Offering exotic escapes, from jungle adventures to beach retreats and ‘big five’ safaris, this online tour operator specialises in the luxury travel market. Chief executive Nena Chaletzos founded the company after becoming frustrated with the complexity of tailor-making a luxury holiday. The company developed technology that makes the process of multi component trip building easier. Luxtripper is chaired by travel and media veteran Roger Flynn, a former BBC Ventures chief executive and Virgin commercial director, who chaired Loveholidays from 2011 to its sale in 2018. In January 2021, Luxtripper secured £1.2m of funding, bringing total investment to £3.1m.

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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.
‘Why getting married was the best first step for our business’
Dr.PawPaw makes more than 30 skincare products sold in 30 countries through the likes of Boots, Superdrug and Sainsbury’s. Johnny and Pauline Paterson set up the company in 2013 when their daughter was diagnosed with eczema. The husband-and-wife duo searched for a natural alternative to steroid prescription creams and realised there was a gap in the market. They invested £20,000 to create a multipurpose balm using papaya extract.