With all the attention artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning are getting at the moment, there are big opportunities for companies building expertise in this area.

One such enterprise is Digital Genius. Launched in 2013 and backed by $7.35m (£5.7m) in funding, the company offers a customer service bot, which has been adopted by brands such as KLM.

Integrating CRM tools and working with human customer service operatives, the system speeds up and improves customer service. It automates some of the more routine requests using available data, while freeing up operatives to work one on one with customers to resolve more complex issues.

Seeds were sown while founder Dmitry Aksenov was at college in the UK, but now the company has more than 30 employees between the London and San Francisco serving travel companies as well as BMW, Panasonic and Unilever.