Goldilock crowned as KPMG 's Midlands tech innovator

Goldilock has been crowned as the Midlands winner of KPMG 's annual UK Tech Innovator competition which shines a spotlight on the game changers, difference makers and tech titans of tomorrow.

Goldilock, the cybersecurity solution that enables users to physically segment their digital assets, devices, networks, remotely and without using the internet to do it, was voted as the winner. Stephen Kines will now go on to pitch at the competition 's UK final in July.

Commenting on the upcoming UK final, Stephen Kines, COO and co-founder of Goldilock, said: “As a young company we need to punch above our weight to get recognised and events like this help shine the spotlight and provide a halo effect.

“We are extremely proud of our Midlands base and want to highlight the ability to have out-of-box thinking outside traditional centres.

“Already we have both a majority ethnically diverse and neuro-divergent team in our R&D & Production facility in Wolverhampton and our youngest engineer won the Young Tech Talent of the Year award in December. Highlighting the Midlands central importance as UK 's industrial heartland is important. ”

Ten fast-growing businesses based in the Midlands went head-to-head on Tuesday 20 June at KPMG 's Birmingham office.

Each pitched its vision to a panel of judges which included Stuart Pilgrim (KPMG director), Clare Walker (HSBC deputy head of corporate), Henrietta Brealey (CEO of Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce), Mike Jackson (head of B 'ham at Brown Jacobson), Nick Moutter (Moot Group founder), and Simon Thorn (KPMG acceleris partner).

Andrew Bostock (pictured), KPMG 's Birmingham Office Senior Partner said: “It was always going to difficult to choose one winner from ten fantastic entries this year but we were really impressed by Goldilock 's revolutionary way of protecting data.

“We 're very excited to support the continued growth of our tech innovators who are either hidden gems in our huge tech ecosystem or leading the way in disruption and innovative thinking. Huge congratulations go to Goldilock.

“This competition is a great platform to help profile, recognise and celebrate the outstanding technology being developed across the Midlands and the wider UK. ”

The ten Midlands-based businesses that were selected from nearly 400 UK applications to the competition were:

• Bigthinx
• Circulayo
• CrowdProperty
• Global nano network
• Goldilock
• Intoware
• Matchingham Games
• MiOP
• Sitenna
• Voilo

Goldilock and runner up Global Nano Network will be provided with entry to a bespoke version of KPMG 's Access programme for fast growth businesses, exclusive networking opportunities among industry experts, their peers and other tech innovators.

The Tech Innovator in the UK winner, and the winner in each of the other participating countries, will progress to the Global Tech Innovator final at Web Summit 2023, where they will compete on the global stage.

The eight finalists from across the UK who will battle head to head at the final on 24 July are:

• Mimicrete Ltd - East of England
• Oaktree Power - London
• Goldilock - Midlands
• Inovus Medical - North West
• Leap Automation - Scotland
• Electrogenos - South
• TrimTabs Ltd - South West and Wales
• iethico - North East

The virtual event is open to the public, who are also able to vote for their winner. Anyone wishing to attend can register by visiting this webpage.