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Scaleup Vote

Sovereign AI Awards 2026 · People's Vote

Scaleup Award

Outstanding growth story for a British AI scaleup. Our judges have shortlisted five finalists. Read about each one, then cast your vote.

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The finalists

Finalists are listed in alphabetical order.

CuspAI

Nominated by Zheela Qaiser, CuspAI

Cambridge-headquartered CuspAI uses generative AI and physics simulation to design new materials from the properties they need to have, compressing years of research and development into months.

In two years it has built a 50-partner AI Materials Foundry with organisations including NVIDIA, Meta, Samsung and Hyundai, worked with Kemira on removing PFAS chemicals, and expanded to Amsterdam, Berlin, Tokyo and Singapore. It is backed by investors including the UK Sovereign AI Fund and uses Isambard-AI for compute.

Judges' analysis

The judges saw CuspAI's approach to materials discovery as category-defining, and its growth over two years as exceptional. Backing from the UK Sovereign AI Fund and use of UK national compute strengthen its sovereign case.

Huma

Nominated by Adrian Mousavi, Huma

London-headquartered Huma provides an operating system for running AI in regulated health and life sciences settings, with governance built in and a regulatory engine that helps customers gain medical device approvals in the US and Europe.

It powers 15 of the top 20 life sciences companies and more than 5,000 hospitals and clinics, reaching around 100 million people in more than 70 countries, and has grown strongly every year since 2021.

Judges' analysis

The judges recognised sustained growth at global scale, backed by strong evidence and named partners. A reusable platform that shortens regulatory approval from years to weeks was seen as distinctive.

Mindgard

Nominated by Fergal Glynn, Mindgard

Mindgard, a 2022 spin-out from Lancaster University, offers a security platform built for AI. It finds the AI systems and agents across an organisation, tests them automatically by attacking them as a hacker would, and protects them while they run.

Its research team has publicly disclosed more than 150 vulnerabilities in AI products from companies including OpenAI, Google and Cursor. It works with large enterprises internationally, raised one of the largest UK cyber security Series A rounds in 2026 and has opened a Boston office alongside London.

Judges' analysis

The judges recognised UK university research turned into a strategically important AI security capability, with original vulnerability research behind it and rapid international growth.

Prolific

Nominated by Joel Ryan, Prolific

Prolific, co-founded in London through Oxford's start-up incubator, provides the human data that frontier AI developers and researchers rely on. Its platform connects them with more than 300,000 verified participants in over 70 countries, plus a network of more than 90,000 verified experts.

It is used by four of the top five frontier AI developers and more than 10,000 organisations, including the UK's AI Security Institute and the Alan Turing Institute. This year it opened hubs in New York and San Francisco, while most of its team remains in the UK.

Judges' analysis

The judges rated Prolific's growth story as the strongest in the category: global commercial scale with the world's leading AI developers as customers, and a British-built platform that underpins UK AI safety research.

Wordsmith AI

Nominated by Josef Laor, TellNY

Edinburgh-headquartered Wordsmith is an AI platform for in-house legal teams. It takes requests from email, Slack, Teams and other channels, resolves routine work with AI agents and passes judgement calls to lawyers.

More than 500 companies use it, including BT, the Financial Times, Sage, Deliveroo, Starling and Canva. In the past year its team grew from 40 to 150 people, building a technology talent hub in Scotland.

Judges' analysis

The judges were impressed by exceptionally fast growth, with a team nearly four times larger in a year and major UK businesses among its daily users.

Live results

Votes so far. Results are updated regularly while voting is open.

CuspAI
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Huma
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Mindgard
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Prolific
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Wordsmith AI
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0 votes castLast updated: awaiting first votes

Cast your vote

Choose one finalist and tell us who you are.

You can vote once in this category, and you are welcome to vote in every category. If the same email address votes more than once in a category, only the most recent vote is counted. The People's Vote runs alongside the independent judging panel's assessment.