Every industry seems to be on an AI gold rush at the moment, as the ever-evolving technology continues to dominate discussions around the future of work.
Currently, what’s frequently making mainstream headlines is when AI goes rogue. Most recently,
this was a DPD chatbot swearing, and even writing a poem about the company being the “worst delivery firm in the world”.
While we all enjoy a chuckle at these incidents, the broader story is that AI is improving with every iteration of releases.
As the top tech companies battle it out to release successful consumer GenAI products, agile start-ups and scale-ups continue to innovate and announce new funding.
In
a recent report, CB Insights listed the most promising start-ups in a number of tech areas, including insurtech, retail tech and AI – though its definition of start-up is quite generous, as some organisations included were founded as far back as 2016, and
further. Out of 48 GenAI companies profiled, the U.S. dominated, and just five were listed as UK-based.
Here are the companies which made the cut:
Diffblue
In Oxford, you will find Diffblue, the creators of the world’s first fully-autonomous GenAI for coding in the software development industry. Although founded in 2016, just last month the platform announced Citi Institutional Strategic Investments as its
investor.
Primarily focused on writing Java test units, a recent integration announced with GitLab means that it’s now easy for Diffblue customers to scan code, receive recommendations and deliver high-quality software faster.
A
recent survey released by the organisation, and conducted by Vanson Bourne, revealed that modernising existing Java-powered apps and improving security are key priorities for engineering leads in the coming years.
Flawless AI
Founded in 2018 and based in London, Flawless AI specialises in deepfake technology for the television and film industries. Its TrueSynch uses AI to create lip-synched visualisations in multiple languages, so that soon you could be watching a film made in
another language but be entirely unaware.
In autumn last year, the organisation announced $2.2 million in seed funding, a new founder, and that longtime Google executive Tim Carter had joined as head of its Artistic Rights Treasury group – a key hire during the actors’ strike that included concerns
about AI replacing or mimicking real actors.
Move AI
We have all seen behind-the-scenes visuals from animated TV and film production that show actors wearing special suits that are used to capture motion data used in 3D animation.
Move offers a mobile-enabled alternative to capture movement for animation, with no suits or studios required. Founded in 2019, last October it raised $10 million in funding to accelerate its AI-powered 3D animation solutions, as well as hire into engineering,
research, marketing, and sales.
Synthesia
Synthesia is an AI video generation tool used for training and marketing videos. Simply provide it with a topic and target audience, and it generates a customisable video including script and scenes with an AI-generated actor.
Last year it raised $90 million in a Series-C round, bringing Synthesia’s total raised to date to $156.6 million, and the value of the start-up at $1 billion, and unicorn status.
TOffeeAM
Offering intelligent multiphysics generative design for advanced manufacturing, TOffeeAM started its software development with applications linked to cooling systems inside gas turbines, first targeting the aerospace industry.
Now the start-up works with the commercial automotive industry where the opportunities for manufacturing optimization are vast. In September, the organisation partnered with Imperial College London and the National Aerospace Technology Exploitation Programme
on a project looking at multiscale optimisation for the next gen of heat exchanges, winning an Innovate UK grant to undertake the research.
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