From AI and software robots to new security techniques such as isolation, which hot tech start-ups could break through this year? We asked execs at 10 resellers, from cyber-security and cloud specialists to big players such as Daisy and Softcat, for their tips
Mindtrace
Founded: 2017
Total funds raised: £1.3m
HQ: London
Field: Self-learning machines
Cheerleader: Mario Cirillo, Metaphor IT
Though barely a year old, and yet to release its first product, this Manchester-based AI start-up has caught the eye of Mario Cirillo, CTO of Metaphor IT.
Founded in January 2017, MindTrace claims to be one of the few companies developing intelligent machines that can teach themselves independently. It is helmed by a string of leading academics, including Professor Steve Furber, who designed the BBC Microcomputer and the processors for the chip giant ARM Holdings.
The firm appeared on Cirillo's radar when it scooped £1.3m in funding in November, but he admitted it was too early to say whether Metaphor IT will take it on.
"Their focus is on unsupervised learning: creating algorithms that can think like the human brain," Cirillo (pictured) said.
"That technology is really applicable for things like autonomous cars. But it will be interesting to see in the IT world how it could be used for things like self-healing - you have a system that goes down and over time it can actually learn unsupervised how to remediate itself. That would be quite an interesting spin on that technology if you pair it with things like monitoring."
He added: "They're raising funding to put a team together in order to bring a prototype to market, and it will be very interesting to see what proposition they bring to market."
Click onto the next page to read Softcat's Sam Routledge's top tech tip for 2018
