meeting, but we now have over 1,800 member into cyber risk, threat intelligence, attack detection and across the whole University, businesses throughout the UK, and have been recognised situational awareness. Cardiff University is recognised including computer science, internationally as a cyber ecosystem by GlobalEPIC. It’s by NSCS as an Academic Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Research. psychology and criminology.” expanding worldwide. We now have clusters in Dubai – Pete Burnap, Professor of Data Science & where Wolfberry also has an office – and Japan. We’re Along with fellow cyber specialists from the Cyber Cybersecurity, Cardiff University, Airbus Centre of looking at setting one up in Abu Dhabi.” Academy at the University of South Wales, they are also Excellence in Cyber Security Analytics lead partners in a consortium bid to establish a new Damon Rands, Founder & CEO, Wolfberry Cyber Innovation Hub for Wales in central Cardiff, with industry partners like Airbus, Thales, Tramshed Tech and the Alacrity Foundation:

12 12 Clusters of Tech Wales 12 Clusters of Tech Wales 13 Hotspot 2 Data Innovation / Data Nation Accelerator (DNA) www.cardiff.ac.uk/data-innovation-accelerator Location: Cardiff Data Established: 2020 “Building on the recommendations of the recent Brown review of Digital Skills and The UK Government's commitment to open The Data Nation Accelerator (DNA) the Future of Work in Wales, the Wales data continues to benefit the Tech ecosystem is a new pan-Wales initiative that Data Nation Accelerator (WDNA) is developing a with development of skills, provision of data is being developed to accelerate and bedrock employers. Wales is home to insight, foresight and intelligence comprehensive strategy to support the economic government agencies such as the Office for from diverse data assets for societal, transformation for Wales through data science and National Statistics (ONS), Companies House, health and economic impact, building AI. Consistent with the emerging UK Data Strategy, the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) and the upon the work of the Data Innovation Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, leading Accelerator, established in 2018. the WDNA is pursuing an agenda for partnership the way in developing best practices to curate, Through co-creation across business and co-creation aligned to unlocking Welsh data, deliver and publish open data. and other parties, the Wales Data enabling Welsh sustainability (spanning from health Nation Accelerator seeks to fuel A new generation of startups and scale- innovation in data and AI for new to energy and transport), empowering citizens and ups are building their businesses atop this solutions, products and applications fuelling product and service innovation. This agenda bedrock, supported by knowledge-sharing in key industrial clusters and public focuses on Wales’ vibrant SME community through partnerships, meet-ups and pan-Wales services, while also enriching the initiatives such as the Data Nation Accelerator. talent pool of skills in Wales for data to corporate partners, government and the NHS.” science and AI. Professor Roger Whitaker, Director, DNA

Office of National Statistics (ONS) Next Generation Data - Newport

www.ons.gov.uk The UK's largest independent producer of official statistics and www.vantage-dc-cardiff.co.uk the recognised national statistical institute of the UK. The ONS “As the needs of our hyperscale, Location: Newport are responsible for the collection, collation and publication of Location: Newport cloud and large enterprise customers Established: 1996 statistics related to the economy, population and society. ONS Established: 2010 continue to grow, Wales represents are responsible for planning and carrying out the census for England and Wales and have been a key support platform for a highly attractive U.K. market, offering both health data provision during the Covid pandemic. lower cost and greater scalability versus London.” NGD opened its flagship 750,000 sq ft data centre in Newport in early 2010. Sureel Choksi, President and CEO, Vantage Data Centers One of the largest data centres in “The last year has demonstrated just how Europe, the site has its own private important the robust data, statistics and analysis connection to the National SuperGrid, with up to 180 megawatts of power produced by the ONS are in informing so many (sufficient to power a city the size of key decisions in the UK. As part of the ONS’s Bristol) generated from 100% renewable investment in data and digital capability, our Data Science sources. Campus is strengthening data science capability across Located near the Welsh capital Cardiff the UK public sector to ensure that we can take advantage NDG hosts BT, IBM, WiPro and Microsoft of the tools, methods and practices of the digital age. This Azure in its facility, as well as being a market leader in High-Performance is driving new understanding and informing decisions Computing Solutions. affecting everyone, from how governments spend taxpayers’ money to the services we receive.” Dr Louisa Nolan, Chief Data Scientist, ONS

14 12 Clusters of Tech Wales 12 Clusters of Tech Wales 15 Hotspot 3 Confused.com www.confused.com “I think fundamentally to ensure Location: Cardiff success it is about the people and FinTech & InsurTech Established: 2002 the talent that you have in your organisation... People ask me how many

Wales has long hosted a bustling insurance sector, with the bulk of the people work at Confused and I say 210. They Confused.com is the first and longest- UK’s price comparison sites being based here. Wales’s expertise began then asked me how many of those are in running UK comparison site, formed with the Export Credit Guarantee Department, grew with 90’s success in 2002. Confused.com started with tech? I say all of them because we are a tech stories such as Admiral, NCM and LexisNexis, then through internet just eight people in a room in Cardiff. It pioneers like Confused.com and the Source, to latest InsurTech startups. business. What we find - and I talk to the revolutionised the way we all compare These companies form part of a wider FinTech sector alongside busy likes of FinTech entrepreneur Richard Theo and buy insurance – now, 88% of UK startups like Sonnovate, who are reimagining contractor finance, BipSync motorists use comparison sites at least and the guys at tech co-working location who streamline research management, Delio’s investment platform, once a year. Confused.com is now focused Wealthify’s robo-investing and Chetwood, a Wrexham based Challenger Tramshed Tech - is there is a real hub building on disrupting the price comparison Bank delivering innovative products for customer segments that it in Cardiff and South Wales around AI, data industry for a second and possibly a third considers to be underserved by the market. time over the next five years. and automation. The skills that everyone is Sectorial support is equally strong with higher education institutions crying out for are technology, digital, data- providing dedicated resources, such as the Trading Room learning based, as well as data scientists.” resource at the Centre for Financial and Professional Services at University Louise O’Shea, Chief Executive, Confused.com of South Wales. The Cardiff University Data Science Accelerator project- based approach engages learners, industry and membership associations such as FinTech Wales, coordinating resources.

FinTech Wales provides an independent voice Veygo is the first start-up within Welsh FTSE100 insurer for the FinTech industry, both within Wales and Admiral's Pioneer business unit, which will be looking FinTech Wales beyond, to help champion and maximise the Veygo to launch several new business over the next few years. potential for all businesses in the sector. As well Veygo’s aim is to replace barriers with possibilities, currently as nurturing and supporting those businesses fintechwales.org www.veygo.com through temporary car insurance (including learner driver already in Wales, FinTech Wales aims to develop an insurance) helping customers get from A to without Location: Cardiff ecosystem that will help new FinTech companies Location: Cardiff needing to own a car. Future plans involve exploring other start-up or scale-up. Ultimately, the goal is to mobility solutions for customers. Established: 2019 make Wales a leading pillar in the global FinTech Established: 2021 community. FinTech Wales and FinTech Scotland have recently released a report (January 2021) proposing increased Research and Innovation ‘We’re in the phase of (R&I) to drive acceleration in FinTech development across the UK, nationally and regionally, to growing from start-up support growth and new jobs. The report, entitled to scale-up; and as fully- “Research and Innovation for UK FinTech” sets digital operation, South Wales out a number of key actions to build longer-term Research & Innovation across the UK. is the perfect place to be. We’ve hired some great talent locally who together with the existing team will “The FinTech sector in Wales is thriving, at FinTech Wales we aim get us to the next level, we have to raise awareness of the great firms that are already here as well as really ambitious targets and plans, developing the community and ecosystem to support new and exciting and we want to be at the cutting- startups. We work closely with the academic sector to ensure the skills and edge of technology and the products talent required to build FinTech businesses in Wales are readily available. It’s and experience we give to our invigorating to talk to our members who are developing and providing world customers.” leading FinTech businesses which stand strong on the UK and global stage.” Gunnar Peters, CEO, Veygo Sarah Williams-Gardener, CEO, FinTech Wales

16 12 Clusters of Tech Wales 12 Clusters of Tech Wales 17 2020 – 2021 12 months. 12 Clusters. The whole of UK tech.

October Scotland

September November North East Northern Ireland

December Yorkshire & the Humber

April January East Midlands North West

March West Midlands May East of England

February Wales June London August South West July South East

18 12 Clusters of Tech Wales