Deep-tech software company VividQ fought off competition from hundreds of scaleups to be named Best British Technology Pioneer in 2020. The judges were really impressed with its potential growth and saw it as a fantastic representative of the UK’s tech community.
Chair, KPMG UK and Head of Emerging Giants, Bina Mehta caught up with Aleksandra Pedraszewska, Co-founder and COO at VividQ.
Hi Aleksandra, VividQ really stood out from the competition for me in 2020. I thought your 3D holography solutions were truly innovative and had huge commercial promise. How have things been going since then?
Hi Bina, we’ve been working with many of the biggest technology companies in the world, using our patented software to bring holography to applications like augmented reality smart glasses, automotive head-up displays and consumer electronics.
When you won the competition back in February 2020, we didn’t yet understand the impact the COVID-19 pandemic would have. What challenges have you faced?
Access to our labs and manufacturing facilities was restricted, so we’ve had to manage the operational challenges around that. We’ve also found that it’s impacted our ability to get in front of venture capital firms – have those important conversations and run demos. That’s critical for a company like ours that relies on venture capital funding. It’s vital to us achieving our aim to dominate the display industry and scale our product internationally.
So, how are you tracking against your growth plans?
We’re pushing through. We’ve already achieved a couple of commercial milestones that we set for this year. One of those is our recent collaboration with Arm. There have also been a number of projects where we’ve got our software into products that will be released to the consumer market. And we’re extremely hopeful that we’ll meet the rest of our milestones for this year.
Our teams at KPMG have been working with you to support your growth journey. How have you found that?
It’s been an incredible journey with KPMG. It’s been so helpful meeting up with your corporate finance team and talking to them about our funding strategy. They’ve been through this process so many times; they know what it really means to access capital at this stage of development.
We’re currently in the middle of our series A rounds, so we’re very much looking forward to continuing our collaboration with KPMG and getting further support on that.
At last year’s awards, the judges were really impressed with your plans for international expansion. How’s that looking?
Even though we’re only based in the UK, we’ve actually worked on international projects from almost day 1. In fact, our biggest customers are based in the US and Southeast Asia. Being able to tap into KPMG’s network is really helping there. I think there are very few companies in the world that have the same network. Having access to a truly international network and people who have extensive knowledge of different geographies is extremely important for us.
We’re set on becoming an international brand. Holographic display is very soon going to become one of the defining display technologies in the world. Expanding into Japan, into the US, isn’t something we’ll be able to do by ourselves. But with the help of companies like KPMG, I’m sure we’ll succeed.
What’s your story?
Are you an innovative, fast-growing technology company, with an ambition to grow? If so, we want to hear from you. Why not pre-register your interest in next year’s KPMG Private Enterprise Tech Innovator in the UK competition?
To find out more, visit our competition page.