TechNation200 Almanac 2015/16

See the full profile interviews at www.techcityinsider.net
Josh Davidson
Founder and managing director
Night Zookeeper
“I was in Melbourne, Australia, when I heard that the zoo was open at night. I’d never heard
of something so miraculous and I came up with a story about strange magical animals
that you would encounter in this curious night zoo. This was back in the time of blogs and
wikis. I saw interesting things were happening in science fiction in various forums and thought
it would be interesting if I made Night Zookeeper a collaborative story. In this age of so many
distractions, the fact that kids are still going home and writing stories is so fantastic. Kids are
actually incredibly creative, and that really helps drive a platform like Night Zookeeper.”
Edtech platform Night Zookeeper offers a set of inspiring learning resources and games that develop reading,
writing and creativity. It is based around a series of magical storybooks that introduce children to a world of
possibilities. Davidson has secured more than US $1m in investment to date. @nightzookeeper
Samir Desai
Co-founder and chief executive
Funding Circle
“Funding Circle is, at heart, a very simple business. It’s an online
marketplace that allows individuals, businesses, government,
institutions – basically anyone – to lend money directly to small
businesses, effectively cutting out the banks. What that means
is investors get a better return on their money and businesses
get access to fast, lower-cost loans, and hopefully together that
grows the economy. The biggest challenge we have is increasing
awareness. We’ve got a decent amount of money now, so hopefully
that’s something we can start to address quickly. We want Funding
Circle to be part of the fi nancial infrastructure.”
Peer-to-peer lending platform Funding Circle offers an online marketplace
for lending to small businesses, using technology to match accredited
and institutional investors to UK and US small businesses looking for
fi nance. In April 2015 it secured a mega US$150m series E round.
@FundingCircleUK
Becky Downing
Chief executive
Buzzmove
“The removals industry
was in dire need of
improvement. There
had to be a way of setting
up an online booking site
that provided instant and
exact prices to stop people
from getting stung by a
big bill at the end of the
move. Buzzmove became
Europe’s fi rst online pricecomparison
and booking
platform for moving, so you
could instantly book your home
move on our website. The
original business model was
entirely b2c. But we changed
it to b2b in the sense that
now our algorithm matches
our customers to the fi ve most
appropriate businesses”
Buzzmove is the UK’s fi rst pricecomparison
and instant booking
platform for moving-related
services. It works with industryaccredited
removal companies to
make the moving process easy
and convenient. Former lawyer
Downing set up the business in
2013, fulfi lling a long-held desire
to be an entrepreneur.
@BuzzmoveHQ
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