What Etc. does

Etc. is the wholly-owned innovation and incubation arm of BT Group, established in May 2022 and headquartered in London, operating with a startup mindset while leveraging the parent company's nationwide infrastructure assets. The unit develops and commercialises products in adjacent categories to BT's core telecom business: Active Intelligence is an award-winning data insights platform that processes 25 billion aggregated and anonymised data points daily using advanced data science and generative AI to produce mobility, location, and population insights for retail, transport, and city planning customers; Drone SIM is the UK's first cellular SIM purpose-built for commercial drone operations at altitude, leveraging EE's 4G network to enable Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) connectivity; the EV Charge Point Solution repurposes BT Group's decommissioned street cabinets into public EV chargers, with up to 60,000 potential UK deployment sites; and Digital Preventative Remote Care supports NHS cardiovascular disease monitoring across 26 practices serving 228,000 people.

The company's revenue mechanics are not separately disclosed because Etc. operates as an internal unit of BT Group with no independent funding, external shareholders, or standalone financials. Monetisation approaches vary by product: Drone SIM appears to involve hardware sales via BT corporate channels; Active Intelligence operates as a subscription or usage-based insights platform sold to enterprise and government customers; the EV charging pilot is currently free during trial; and the NHS remote care service functions as a managed-service partnership. The company goes to market primarily through direct enterprise and government field sales supplemented by CES and SXSW event-driven demand generation, with PR and LinkedIn thought leadership supporting brand visibility. Customer concentration is heavily skewed toward UK public-sector and regulatory counterparties including Transport for Wales, Greater London Authority, Transport for Greater Manchester, East Lothian Council, NHS Warrington, and the UK Government/CAA, with early commercial pilots rather than scaled enterprise contracts at present.

Name

Etc.

Legal name

Etc.

Website

https://etcdigital.co

Company type

Private

Founded year

2022

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Etc. is BT Group's London-based innovation arm, building and scaling startups in emerging categories including a data insights platform (Active Intelligence), the UK's first Drone SIM, an EV charging solution using repurposed street cabinets, and NHS digital remote care.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Data Analytics & Connected Infrastructure

NAICS

Computer Systems Design and Related Services (54151), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (51821)

SIC

Services-Computer Integrated Systems Design (7373), Services-Computer Programming Services (7371), Telephone & Telegraph Apparatus (3661)

akta.pro primary industry

Fleet, Asset Tracking & Telematics Location Platforms (BPAMANAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

Industrial Edge Computing & Gateways (IMAIAMAC), AI Triage & Clinical Decision Support (CDS) Platforms (HLALAJAD)

Keywords

• Data insights platform
• Drone cellular connectivity
• EV charging infrastructure
• Generative AI analytics
• Telecom innovation services

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Drone SIM Hardware Sales: Sale of specialized Drone SIM hardware to drone operators for use with BT Group's EE network, providing cellular connectivity at altitude for commercial drone operations.
2. Active Intelligence Data Insights: Subscription or usage-based access to the Active Intelligence insights platform providing mobility and location insights to businesses, transport operators, and city planners. Platform blends movement and location insights enriched with population data.
3. Digital Preventative Remote Care: NHS partnership for digital remote care initiative designed to prevent, detect and manage cardiovascular disease through early monitoring and pre-emptive intervention. Healthcare professionals provide monitoring services.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Etc. is the innovation and incubation arm of BT Group, building and scaling technology startups in emerging categories using BT Group's network and infrastructure. It operates four core product lines: the Active Intelligence data insights platform (processing 25 billion daily aggregated and anonymised data points with generative AI), the Drone SIM (the UK's first altitude-grade cellular SIM for commercial drones on the EE network), an EV charge point solution that repurposes BT street cabinets, and a Digital Preventative Remote Care service for cardiovascular disease monitoring with the NHS.

Product overview

Etc. is the innovation and incubation arm of BT Group, operating as a startup within the larger organization. The portfolio consists of multiple distinct products and solutions: Active Intelligence is an award-winning data insights platform leveraging generative AI to transform 25 billion daily data points into actionable insights for retail, transport, and urban planning; Drone SIM provides the UK's first 4G-enabled cellular connectivity solution for commercial drone operations; EV Charge Point Solution repurposes street cabinets into EV charging infrastructure; and Digital Preventative Remote Care enables cardiovascular disease monitoring via a patient-clinician app. These products span data analytics, connectivity infrastructure, EV charging, and healthtech sectors.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Active Intelligence: An award-winning data insights platform that analyses aggregated and anonymised data to help organisations understand customers, optimize services, and drive efficiencies using advanced data science and generative AI.
• Drone SIM
• BT Group EV Charging

Products and services

• Active Intelligence Insights Platform Award-winning software platform that processes 25 billion aggregated and anonymised data points daily using advanced data science and generative AI, producing movement and location insights enriched with population data for retail, transport, real estate, and city planning customers.
• Drone SIM The UK's first Drone SIM hardware, built to operate at altitude while enduring vibration, temperature and humidity extremes. Uses BT Group's EE network to provide high priority and ultra responsive 4G connectivity for commercial drone operators needing BVLOS operations.
• EV Charge Point Solution Hardware and accompanying app solution that repurposes BT Group's decommissioned green street cabinets into public EV charge points, with up to 60,000 cabinets identified across the UK for potential conversion and a target of 600 trial sites.
• Digital Preventative Remote Care Managed digital healthcare service in partnership with the NHS, allowing patients to submit vitals into an app monitored remotely by clinicians for the prevention, detection, and management of cardiovascular disease.

Quantifiable outcome

• 62% of retailers report gaining competitive advantage from data analytics
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability4 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• East Lothian CouncilcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 May 2024First EV charge point powered by BT Group street cabinet installed in East Lothian, Scotland as part of pilot trial. Council working with BT Group to ensure charger accessibility and minimal impact on pedestrians.
• Altitude AngelcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to help scale the UK drone industry; collaborated on drone connectivity solutions and the UK's drone superhighway initiatives. Altitude Angel is a key partner in the drone ecosystem enabling commercial drone operations.
• Transport for WalescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerUsing Active Intelligence mobility insights to help create a high-quality, integrated, affordable, and accessible transport network with ambition to increase journeys by active travel or public transport across Wales by 2040.
• Greater London AuthoritycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerUsing Active Intelligence insights to help unlock the potential of London's high streets, supporting urban development and planning decisions.
• Transport for Greater ManchestercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerUsing mobility insights to optimise transport services and minimise congestion, particularly for event days at the Co-op Arena, enabling smoother journeys and enhanced visitor experience.
• NHS (Warrington)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDigital preventative remote care initiative designed to prevent, detect and manage cardiovascular disease through early monitoring and pre-emptive intervention, expanding into 26 practices serving 228,000 population.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Placer.ai: Location and footfall analytics platform serving retail, real estate, and city planning customers. Most directly comparable to Etc.'s Active Intelligence in terms of aggregated mobility data, use cases, and target buyers.
• Cuebiq: Mobility intelligence platform processing anonymised location data for retailers, advertisers, and city planners. Closely parallels Active Intelligence in data scale, anonymisation approach, and customer mix.
• Char.gy: UK-based EV charging network that installs chargers on existing street furniture such as lampposts. Directly comparable to Etc.'s street-cabinet EV charging pilot in terms of using existing urban infrastructure to expand public charging access.
• Ubitricity: UK lamppost-mounted EV charging provider (acquired by Shell). Same underlying approach as Etc.'s street-cabinet-to-charger conversion and the same UK local-authority customer profile.
• Altitude Angel: UK drone airspace infrastructure company building UTM/drone superhighways. Named partner to Etc. on drone connectivity and operates in the same regulatory/operational layer as Drone SIM.

Emerging players

• Tamoco: Location data and SDK provider focused on aggregated, anonymised mobility insights. Comparable to Active Intelligence in data methodology, with narrower customer scale and European emphasis.
• Huma: Digital health platform providing remote patient monitoring and preventative care pathways. Direct comparable to Etc.'s NHS Warrington cardiovascular remote-care program in both technology and clinical use cases.

Broad incumbents

• Pod Point (Shell): Established UK EV charging network now part of Shell. Comparable to Etc.'s EV charging initiative at the category level, though it operates traditional rather than repurposed street-cabinet infrastructure.
• Skyward (a Verizon company): Drone operations and connectivity management platform owned by Verizon. Overlaps with Drone SIM as a cellular-enabled drone connectivity and management solution, backed by a much larger US carrier.

Others

• Telefónica Innovation / Wayra: Large telecom operator's internal venture/innovation arm. Most structurally similar to Etc. as a corporate-startup incubator inside a major incumbent telco, though their portfolio spans many more verticals.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/BTGroup
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UC7BgrS1G5fMVJKwymB-NF6w
• Facebookfacebook.com/BTGroup
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/etcatbtgroup
• Instagraminstagram.com/btgroup

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments1 record

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Etc.