2021 has been another year like no other. Whilst the uncertainty of COVID has left many industries out in the cold, the UK tech sector has had its best year to date, attracting £29.4bn of investment (compared to last year’s £11.5bn).
And for our team at Crest, the growing buzz surrounding the tech startup scene has created fertile ground for exciting new clients, killer stories and a growing team to ensure we can tell them.
Here are some of our highlights from 2021!
We gained three brilliant new team members
This year we gained three stellar new team members: Chrys Salter (Account Manager), Emma Line (Account Executive) and Jess Sharpe (Account Executive). Our team wouldn’t be the same without them and we look forward to welcoming more brilliant and creative minds to the Crest ranks next year.
Tiney in the Guardian
Tiney is a childcare platform founded by TeachFirst’s Brett Wigdortz, which helps people train to become childminders and set up nurseries in their homes.
If you work in PR you’ll understand that great case studies are like gold dust – so we were really proud of this Guardian piece featuring tiney childminders who’d entered the sector from totally different industries. Read the full piece here.
Young Planet in The Times
Young Planet is a circular economy app that enables parents to give unwanted childrens’ toys to other families for free, so that they avoid landfill.
We loved this interview with co-founders Jason and Emma Ash in The Times, which shows that it’s entirely possible to lead a minimal-waste family life. Read the full piece here.
Credit: Sarah Cresswell for The Times
Shelter’s carol concert in the Daily Express
This year we worked with homelessness charity Shelter for the second year running to publicise their annual virtual carol concert. The event featured a host of well-known faces including Danni Menzies, Edith Bowman, Vick Hope and Matt Allwright. We were delighted to secure a double-page interview with Danni in the Daily Express, which ran the morning of the carol concert to spread the word about the event. Read the full piece online here.
Goodlord in the Financial Times
Goodlord is a property tech startup spearheaded by William Reeve: the serial entrepreneur and investor involved in the likes of Nutmeg, Zoopla and Lovefilm. We were super proud of this Financial Times interview, in which William discusses how he turned Goodlord’s fortunes around (spoiler: he doesn’t take all the credit). Read the full piece here.
Béa Fertility in Refinery29
At-home fertility treatment startup Béa Fertility joined us in April this year and we had a stellar run of coverage that helped put them on the map. But we were particularly proud of the piece that ran in Refinery29, which drilled into the nitty gritty of Intracervical Insemination: the treatment Béa is bringing back. Read the story here.
Virti in The Washington Post
Virti is an immersive learning startup that uses VR/AR technology to help organisations deliver engaging training to their teams. The applications for the technology are far-reaching; but we were particularly pleased with this piece of coverage in The Washington Post, which looked at how Virti’s AI-powered ‘virtual patients’ are helping doctors perfect their bedside manner. Read the full article here.
Laundryheap in Forbes
Laundry and dry-cleaning startup Laundryheap experienced exponential international growth during the pandemic, as demand for contactless on-demand services accelerated. We loved this honest interview with founder Deyan Dimitrov in Forbes, in which he discusses how scaling quickly isn’t always plain sailing. Read the full piece here.
Applied in CNBC
Applied is a B2B recruitment platform which helps organisations remove bias from their hiring processes. Instead of relying on CVs, the platform helps businesses use a ‘skills-based’ approach to find the best person for the job. We were really proud to set up this interview with CNBC for Applied’s CEO Khyati Sundaram, in which she discusses the merits of a fair and de-biased recruitment model. Read the full piece here.
The Ability People in the Financial Times
The Ability People and Podium, spearheaded by Paralympian Liz Johnson, are two organisations developed to make workplaces more inclusive so that disabled employees can flourish.
We were really proud of this interview with Podium recruit Geoff Cook in the FT that ran back in January. Read the full piece here.
Credit: Pascal Perich/FT
Blueheart in the Guardian
Sextech app Blueheart is all about tearing down the taboos surrounding sex therapy and empowering more people to access professional support. A key area the app helps users tackle is low libido, so we particularly loved this piece from The Guardian which featured expert commentary from one of Blueheart’s therapists, Dr Laura Vowels. Read the full story.
iov42 in The Fintech Times
The supply chain crisis shows no sign of slowing down – so we were really proud of this timely piece from iov42’s Chief Product Officer David Coleman, which explains how blockchain technology could help put an end to supply chain disruption. Read the full piece here.
Thank you to everyone we’ve worked with this year for making it so memorable. We look forward to seeing what 2022 has in store!
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