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Deep Tech Companies in Derby: 28 Active Firms (2026)
Deep tech companies in Derby commercialise science-led engineering, computing and frontier-technology innovation across the city region.
Buying centres in Derby tend to sit with technical operations teams rather than generic IT buyers: advanced manufacturing, materials and hardware groups, robotics teams, AI and computing specialists, and regulated users in healthcare, energy, infrastructure and defence-adjacent supply chains. Engagements are more likely to involve pilots, validation work, specialist procurement and low-volume deployment than self-serve software subscriptions. Buyers are usually enterprise, industrial or public-sector-adjacent organisations that need evidence of performance, safety and integration with existing systems. The local cohort appears weighted towards micro and small suppliers with early commercial revenue, specialist technical staff and defensible engineering knowledge.
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Derby has 28 actively trading deep tech companies, making this a compact local cohort rather than a broad regional cluster. Reported headcount totals 53 people, which points to small technical teams and founder-led engineering groups rather than mature employers with large commercial functions. None reports turnover above £5M, so the local market context is closer to specialist product development, applied engineering services and early deployment than to later-stage platform businesses. For researchers, that matters: the page is more useful for finding niche capability and technical adjacency than for ranking high-revenue deep tech firms in the city.
Deep tech has no single UK rulebook, because oversight follows the technology and the use case. AI is being handled through a sector-by-sector model, while engineering biology sits alongside regulatory sandboxes and the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act. Cyber activity is linked to secure-by-design policy and the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill. Quantum technologies and semiconductors are shaped more by national strategies, public funding and standards work than by one licensing regime. In Derby, that means compliance burden can vary sharply between an industrial sensing supplier, a healthcare-adjacent product developer and a cyber security specialist.
Derby’s deep tech base appears closer to industrial problem-solving than consumer technology, which may suit the city’s engineering and manufacturing demand but tends to lengthen sales cycles. Scale-up scarcity is likely to remain a constraint where firms need specialist staff, test facilities, certification routes and patient customers before revenue becomes repeatable. The most resilient operators are likely to be those that can translate technical advantage into regulated procurement, standards compliance or embedded industrial workflows. Consolidation may come through supply-chain partnerships and acquisitions rather than a broad wave of venture-backed expansion.
28
Active firms
2026
0
Above £5M turnover
Derby cohort
1
Incorporated since 2022
Derby cohort
Key facts
3% of the cohort was incorporated since 2022 (1 firms), so a sizeable share is in its first few filing cycles.
Deep tech is not a single regulated industry in the UK; oversight follows the technology and use case across AI, cyber security, engineering biology, quantum technologies and semiconductors.
UK government policy identifies six priority frontier technologies: advanced connectivity, AI, cyber security, engineering biology, quantum technologies and semiconductors.
The UK ranks first in Europe and third globally for deep-tech venture capital raised, behind the USA and China.
Domestic investor participation falls from 57% at seed stage to under 10% at late stage, so later rounds tend to rely more on overseas capital.
The UK AI sector had 5,862 firms in 2024, with revenue of £23.9 billion and GVA of £11.8 billion.
Top Derby Deep Tech companies
Procept Biorobotics ,
Trajectory
2y · 2024–NowFinancial sub-scores
Computed from 2 filingsDevelops and supplies robotic surgical systems for urology, including the AquaBeam and HYDROS platforms used for Aquablation therapy, a computer‑guided waterjet procedure for treating benign…
Serves urologists, surgeons, hospitals and government healthcare providers involved in BPH treatment, with patient-facing information for men seeking options for enlarged prostate symptoms.
Financial Health
StrongStrong · Hiring · 157% CAGR over 1y
Location
SUREPULSE MEDICAL LIMITED
Trajectory
5y · 2021–NowFinancial sub-scores
Computed from 5 filingsDevelops neonatal monitoring technology for use during and after birth, including a wireless cap-based device that measures newborn heart rate in delivery rooms to support stabilisation and…
Serves hospitals, maternity and neonatal units, delivery-room clinicians, neonatal intensive care teams and clinical researchers involved in newborn stabilisation and neonatal care.
Financial Health
StableStable · 0% CAGR over 4y
Location
H4 Incorporated Limited
Trajectory
5y · 2021–NowFinancial sub-scores
Computed from 5 filingsDevelops and supplies sensor hardware and communication modules for robotics and automation, including inertial measurement units (IMUs), EtherCAT-enabled IMU devices, EtherCAT network switches, and…
Sells to businesses and technical teams building robotics and industrial systems, including product developers, integrators and researchers needing IMUs, EtherCAT-ready components and tactile sensors…
Financial Health
DistressedDistressed · -71% CAGR over 4y
Location
MERLIN AEROTECH LIMITED
Trajectory
5y · 2021–NowFinancial sub-scores
Computed from 5 filingsDesigns and manufactures precision motion control and automation equipment, including stages, actuators, motors, gantries, hexapods and laser scan heads. Also provides custom motion systems,…
Serves B2B engineering, manufacturing and research customers in data storage, electronics, semiconductor test and inspection, laser processing, medical and life sciences, optics/photonics, and…
Financial Health
HealthyHealthy · Growing · 0% CAGR over 4y
Location
PLANAR MICROWAVE TECHNOLOGIES LTD
Trajectory
3y · 2023–NowFinancial sub-scores
Computed from 3 filingsFinancial Health
DistressedDistressed
Location
VELO LIGHTING LTD
Trajectory
3y · 2023–NowFinancial sub-scores
Computed from 3 filingsFinancial Health
HealthyHealthy
Location
Trajectory
5y · 2021–NowFinancial sub-scores
Computed from 5 filingsDesigns and manufactures environmental data loggers and monitoring equipment for measuring temperature, humidity, CO₂, energy use and other parameters. Supplies sensors, probes, accessories and…
Serves B2B and institutional buyers in facilities management, laboratories, healthcare, universities, logistics, food and drink manufacturing, agriculture, museums and conservation.
Financial Health
HealthyHealthy · 0% CAGR over 4y
Location
Simoco
Trajectory
3y · 2022–NowFinancial sub-scores
Computed from 3 filingsDesigns and supplies mission‑critical communication systems including digital mobile radio (DMR), LTE and satellite connectivity, push‑to‑talk over cellular, and SD‑WAN networking. Provides system…
Serves public sector and enterprise teams with mission-critical operations, including emergency services, councils, utilities, transport fleets, mining, industrial sites and renewable energy…
Financial Health
WeakWeak · -7% CAGR over 2y
Location
Fairhaven Electronics Limited
Trajectory
5y · 2021–NowFinancial sub-scores
Computed from 5 filingsFinancial Health
DistressedDistressed · 0% CAGR over 4y
Location
NEWWOOD SOLUTIONS LIMITED
Trajectory
5y · 2022–NowFinancial sub-scores
Computed from 5 filingsFinancial Health
WeakWeak · -5% CAGR over 4y
Location
Search For The Next Ltd
Trajectory
5y · 2021–NowFinancial sub-scores
Computed from 5 filingsDevelops semiconductor technologies including the Bizen Wafer Process, Zpolar transistor, and ZTL/VZTL logic architecture. Focuses on alternative transistor designs and chip fabrication methods…
Targets semiconductor industry organisations, including chip manufacturers, fabs and technology companies serving EV, AI, cloud, big data, smart home and IoT markets.
Financial Health
StrongStrong · Growing, Hiring · 14% CAGR over 4y
Location
Trajectory
5y · 2022–NowFinancial sub-scores
Computed from 5 filingsDevelops measurement systems for turbomachinery testing, including blade tip timing and non‑contact blade vibration monitoring. Produces networked acquisition hardware, laser and inductive probes,…
Serves aerospace and turbomachinery organisations, including engine OEMs, test facilities, universities and research programmes working on blade vibration and blade tip timing applications.
Financial Health
WeakWeak · -20% CAGR over 4y
Location
Applied Dynamics International Limited
Trajectory
4y · 2023–NowFinancial sub-scores
Computed from 4 filingsDevelops industrial edge computing and connectivity software (ADEPT) for digital engineering and digital manufacturing. Provides rapid prototyping systems, digital twin integration,…
Serves B2B industry leaders in aerospace, defence, industrial automation and manufacturing, targeting engineering, testing and digital transformation teams working on mission-critical industrial…
Financial Health
StableStable · Hiring · 10% CAGR over 3y
Location
SUSTAINABLE SAILING LTD
Trajectory
4y · 2022–NowFinancial sub-scores
Computed from 4 filingsFinancial Health
DistressedDistressed · -78% CAGR over 3y
Location
OGARA STUDIOS LTD
Trajectory
5y · 2021–NowFinancial sub-scores
Computed from 5 filingsFinancial Health
WeakWeak
Location
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How this list is built
Data sources
This list is built from UK Companies House filings, XBRL accounts data, and semantic analysis of each company's public website. Revenue and headcount figures come from the most recent filed accounts; where the company has not filed, values are estimated using a model trained on filed history and peer benchmarks and are labelled as estimates.
Classification
Rather than relying solely on SIC codes, Firmbase classifies each company semantically: the company's website is crawled, an AI model reads what the company actually sells, and the company is placed into the relevant industry and subsectors. SIC codes are used as one signal but not the only one. This means a company that registered under a generic SIC code but pivoted into (for example) fintech is correctly identified as fintech, not as its original SIC category.
Freshness
The underlying company data is refreshed from Companies House continuously; filings appear in the list within days of submission. The curated list ordering is regenerated when the underlying data moves meaningfully (company count changes by more than 5%, a new company enters the top-ranked segment, or the filed-revenue numbers for the top firms change). You can see the last-updated timestamp near the top of the page.
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