How to build a British unicorn - with Quantexa's Vishal Marria

Vishal Marria is a homegrown business success story; a Balham local who took the leap from his secure job to launch his own company that is now worth over £2B - achieving that mythical unicorn status. His firm Quantexa, which uses AI to help companies make sense of big data, raised £140M earlier this year to make acquisitions and fund further expansion in the US - and now may be on the cusp of going public. 

So just how did he do it? Was it about the people he met along the way, or the work ethic installed working in his parents' cash and carry, or something entirely different? He joined Hannah & Dom to talk about the early days of “going all in”, bootstrapping the company with his own money and securing those crucial investors. Plus, amid growing fears about an AI bubble, and increasingly gloomy outlook for the state of British business he talks about the tensions between listing in New York and London - and Britain's future as a tech hub. 

Guest: Vishal Marria, Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Quantexa

Hosts: 

• Hannah Prevett, Associate Business Editor, The Sunday Times
• Dominic O’Connell, columnist, The Times & business reporter, Times Radio

Producer: Miriam Hall

Senior Producer: Julia Johnson

Development Editor: Sandra Shmueli

Executive Producer: Kate Ford

Photo: The Times

Get in touch: thebusiness@thetimes.com

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