The Top 10 UK Start-Up Funding Rounds for H2 2024

The first half of 2024 was a bumper one in terms of fundraising for the UK’s diverse range of innovative start-ups, and the second half of the year has seen yet more highly innovative start-ups receive fresh capital injections.

Blockchain and crypto companies in particular are starting to post some impressive fundraising totals, indicating the increasingly mainstream adoption of these technologies. It’s a timely development, with Bitcoin having recently crossed the $100,000 threshold for the first time in its history.

1. Boom Technologies — $500m

Few of the half-year’s raises typified this trend more than Boom Technologies, which raised $500m in growth capital – “boom” indeed!

Boom is looking towards the future of crypto, envisaging a world where decentralised finance (DeFi) removes the need for bank accounts as we know them. Its platform promises “e-commerce without banking”, enabling its users to buy and sell online using crypto. 

Founder and CEO Peter Alfred-Adekeye said in a statement that “it is 2024 and a billion unbanked adults cannot buy and trade shares of companies with cash or crypto”. Boom is clearly on a mission to change that.

The funding round was led by a family office based in Dubai, and was notable because it allows retail and institutional investors to purchase shares in Boom using crypto. There is, though, a minimum investment of $25,000 (or, if you prefer, about a quarter of a Bitcoin). 

Boom plans to use the funds to scale its ecosystem, enhance user experience, and expand its global presence.

2. Lighthouse — $370m

Commercial intelligence platform Lighthouse made waves with a $370m Series C funding round led by KKR. 

The funds will accelerate the development of Lighthouse’s enhanced automation, data analytics, and AI-powered solutions, which aim to revamp commercial strategy across the hospitality sector, in particular hotels. “We’re just getting started in making hospitality data and tools more powerful, accessible, and affordable,” said Sean Fitzpatrick, CEO of Lighthouse.

Stephen Shanley, Partner and Head of Tech Growth in Europe at KKR, said that Lighthouse’s “strong track record, customer loyalty, and proven ability to deliver value across varied markets position them as the leading platform in this space”. 

3. Zepz — $267m

Zepz – formerly WorldRemit – secured $267m to expand its cross-border payments platform. The funding underscores Zepz’s commitment to simplifying international money transfers for individuals and businesses worldwide.

The company plans to channel the investment into enhancing its payment infrastructure, focusing on speed, reliability, and cost-effectiveness. Zepz’s core market is Africa, and it has a strong presence in South Africa, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe, but the proceeds from the latest funding round are likely to be put towards expanding beyond these zones. 

The funding round was led by Accel, which has previously invested in unicorns like Deliveroo and Bumble. While Zepz’s valuation at this round was undisclosed, its last funding round in 2021 saw it valued at $5bn and raised $292m.  

4. DNEG Group — $200m

DNEG Group, a world-renowned visual effects and animation company, raised $200m in an investment led by United Al Saqer Group (UASG). DNEG is a visual effects company that lies behind titles like, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, The Garfield Movie and Those About to Die. 

The investment will support DNEG’s efforts to enhance its visual effects pipeline, adopt new AI-driven tools, and strengthen its partnerships with major studios. CEO Namit Malhotra also revealed that the group is using the funds to open a new studio in Abu Dhabi.

5. Flo Health — $200m

Flo Health, the world’s most popular app for women’s health, secured a $200m Series C to enhance its platform and expand its global reach. With a mission to provide women with comprehensive health insights, 70 million monthly active users (MAUs) and close to 5 million paid subscribers, Flo Health is at the forefront of femtech innovation.

Underscoring this is the $1bn+ valuation attached to the fundraise.

"Reaching unicorn status is a significant milestone for Flo and the entire femtech industry," said Dmitry Gurski, co-founder and CEO of Flo Health. “When we started Flo, we identified a huge gap in women's health services. Now, we're a leader in a global movement to make women's health a priority everywhere.”

The funding will also support initiatives to increase accessibility in underserved markets and bolster Flo’s educational resources for its growing user base. Femtech is expected to be a $60bn industry by 2027, and this funding round puts Flo right at the forefront; its global pro-social program aims to reach 1 billion women.

6. Exohood Labs — $189m

Exohood Labs, a blockchain-based infrastructure provider, raised $189m to scale the development of Exania, its AI-driven scientific research platform, as well as its AI engine GINETTE (Graphic Intelligence Engine for Transformative Technology Experience).

Exania runs on a secure blockchain database, and as such combines AI with the blockchain family of technologies that underpins cryptocurrency. However, Exania’s applications are broad and far-reaching, ranging from government systems to space exploration. 

GINETTE, meanwhile, brings AI capabilities to movie production, video game development, and software engineering.

7. Tessl — $125m

One of the most intriguing use cases for generative AI is its ability to augment the ability of coders. Take a look at this excerpt from AI native software platform Tessl, part of its announcement that it had secured $125m in Series A funding:

“AI offers a breakthrough: finally separating what the software does from how it does it. Large Language Models (LLMs) let us explain requirements in natural language, making it easier than ever to describe what you want to build and filling in gaps as needed.”

If the possibility of building apps just by telling a program what you want the app to do blows your mind, you’re not alone. Tessl only comes seventh on this particular list but there’s every reason to consider this one of the most impressive funding rounds of the year.

For starters, $125m is a pretty insane figure for a Series A – although, technically, that figure combines a previously undisclosed $25m seed round from April with a $100m Series A, so this should arguably be a little lower down the list. Even so, most fundraises getting above $100m tend to be Series C or later. 

Secondly, the round – led by Index with participation from Accel – gives Tessl a valuation of $750m. It’s closing in on unicorn status, impressive enough in its own right, but all the more so when you consider that Tessl was founded just nine months ago. 

Big things can happen quickly when you can automate code.

8. CloudPay — $120 Million

Andover-based CloudPay, which develops cloud-based payroll systems, raised $120 million in August, the second venture round since its 2021 Series E. The funding was led by Blue Owl Capital, which counts Airbnb, SpaceX and Robinhood among its previous VC investments.

CloudPay’s platform leverages automation and analytics to provide accurate, compliant, and efficient payroll processing across different jurisdictions. 

“Global payroll is a growing market providing tremendous opportunities for CloudPay and this funding gives us the flexibility to accelerate our journey” said Dr. Roland Folz, CEO of CloudPay. 

“With the support of Blue Owl Capital, we are strengthening our capital base while continuing to invest in our state-of-the-art solutions for global organisations and their employees worldwide.”

CloudPay plans to use the funds to expand into new markets, strengthen its partner ecosystem, and introduce advanced features that further simplify payroll management. 

9. Myricx Bio — $114m

Another big Series A went to Myricx Bio, a biotech start-up which raised $114m in funding from Novo Holdings and Abingworth. Novo Holdings is a particularly interesting investor as, unlike many of the investors that feature elsewhere on this list, it is technically a charity – specifically, it is the management company of the Novo Nordisk Foundation, which itself is a life sciences charitable foundation (the world’s largest, in fact) established by the Danish pharmaceutical giant.

Myricx Bio, is expected to use the funding to progress its innovative NMti-ADC therapeutics into clinical development. Without getting bogged down in the complex biotechnical details, these therapies focus on novel approaches to antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) designed to target hard-to-treat cancers. 

Myricx Bio CEO, Dr Robin Carr said “I am delighted to welcome our new investors and thank them for their support as we enter our next phase of development.”

If there were ever a perfect demonstration of the power of VC to do good, then surely it’s the world’s largest charitable foundation helping to power the future of cancer treatment. 

10. CrytocoinMiner — $100m

CrytocoinMiner is a cloud miner. What that means is that it essentially makes Bitcoin mining available to anyone – you or me, even – through the cloud.

This, it says, “allows you to passively earn Bitcoins without any restrictions, regardless of technical knowledge or financial resources. Once you have mined $100 worth of Bitcoins, you can transfer it to your account and trade it. Any profit is yours and you can withdraw it to your personal wallet.”

Now it has to be said, when you read into cloud mining for the first time, it sounds suspiciously scammy, and this isn’t helped by this particular excerpt from the funding round’s press release:

Step 2. Account Registration
CrytocoinMiner offers a simple registration process: just enter your email address. Register now and you will get $10 for free to start mining Bitcoin.

That said, CrytocoinMiner is, by all accounts, the real deal – though this obviously doesn’t constitute any kind of recommendation that you should try it out. If you are tempted, be advised that there are, reportedly, a massive amount of actual scams that have been set up in imitation of CrytocoinMiner, so do be careful. Crunchbase gives the company domain as https://crytocoinminer.com/xml/index.html#/. 

Conclusion

That wraps up another half-year’s worth of big funding rounds. Honourable mentions go to Cambridge-based River Lane, which secured a $75m Series C to keep advancing its quantum computing chips, and Form3, a cloud-native account-to-account payment platform, which raised a $60 million Series C extension in September. 

If you’re looking for work in innovative, VC-backed technology start-ups, speak to the team at Oho today to match your talent to the world’s greatest innovators.