Seven Tech Companies in Newcastle to Watch

In our first in the series on England-based firms, we look at Caspian, Gavurin, IOTech Systems, Kani Payments, Opencast Software, QuantuMDx and ZeroLight.

Named the eighth fastest-growing city in the United Kingdom by the Levelling Up Tech Power League, Newcastle Upon Tyne is no stranger to the tech sector or the funds that pour into it.

As a matter of fact, the Tyneside metropolis managed to raise £86 million in venture capital funding in 2021 alone. With cash like that flowing in, there are far more than seven tech companies to keep an eye on in the city, but the following names are an excellent starting point.

Caspian

Many businesses are using AI automation these days. Whether it’s to streamline the recruitment process or to provide a unique customer service experience, you can’t walk very far in a burgeoning tech city like Newcastle without bumping into an AI-dedicated firm like Caspian.

However, the 20-year veterans’ product isn’t focused on optimising the office. Instead, its solutions are tuned to helping banks investigate financial crime, particularly money-laundering. According to Nasdaq, which invested in and partnered with Caspian in 2020, this “Automated Investigator” can increase clients’ operational efficiency by over 40%.

Though quietly expanding as of late, Caspian partnered with Durham University to develop new and improved AML solutions in November 2021.

Gavurin

Founded in 2007, Gavurin is a hybrid IT consultancy firm and SaaS-provider. Its primary focus is on data and how to turn that data into usable content.

The firm says its Glass content automation platform can “streamline the process of producing data-driven content at scale”. According to Gavurin, Glass consolidates the needs of designers, writers and reviewers into one toolset, whilst providing transparency across the end-to-end process.

Other services include data consultancy and a variety of software solutions hosted on Microsoft Azure. With eight employees listed on LinkedIn, the small team has carefully carved out a name for themselves in the Newcastle tech sector.

IOTech Systems

As an edge software developer, flexibility is a central component of IOTech’s work as. In its words, the firm is dedicated to “providing solutions that provide independence from hardware, operating system, programming language, applications, OT protocols and choice of cloud technologies”.

LF Edge, a nonprofit dedicated to creating an open-source framework for edge computing, counts IOTech as one of its general members, a position the company shares with the likes of Toyota, Nokia and HCL.

In late 2021, the company announced a pair of interesting collaborations, one with Google Cloud to offer clients integrated cloud-edge solutions and one with Building Systems Integrations for building automation solutions.

Kani Payments

Automation is the name of the game for clever firm Kani, which has set out to build a back office platform for automating a variety of reporting and reconciliation processes.

Other services include business intelligence, which allows clients to read reports on their customers’ spending habits and other data, and access to their so-called “payment gurus”.

In February 2022, the firm announced a partnership with IDT Finance, a bank operating out of Gibraltar.

Opencast Software

This digital consultancy firm got its start in 2012 and offers a variety of tech expertise and support to its clients. Services include DevOps engineering, live services support and “user-centered design”.

Expansion has been on the firm’s mind as of late. In late November 2021, it announced a contract with HMRC to deliver digital services for the department. Opencast Software hopes this will help it reach the goal of tripling the company’s size by 2025.

Around the same time, company founders Charles Hoult and Mike O’Brien took advantage of the government’s Enterprise Management Scheme to give away a third of their shares in the company to employees.

QuantuMDx

Working in the medtech industry, QuantuMDx’s star products are its PCR rapid testing platform and an accompanying procedure for the detection of COVID-19 for said platform with plans to expand screening including options for a respiratory panel and other matters.

The company counts molecular diagnostics firm SpeeDx, St. George’s University of London and the South African Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative among its partners.

Recent news has been quite kind to QuantuMDx. It gained a £15 million equity investment from Hong Kong-based venture capital firm Vita Spring. In March 2022, the firm’s COVID detection assay was greenlit for use in the UK.

ZeroLight

ZeroLight’s specialty is cloud-based 3D visualisation, specifically for the automotive sales industry. It has provided a variety of solutions for high-profile car brands including Porsche, Lamborghini, BMW and Audi.

The firm has spent the last year-plus focusing on growth. In June 2021, it began a partnership with Amazon, and named Bain & Company partner Ralf Kalmbach as non-executive chairman in November 2021.

Most recently, at the end of February 2022, ZeroLight launched Scene, an app for its content creation platform SpotLight for automotive marketing.

Zephin Livingston
Zephin Livingston
Zephin Livingston is a content writer for eWeek, eWeek UK, IT Business Edge, and SoftwarePundit with years of experience in multiple fields including cybersecurity, tech, cultural criticism, and media literacy. They're currently based out of Seattle.
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