Tech to Unite Us was a landmark grant and support programme designed to show how technology can live up to its full transformative potential when it is shaped by one of the greatest opportunities of our time: equality.

Launched in 2018, the £500,000 initiative supported nine early-stage ventures with ambitious, tech-driven solutions for some of society’s most entrenched inequalities. Each team received up to £45,000 in grant funding, alongside tailored mentoring, business development support, and investment readiness guidance. The programme prioritised ventures with scalable models, lived experience, and a clear pathway to long-term impact.

Highlights from the Tech to Unite Us cohort:

• Beam – The world’s first crowdfunding platform for employment training for homeless people.

• Chatterbox – Language tutoring by highly skilled refugees, enabling rapid social and economic reintegration.

• Feebris – An AI-powered mobile health platform enabling non-clinical users to detect and monitor complex health conditions.

• StreetBuilder – A participatory planning platform enabling communities to co-create and validate neighbourhood improvements.

Tech to Unite Us laid the foundation for our future work on inclusive innovation, demonstrating the vital role of early-stage support in helping ventures tackle inequality through ethical, community-centred tech.