Tech Nation

We're proud to announce the Tech Nation Climate Programme Cohort 2025 🌎 They are the next generation of game-changing climate tech startups, scaling solutions to reduce emissions, restore nature and eliminate waste. Over four months, founders will gain unparalleled access to industry leaders, policymakers, and top-tier investors, all while building deep, lasting connections within a world-class community of climate pioneers. Meet the Climate 2025 Cohort: 🛸 AirSmat Inc: Carbon Removals across farms in Africa. 👜 Biophilica:  Leather alternatives made from plants. 🚛 Bristol Superlight: The new face of logistics. ♻️ Danu Robotics: Develops AI-powered robotic systems for efficient waste sorting and recycling. 🌊 DeepGreen: Reusing data centre heat for efficiency. 🤖 Epoch: Restoring ecosystems with data-driven solutions. ⚡️ GRYD Energy: Develops zero-cost, smart solar for homes. 🌤️ HalioGen Power: Next generation battery storage solutions. ☁️ Kumo: Scalable carbon finance. 🌾 Materra: Sustainable cotton for a changing climate. 🍄 Magical Mushroom Company®: Revolutionising packaging with mycelium. 🚜 Nala Earth: The nature management platform for business. 🔬 New Wave Biotech: AI-powered biotech R&D platform. 🧑🌾 Ponda: Planet regenerating fibres. 🏢 Ponterra: Developing the highest quality carbon projects with local farmers. ♺ Rare Earth Global: Industrial hemp for a greener future. 🔌 Renewabl: Europes most liquid green energy marketplace. 🐠 SamudraOceans: Oceans Limited: Ocean-based carbon removals. 🏡 Snugg: Making homes warmer and energy bills lower. 💸 Stabiliti: Redefining sustainable financing. 🧴 Sun Bear Biofuture: The future of fats and oils. 🚘 TaiSan: Next-gen sodium batteries. 🧬 twig: Engineering biology for a sustainable future. 🗑️ WASTETIDE: Decarbonising industrial waste with a photo. 👩🌾 Wild Bioscience: Unlocking crop potential through genomics. They will be joined by fellow companies who have been part of the programme previously: 💨 PuriFire Energy: Pioneering green hydrogen & bio-ethanol 📦 CLUBZERØ: Creating returnable packaging. 🔗 Find out more about the programme & this year's cohort here: https://lnkd.in/eFq9iuPf Sammy Fry | Puja DeGamia | Ellie Steel | Ailsa Taylor Mealings | Imogen Granger | Demi Crook

We’re thrilled to announce that EDF (UK) is an official partner for the Tech Nation Climate Programme 2025! 🌎 As the UK’s largest producer of zero-carbon electricity, EDF is at the forefront of the clean energy transition, helping to power the next generation of climate tech innovators tackling the world’s biggest challenges. Our revamped Climate Growth Programme is designed to bridge the gap between climate innovation and industry, accelerating the UK’s most promising startups and equipping them with the tools to scale. Over 4 months, founders will benefit from:  🔹  Curated access to Corporate leaders   🔹 Direct line to policymakers at the House of Lords  🔹 Meetings with top-tier investors   🔹 World-class tailored advisory  🔹 A lifelong community With EDF’s support, we’re strengthening the bridge between groundbreaking climate solutions and real-world impact. The 2025 Climate Programme cohort will be announced tomorrow – watch this space! 👀 David Ferguson | Sammy Fry | Puja DeGamia | Ellie Steel | Ailsa Taylor Mealings 

⚡️ Last week, we co-hosted our first Tech Zero event of the year, alongside Renewabl, hosted by Sophia Kesteven (Tech Zero), Juan Pablo Cerda (Renewabl) and our Head of Climate, Sammy Fry, focused on Tech’s Next Power Move. Industry leaders tackled the urgent need for real, accountable, and cost-effective 24/7 renewable energy. Key takeaways: 🟢 Energy procurement needs a rethink – The current approach to buying renewables doesn’t always match real-time consumption. A shift to 24/7 carbon-free energy (CFE) matching is critical. 🟢 Greenwashing risks are real – 42% of corporate sustainability claims were found to be misleading. Regulatory scrutiny is increasing, requiring companies to prove their clean energy impact on an hourly basis. 🟢 The data problem – Many businesses still manage their energy use on spreadsheets, missing real-time insights that could drive smarter, greener decisions. 🟢 Grid constraints threaten AI and industry growth – The UK has some of the highest electricity costs globally, making it harder to scale data centres and energy-intensive industries. Without affordable, clean power, the UK risks losing its edge in AI and tech innovation. 🟢 A call to action – The industry needs to align decarbonisation with business incentives. Companies like Google, Electricity Maps, and Electron are pioneering new strategies, but collective action is essential to reshape markets and regulatory frameworks. Despite the noise, decarbonisation isn’t optional. The ones who transition to clean, cost-effective, and flexible energy will determine who leads the next wave of innovation. Thanks to our brilliant speakers, Tom Morris (EY), Jo-Jo Hubbard (Electron), Olivier Corradi (Electricity Maps), @Trigya Singh (Global Renewables Alliance (GRA), Adam Elman (Google), Nikolaj Martyniuk (Renewabl), Philip Steele (Octopus Energy), Jon Fletcher (Energy Helper). Thank you to Luma Manina (Renewabl) for driving this forward. Ellie Steel | Puja DeGamia | Ailsa Taylor Mealings

1 in 4 people are disabled or neurodiverse. Yet too often, founders in these communities face unnecessary barriers to starting and accelerating their businesses. During Tuesday’s Investing in Inclusive Innovation event, we explored how investors, ecosystem leaders and founders can drive real change. And inclusion isn't just about people – it's about the economy too. Disabled consumers contribute an estimated £40 billion to the UK economy and when we remove barriers for disabled and neurodiverse entrepreneurs, we unlock massive potential for growth. Chaired by the brilliant Martha Lane Fox, our expert panel, including Robert Haines, Andrew Miller, Roderick Beer and Solomia Boretska shared powerful insights on: 🔵  The role of investors: Investors have the power to break down barriers and back disabled founders with the capital and support they need by offering accessible application processes. 🔵  Strength in community: When we come together, challenge the status quo, and take action, real progress happens. Knowledge-sharing empowers founders to tackle challenges and scale their businesses, reinforcing Creo’s crucial role in strengthening the UK tech ecosystem through community. 🔵  The impact of leadership: Change happens when leaders commit to building truly inclusive businesses from the inside out, by ensuring office spaces and digital tools are accessible to employees with disabilities. A huge thank you to everyone who joined us and to Techspace for hosting us in their beautiful space on Goswell Road.  To find out more about sponsorship opportunities follow the link: https://lnkd.in/gPqqxNTm #Creo #Disabled #Neurodiverse #Founders #Entrepreneurs #Tech #Innovation #TechNation Chantelle Young | Ellie Steel |  Puja DeGamia | Ailsa Taylor Mealings

China wins with Manus AI, Microsoft and OpenAI's relationship is 'complicated', and after 20 years of awkward video calls, #Skype gets the digital axe. 🪓 Read my take on the biggest tech stories of the week 👇 🥷🏻 AI-gent Provocateur Move over #DeepSeek! China's newest AI sensation has entered the chat and you don’t even need to prompt it. #ManusAI claims to be the world's first fully autonomous AI agent, capable of handling complex tasks independently beyond the dullard dexterities of your standard chatbot. How’s it done it? Manus isn’t an LLM; it’s a smart AGI interface built on Anthropic’s Claude that leverages the agent capabilities of the foundational #AI model. Once again, a team of genius developers have taken an open-source model and built on it to make a transformative AI product. Such endeavours raise questions about the longevity of today’s buzzing AI startups – open-source evangelists on #GitHub have already built OpenManus! – and explain why most VC money is flowing to a handful of massive AI companies building foundational models, like Anthropic which just raised $3.5b. 👀 Shout out to Frontier One's Frank Meehan for his insights here. 💔 Big Tech Break Up? As Trump twiddles with trade tariffs, #BigTech is investing into massive domestic semiconductor projects in the US to reduce reliance on foreign manufacturers. OpenAI is also flying the American flag with its own secret service of AI agents – priced like human employees minus the lunch breaks and existential dread. Open AI’s high-income knowledge worker agents will reportedly be priced at $2k a month; PhD-level research assistants at $20k. 🤑 But even these efforts aren’t wooing one of its biggest backers. Remember when Microsoft pumped billions into OpenAI? Now the tech giant is developing its own in-house reasoning models while testing alternatives from xAI, Meta, and DeepSeek to replace #ChatGPT in its workplace AI bot, Copilot. While there’s no official breakup yet, ChatGPT's price and performance issues are giving Microsoft ‘the ick’. Meanwhile, OpenAI has reportedly secured an $11.9b deal with CoreWeave, gaining an ownership stake and displacing Microsoft as the cloud service provider's number one customer. 🔇 Finding Mute While Elon Musk blamed X’s mass outage on an attack from Ukraine this week (…), there was a simpler time when tech platforms brought people together, chats were friendly, and logos were big, round, and blue. This was the time of Niklas Zennström's Skype – a brand which became a verb. Now, after two decades of upside-down video calls, embarrassing background gaffes, and parents struggling to find the mute button, Microsoft is pulling the plug on Skype in May and focusing all of its efforts on Microsoft Teams. Lord help us all. 🙏 For more disjointed ramblings, sign up to our newsletter 👉 https://lnkd.in/dgJmGMHU Founders Forum Group Tech Nation #startups #technology #technews

🚀 Last call for Libra applications! Applications for our next Libra cohort close this Sunday, March 16th - don’t miss your chance to be part of this game-changing community. Libra is designed to empower ambitious founders from underrepresented backgrounds with: 🌟 A brand-new immersive retreat to accelerate your growth 🤝 Tailored mentorship from industry leaders 🌍 A lifelong network of like-minded entrepreneurs If you're scaling with intention and ready to take your business to the next level, now's the time to apply. 🔗 Apply by this Sunday: https://lnkd.in/ePKYY-2 Chantelle Young | Ellie Steel | Ailsa Taylor Mealings | Puja DeGamia

Bringing Generative AI to Tech Nation 🚀 Over the past few days, we had the pleasure of hosting Generative AI training workshops in London with the experts at Mediartem AI. Filip and Mislav led sessions for our teams across marketing, events, partnerships, and finance, diving into how AI tools can supercharge workflows and drive innovation. 💡The engagement was outstanding - sharp insights, thought-provoking questions and a real appetite for exploring how AI can enhance business operations and empower entrepreneurs. A huge thank you to Mediartem AI for their expertise and to everyone who joined — Excited to keep exploring and applying AI-driven solutions across Tech Nation! #GenerativeAI #AIUpskilling #Startups #Innovation #TechNation #FoundersForum

Investing in Inclusive Innovation ⭐️ At Tech Nation, we believe innovation should be for everyone - and that starts with ensuring disabled and neurodiverse founders have access to the opportunities, networks and investments they deserve. On March 11th, we’re bringing together some of the most exciting high-growth, impact-driven founders with angel investors and family offices eager to back the next wave of groundbreaking startups. What to expect:  Founders & investor networking - Meet ambitious, high-potential founders driving scalable business with social and commercial impact. A thriving community - Connect with peers, industry leaders and ecosystem advocates committed to building a more inclusive future. Expert insights - Chaired by the incredible Martha Lane Fox, our panel will dive into the power of inclusive entrepreneurship and will feature speakers: Robert Haines, Andrew Miller, Roderick Beer Beer and Solomia Boretska. 🔗 Ready to be part of the conversation? Register your interest now https://lnkd.in/eEmFGZuQ 📅 Tuesday 11th Match 10am-12pm  📍 Techspace Goswell Road, London This event is delivered in partnership with HSBC Innovation Banking and Motability Operations Ltd, who are committed to driving innovation and supporting the next generation of groundbreaking founders. 🚀

🚀 Founders Spotlight: Melissa Snover! Meet Melissa Snover, the trailblazing founder of REM3DY Health Group. From launching her first business at University to challenging the status quo of traditional food production, Melissa founded Rem3dy Health in 2020 to make nutrition more personal, precise and accessible. A proud alumnus of Tech Nation’s Upscale programme (2021), Melissa is now driving tech innovation in the Midlands and supporting the next generation of founders as a Regional Champion for this year's Rising Stars competition - the UK’s leading competition for early-stage tech startups. Rising Stars offers ambitious founders unmatched exposure, expert support and the opportunity to secure funding to supercharge growth. ⏳ Applications close 9th March don’t miss out! 👉 Apply now: https://lnkd.in/eJufbnu3 Ella Ross Russell | Marco De Novellis | Francesca Arese Lucini, PhD

Behind every transformative solution lies a founder who saw possibility where others saw problems. Our “100 Women Founders To Watch” report aims to highlight these founders who are making breakthroughs in healthcare, spacetech, femtech, AI and developing sustainable solutions for our climate challenges! The report spotlights some of these impressive innovators across the UK and Europe, the US, and Southeast Asia who are addressing genuine needs in these areas and with whom we’re fortunate to have in our FF community. They remind us that diverse leadership drives better outcomes for business and society alike. Report: https://lnkd.in/eaN_D6Jb Marcia Kilgore (Beauty Pie) | Tania Boler (Elvie) | Grace Beverley (Tala) | Lilly Sabri (Lean) | Noor Sweid (Global.Ventures) | Sara Du (Alloy Automation Systems) | Liris Maduningtyas (JALA) | Ayesha Ofori (Propelle) | Elisabeth L'Orange | Michelle Lu (Vsim ) | Sasha Haco (Unitary) | Maja Schaefer (Zowie) | Edna Martinson (Boddle Learning) | Sue-Anne Toh (NOVI Health) | Athena Lee (ZumVet) #FoundersForum #WhereTheFutureUnfolds #WomensDay #WomenInTech #WomenFounders #Tech #Entrepreneurship