Bicester-based AI company FIDO Tech named KPMG's top tech innovator

FIDO Tech has been named as the UK’s Top Tech Innovator of 2021 by KPMG Private Enterprise and will now go on to represent the UK at a global competition held in Lisbon in November.

The company competed against some of the most innovative tech entrepreneurs across the country and now joins the impressive list of former winners, including companies such as Echo Health and What3Words.

Based at the Perch Eco Business Centre in Bicester, the team’s pioneering leak detecting AI technology, FIDO AI, earned its creators the coveted title. The technology is now being used by water companies in the UK, Europe, Canada, Australia, Africa, South Africa and the US.

FIDO Tech’s unique deep learning algorithm identifies the presence and size of leaks in real-time from any audio or vibration file, with more than 92% accuracy. It was this tech and their winning pitch which won over the panel of UK tech industry experts in KPMG’s highly-regarded Private Enterprise Tech Innovator in the UK competition.

Bina Mehta, Chair, KPMG UK and Head of the UK Emerging Giants Centre of Excellence said: “The power of our technology sector to deliver impact on a global scale is more important than it’s ever been, and our UK innovators are a real success story.

“The UK is ranked in the top five in KPMG’s Global Innovation Hub Index and sits at the forefront of global tech innovation. Data from our upcoming Venture Pulse survey signals another record quarter for VC investment into our fast growth and early-stage businesses, pointing to our ability to create, attract and nurture entrepreneurs, disruptors and scaleups across the UK.

“FIDO Tech is a fantastic example of the growing number of innovative UK businesses who are proving that there is much opportunity for growth if businesses are prepared to think differently or come at the problem from a new angle. I wish them the best of luck as they move on to represent the UK at the global competition at WebSummit.”

FIDO Tech will now progress to the global stage of the competition at Web Summit in November, to compete with tech innovators from 17 other countries. The winner of that stage of the competition will be crowned the Global Tech Innovator.

Victoria Edwards, CEO and Co-founder of FIDO Tech said: “We are very excited to have won the Tech Innovator in the UK competition, against some very talented and remarkable competition and would like to thank KPMG and the wider tech ecosystem for the support that we have received throughout this process. Special thanks go to United Utilities for the simply phenomenal kick start we had in their Innovation Lab in 2019.

“Our experience throughout the competition has proven our ‘Fido Faith’ - in that we will always do what we say we will do. To have taken part in the competition alongside such amazing tech businesses inspires us to seize on the challenge that lies ahead.  Winning this competition will enable us to talk to a wider audience about the scale of the problem of leakage and non-revenue water in the water industry, and worldwide, an area which hasn’t moved on in decades.

“We now have a real opportunity to reach out to the water industry globally to help them to understand that doing more of the same will not effectively combat leakage and water scarcity. FIDO AI with its sensor agnostic approach changes the leakage landscape. It’s a real solution to this very serious issue. We cannot wait to get to Web Summit to talk to a global audience as we know this is an issue that is being felt across the world.”

The first KPMG Private Enterprise Global Tech Innovator will be crowned at Web Summit 2021, Lisbon, Portugal between 1 and 4 November 2021.