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From battling alcohol at 12 to building a multi-million pound business

In 2014, whilst on vacation in Thailand, three friends from London noticed the amount of rubbish and plastic bottles on a remote island. Founders Josh White, who had previously launched an events company, Perry Alexander, a self taught graphic designer, and Ariel Booker, a headhunter, started researching and discovered that cans are more recycled than plastic. Cano Water launched in 2015 selling still and sparkling water in cans. Today the company sources and cans its water in the UK and sells via retailers including Tesco and Ocado.

Disclaimer: The statements made by our interviewees are an expression of their own views and opinions and in no way reflect FEBE Ventures’ views or opinions, nor are such views or opinions endorsed or supported by us.

More Unemployables

Entrepreneurship is a disease…but I don’t want the cure’

This technology start-up unlocks the world of whisky. It has developed proprietary image capturing software that allows mobile phones to scan and identify any bottle of the ‘golden elixir’. The Bevvy app displays a variety of information on the scanned whisky, including an estimated valuation, tasting notes, user ratings and distillery history. Its database stores details of more than 200,000 bottles, and the app is aimed at anyone from novices to collectors and distillery owners. Headquartered on the Isle of Islay, the company was set up in 2021 by leading whisky expert Laurie Black, and entrepreneur Luke Heron, co-founder of medtech firm TestCard.

How we grew by 400% and hit 7th in the Fast Track 100

400 and 25,000. In the Ooni story, these two numbers stand out like haggis on a Hawaiian pizza. The first is the company’s percentage growth over the past 12 months. The second is the minimum starting salary for new Ooni employees in the UK. Few companies exhibit such steep growth or raw recruitment power, so how has this Edinburgh-based hardware company done it?

“HOW TO HANDLE FAST GROWTH? ASK FOR HELP”

Connie Nam felt her confidence draining away. The founder of London-based lifestyle jewellery brand Astrid & Miyu had built a fast-growing, multi-million-pound company, but that didn’t matter. As unbelievable as it sounds, imposter syndrome was creeping in. The Seoul-born, US-raised Londoner explains why: “I’d hired someone who’d started to challenge how I ran the business. They were an expert in that field; I wasn’t. I saw myself as a founder, not a CEO, so the criticism hit home.”

“How we turned our small garage business into one of the fastest growing companies in Europe”

Velocity Commerce has rapidly grown from a small start up run from a home garage to being recognised as the 92nd fastest growing company in Europe in the Financial Times 1000: Europe’s Fastest Growing Companies. Read PJ & Eddie’s story to learn just how they’ve done it….

‘Don’t overreact to curveballs. Focus is everything’

Kubrick Group was launched to overcome the digital skills shortage by building a data, AI, and cloud technology workforce. It provides staff with training before deploying them as consultants. It has trained over 1,000 professionals and supports more than 100 clients, including BP, Morgan Stanley, and Jaguar Land Rover. The London-based company was co-founded in 2016 by managing partners Tim Smeaton and Simon Walker and is backed by private-equity firm Bowmark Capital, which invested an undisclosed sum last year. Sales have risen by more than 50% a year since 2018, reaching £29.2m in 2021.

How I kept my business alive when demand evaporated

WeFlex provides car finance and rental to ride-hailing drivers, focusing on electric vehicles. Founder Nicko Williamson is a serial entrepreneur, who launched his first eco-friendly venture, ClimateCars, in 2007 aged 23 and sold it to Addison Lee in 2015 for an undisclosed sum. WeFlex has raised £2m of investment and £27.5m in debt to date. London-based WeFlex plans to have an all-electric fleet of 5,000 vehicles by 2025.