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Wazoku
Industryinnovation management
Founded2011; 14 years ago (2011)
FounderSimon Hill
Headquarters
London

Wazoku is a UK-based software company headquartered in London.[1] Established in 2011 by Simon Hill, James King, and Rosemarie Diegnan,[2] the company provides cloud-based tools for capturing, evaluating, managing, and implementing ideas, and operates an open innovation network where organisations can engage with external experts.[2][3] Wazoku works with a range of clients including government bodies,[4] multinational corporations,[5] and non-profit organisations.[6]

As of 2024, the company has secured approximately £18 million in venture funding.[1]

History

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Wazoku was founded in 2011 in London by Simon Hill, who previously worked at PwC, Deloitte, and the software company Huddle,[3] James King, and Rosemarie Diegnan.[2] In its early years, Wazoku developed a software platform named Idea Spotlight for structured idea management in organisations.[7][8]

In 2013, it received $520,000 in seed funding from Cambridge Angels and Fig.[1] This was followed in 2014 by an additional £750,000 investment from Cambridge Angels and New Model Venture Capital.[9]

In 2017, the company secured £2.3 million through a combination of equity and venture debt, including funding from Barclays and former investor Cambridge Angels and Fig.[10]

In July 2020, Wazuko acquired the U.S.-based innovation platform InnoCentive. This acquisition brought with it a global network of 500,000 external contributors and expanded Wazoku’s capacity. The company raised an additional £1.25 million from the Enterprise Investment Scheme and Calculus Capital.[11][12]

In 2022, Wazoku completed an £8.5 million Series B funding round led by Octopus Ventures,[13][14] with continued investment from Calculus Capital.[15] The funding was used to support product development, international operations, and the acquisition of Mindpool, a Danish company focused on collective intelligence and behavioural insights. Mindpool collects employee opinions and forecasts to generate insights and suggestions based on aggregated input to assess organisation performance and overall company health.[15][16] Following the acquisition, Wazoku relaunched the dashboard under the name Mindpool SME in January 2023.[2][17]

Between 2023 and 2025, Wazoku expanded its activities through additional acquisitions and partnerships. It acquired UK-based idea management platform Idea Drop in early 2023,[16] and German R&D platform Posterlab later that year.[18] In 2024 and 2025 Wazoku collaborated with organisations including NATO’s Defense Innovation Accelerator,[19] Norwegian Offshore Wind,[20] Roche[21] and the Abu Dhabi Technology Innovation Institute.[22]

In April 2025, it partnered with the National Innovation Center par Excellence (NICE) to fund innovation initiatives in China’s Yangtze River Delta.[23]

Products

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Wazoku Platform

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Wazoku Platform is a modular system that facilitates the capture, evaluation, and portfolio management of ideas from employees, teams, or stakeholders. It includes workflow automation, analytics and AI, and integrates with commonly used enterprise collaboration tools such as Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, and Google Workspace.[8][24][25]

Wazoku Innocentive (formerly Wazoku Crowd)

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In 2020, Wazoku acquired InnoCentive, an open innovation marketplace.[11] The platform was integrated into Wazoku’s innovation management and briefly operated under the umbrella name Wazoku Crowd from August 2022.[26]

In June 2025, Wazoku officially revived the Innocentive name for its global marketplace, officially renaming Wazoku Crowd to Innocentive.[27] The platform connects organisations with a global network of registered problem solvers, including scientists, engineers, CEOs, startups, and business leaders.[9][28][29]

Awards and recognition

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In 2022, the company was named a Silver Stevie Award winner in the “Company of the Year – Computer Software (Medium-size)” category at the 19th Annual International Business Awards.[30] In July, the company was named on of the UK’s Best Workplaces for Women in 2022.[31]

In 2024, Wazoku received multiple user-based badges from the software review platform G2 within the Strategy and Innovation Roadmapping Tools, and Idea Management categories.[32]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Wazoku 2025 Company Profile: Valuation, Funding & Investors | PitchBook". pitchbook.com. Retrieved 2025-06-27.
  2. ^ a b c d "Wazoku - 2025 Company Profile & Team - Tracxn". tracxn.com. 2025-06-17. Retrieved 2025-06-27.
  3. ^ a b Ghosh, Sudipto (2022-06-27). "Global Fintech Interview with Simon Hill, CEO and Founder at Wazoku". GlobalFinTechSeries. Retrieved 2025-06-27.
  4. ^ "One Big Thing initiative seeks to power innovation across the entire UK Civil Service". ResponseSource Press Release Wire. 2024-10-14. Retrieved 2025-06-27.
  5. ^ "BIG IMPACT, SMALL PACKAGE: DEBIOPHARM LAUNCHES A WAZOKU OPEN-INNOVATION CHALLENGE FOR SMALL ANTIBODY DRUG CONJUGATE TECHNOLOGY". markets.businessinsider.com. Retrieved 2025-06-27.
  6. ^ "Wazoku hosts open innovation challenge to address the impact of climate change on food security in low-income countries". WRIC ABC 8News. Jan 24, 2025. Retrieved 2025-06-27.
  7. ^ Victor, Nancy (2019-02-05). "UK MoD selects Wazoku's idea management platform". Army Technology. Retrieved 2025-06-27.
  8. ^ a b "Wazoku - collaborate on great ideas". Wazoku - collaborate on great ideas. Retrieved 2025-06-27.
  9. ^ a b O'Hear, Steve (2014-04-07). "Idea Management Startup Wazoku Raises £750,000, Ex-Huddle VP Joins As COO". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2025-06-27.
  10. ^ "Wazoku secures funding from Barclays - Private Equity Wire". 2017-03-13. Retrieved 2025-06-27.
  11. ^ a b "London-based future of work startup Wazoku grabs £8.5 million from Octopus Ventures, acquires Mindpool". Tech.eu. 2022-09-30. Retrieved 2025-06-27.
  12. ^ "Wazoku Acquires US Open Innovation Leader InnoCentive and Raises Additional £1.25M to Support Global Growth". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2025-06-27.
  13. ^ "Future of Work Scale-Up Wazoku Raises £8.5M in Series B Funding From Octopus Ventures and Acquires Collective Intelligence Start-Up, Mindpool". yahoo!Finance. September 28, 2022. Retrieved 2025-06-27.
  14. ^ "London-based future of work startup Wazoku grabs £8.5 million from Octopus Ventures, acquires Mindpool". Tech.eu. 2022-09-30. Retrieved 2025-06-27.
  15. ^ a b "Future Of Work Scale-Up Wazoku Raises £8.5M In Series B Funding From Octopus Ventures And Acquires Collective Intelligence Start-Up, Mindpool". menafn.com. Retrieved 2025-06-27.
  16. ^ a b "Innovation Scale-Up Wazoku Agrees Acquisition of UK Idea Management Platform, Idea Drop". yahoo!Finance. Archived from the original on 2023-01-24. Retrieved 2025-06-27.
  17. ^ "Wazoku Launches New Employee Insights Product: Mindpool SME". yahoo!Finance. January 19, 2023. Retrieved 2025-06-27.
  18. ^ "Wazoku Expands Into Germany With Acquisition of R&D Partnership & Innovation Eco-System Management Platform, PosterLab". FinanzNachrichten.de. Retrieved 2025-06-27.
  19. ^ "Wazoku partners with NATO DIANA accelerator". Tech.eu. 2024-06-14. Retrieved 2025-06-27.
  20. ^ Memija, Adnan (2024-05-02). "Norwegian Offshore Wind, Wazoku Team Up to Adress Floating Offshore Wind Turbine Emergencies". Offshore Wind. Retrieved 2025-06-27.
  21. ^ "Roche partners with Wazoku to overhaul pharma inventory management". PharmiWeb.com. Retrieved 2025-06-27.
  22. ^ "Abu Dhabi's Technology Innovation Institute launches challenge to advance rocket telemetry and citizen space innovation". WSAV-TV. 2024-12-04. Retrieved 2025-06-27.
  23. ^ "Wazoku and National Innovation Center par Excellence invite global innovators to expand into China's Yangtze Delta". WPRI-TV. Apr 30, 2025. Retrieved 2025-06-27.
  24. ^ "Wazoku Software Reviews, Demo & Pricing - 2025". www.softwareadvice.com. Retrieved 2025-06-27.
  25. ^ "Wazoku Platform". Wazoku. Retrieved 2025-06-27.
  26. ^ "Story of Innocentive". Innocentive. Retrieved 2025-06-27.
  27. ^ "Wazoku Reintroduces Innocentive Brand As Open Innovation Reaches New Heights". menafn.com. Retrieved 2025-06-27.
  28. ^ Wood, Anna. "Wazoku joins Italian Open Innovation Lookout Observatory". Startups Magazine. Retrieved 2025-06-27.
  29. ^ "The Nexus Between Futures Thinking and Innovation". www.linkedin.com. Retrieved 2025-06-27.
  30. ^ "Search All Past Stevie® Winners and Finalists". Stevie Awards. Retrieved 2025-06-27.
  31. ^ "Wazoku Named as One of the UK's Best Workplaces™ for Women". yahoo!Finance. July 20, 2022. Retrieved 2025-06-27.
  32. ^ "Wazoku Features | G2". G2. Archived from the original on 2023-05-12. Retrieved 2025-06-27.
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