The world of technology is full of innovators and disruptors trying to solve some of our biggest problems. Those who have made it onto this year’s 2026 Startups 100 Index, powered by Sage, Tech Award shortlist stand out for their persistence and vision.
These are founders who have faced big challenges and thought round them to create solutions that haven’t been tried before. They are also working within completely different industries from each other – from commerce to space.
This fills us with optimism for a future in which there are founders using their inventions to change so many spheres of our lives for the better.
Winner – Burbank
Burbank has proved possible what many in the industry thought impossible: turning the customer’s phone into a secure payment terminal that they can tap their card against to buy something. The company created its Card-Present Over Internet (CPoI®) technology to bring tap and PIN capabilities to online channels in a move that will be a game-changer for more than just ecommerce businesses.
CEO Justin Pike has a long history in the transactions sector, but this was put to the test in developing this technology. “Our biggest challenge was finding a way to scale the most secure payment method that already exists, without breaking the way the current system works,” he explains.
The team built a zero-trust architecture after recognising that the global banking system simply couldn’t cope with two billion phones becoming point-of-sale devices. They also kept everything virtualised in the cloud, and used standard formats that acquirers already know how to handle. This has kept the banks happy –after all, fraud is a huge issue for merchants.
After years of development, Burbank’s CPoI® technology is now live. The startup has secured £5m in seed funding and built partnerships with banks and regulators to get the support it needs to grow.
This has been the culmination of 18 years of work, and now, the team is ready to take their creation to financial institutions globally to get it embedded directly into mobile banking apps. Plus, there is potential for digital wallets, digital IDs, and age-restricted content.
Burbank has taken a trusted technology from the offline world and made it work online, in what could be revolutionary for consumers, banks and businesses. As such, it is a worthy winner of the 2026 Startups 100 Tech Award.
Shortlist – Fibe
Fashion has struggled to find scalable, affordable and sustainable materials for decades. The industry is dominated by man-made fabrics, which have an environmental impact both when making them and disposing of them. Business Insider analysis finds that fashion production comprises 10% of total global carbon emissions, as much as the emissions generated by the EU.
But Fibe has a solution. The startup has created sustainable natural fibres by converting billions of tonnes of agricultural waste – specifically, potato plants – into a high-quality, mass-market textile alternative. Their solution uses no land, is low-input, and is climate resilient where conventional natural fibre plants could struggle.
The results are staggering – Fibe uses 99% less water and creates 82% less CO2e than cotton.
The team has already signed a Joint Development Agreement (JDA) with a major global brand and has raised £1.2m via business grants and strategic collaborations. They are now going to market to sell licensing agreements, which businesses can use to actually hit the environmental goals the industry has been paying lip service to for decades.
Shortlist – Neuranics
The gesture recognition sector is estimated to be worth USD$182.47bn by 2032. But it is being held back by the technology being used, say the founders of Neuranics. Many sensors require electrodes and skin contact, which is uncomfortable for continuous use. Others rely on light and can be impacted by motion artefacts, or even skin tone.
Neuranics spent years researching the potential for TMR sensor technology to deliver where these other technologies were falling short. The team discovered it could detect minute magnetic signals, such as those from heart and muscle activity, with a level of precision no other method could achieve. It was also contactless, ultra-sensitive and low power.
With companies pushing to develop sensing technologies for everything from medical to gaming devices, the team created development kits to send to potential partners so they could test the technology themselves.
Neuranics also gained worldwide attention as a CES 2025 Innovation Award Honoree – an annual tradeshow that draws the biggest names from the technology world every year.
Neuranics uniquely combines TMR sensors, custom ASICs, and AI-enabled hardware and software. As such, it can deliver contactless, ultra-sensitive biosignal detection possible at scale. The future looks exciting for this venture, and we’ll be keeping an eye on its next steps.
Shortlist – Pan Galactic
The four founders of Pan Galactic looked to the stars and created a venture that will help others to explore the Universe. They have created what they call “the secure digital backbone for the future space economy”.
The quartet bootstrapped for three years – working nights and weekends – to create GalacticOS, a quantum-safe operating system for space, and GalacticQB, a blockchain layer for secure data integrity and resilient communications.
Now on the radar of NASA, the European Space Agency, and the UK Space Agency, this technology has arrived at a time when countries have legally mandated that, by 2030, they will need to adopt the standards of encryption that Pan Galactic is already working with.
The team caught our attention as it has managed to turn a deep tech business with no external funding and no CEO salaries into an award-winning venture.
Pan Galactic has won support and awards from the UK Space Agency and European Space Agency, as well as securing mentoring from industry leaders. It was named UK Space Startup of the Year 2024. This award – and our recognition – are deserved by this stellar startup.
Click below to discover the nominees and winners for our other Startups 100 Awards:
