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Class of 2016: Meet the most exciting entrepreneurs in London right now

As the country’s economic engine and innovation hotbed, there is no shortage of disruptive, entrepreneurial sparks beavering away on the next big thing in London.

From FinTech and PropTech to startups and incubators, the capital is teeming with brilliant new business ideas, and not a day goes by that we don’t catch wind of yet another startup with a mind-blowing idea that we wish we’d come up with here at Bdaily.

With this in mind, we’ve decided to round up the most exciting entrepreneurs that we have covered here at Bdaily London in the first half of 2016.

So without further ado, here’s a bunch of entrepreneurial London folk who you should be keeping a close eye on in the second half of the year.

Damien Kennedy and Greg Duggan, Wheyhey

Damien and Greg of Wheyhey have pioneered the world’s first high-protein and sugar-free alternative to ice-cream that has already wowed the likes of Holland and Barratt and the Odeon.

Going from strength-to-strength in 2016, the FoodTech firm’s guerilla marketing campaigns have caught the eye, but most impressive of all was the news that the London-based brand was the only UK startup to be selected for the agricultural and food-focused accelerator THRIVE in California.

Hayden Wood and Amit Gudka, Bulb

Launching just last week, disruptive 100% renewable energy supplier Bulb is looking to shake up the complacency of the UK’s ‘Big Six’ energy giants with its combination of tech and community-focused customer service, backed up by its green credentials and simple, single tariff.

Both Hayden and Amit have held previous positions in the energy sector, but decided to go it alone to strike back against what they saw as the inefficiency, poor service, bad tariffs and lack of transparency from the big providers.

The startup’s launch is particularly timely, coming off the back of the Competition and Markets Authority’s wide-ranging attack on the business practices of some of the UK’s biggest energy firms.

Henry Bennett and Paul Loram, YourWelcome

Representatives of a burgeoning startup sub-sector providing value-added services to bigger tech names, Henry and Paul’s YourWelcome is an innovative subscription service that allows Airbnb hosts to provide hotel-style services.

Launched in 2015, PropTech firm provides Airbnb hosts with a tablet through which they can provide guest services including local guides, video introductions and taxis at the touch of a button, which is monetised through commission from orders placed on the YourWelcome app.

The startup impressed so much during its stint at the prestigious Pi Labs accelerator that the venture capital firm pledged a £400k investment in March, waxing lyrical about the way in which it gives ‘service providers access to the short term lettings market and the sharing economy’.

Josh Magidson, Zing Zing

While by no means a new name on the entrepreneurial scene, EatStudent.co.uk’s brainchild Josh Magidson and his new venture, Chinese takeaway startup Zing Zing, has been one of 2016’s big success stories after their explosive crowdfunding campaign which closed this month.

Raising over £1.57m on Crowdcube, the takeaway brand smashed its original £350k target and drew investment from 723 investors, including Michael Sherwood, vice chairman at Goldman Sachs.

Zing Zing is hoping to grow from its East London base and spread UK-wide, bringing its MSG-free, fresh-from-the-wok Chinese takeaways to every corner of the country. And with over £1.5m in equity investment in the bank, few will doubt Josh’s ability to do just that.

Kenny Ewan, WeFarm

Perhaps one of the most inspiring entrepreneurs we’ve had a chance to speak to this year, Kenny Ewan’s WeFarm is striving to build ‘the internet for people with no internet’.

Through its SMS-based service, WeFarm provides crowdsourced support, advice and information to isolated smallholder farmers in Kenya, Uganda and Peru, creating a genuinely bottom-up information resource created by the very people who are using it.

Announced as the UK finalist in Chivas Regal’s The Venture pitching competition, WeFarm now has its trajectory fixed on more countries and further investment in the developing world as it aims to connect all of the 500m smallholder farmers scattered around the globe.

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