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Rise in UK Startups Putting AI on the Riverbank

Aug 17, 2026 | By Team SR

Rise in UK Startups Putting AI on the Riverbank

Fishing is undergoing a technological revolution, with many anglers now feeling like Tony Stark on the riverbank with all the digital tools at their fingertips. Casting a line and hoping for the best is becoming a thing of the past. Now, you can analyse the waterways, find the best spot to fish, and even know which bait to use.

Many startups are working on ways to make fishing even better as well. Thanks to this, anglers can expect even better identification tools and ways to spot new fishing opportunities.

Technology and Fishing Now Go Hand in Hand

Fishing has fully embraced the technological revolution in recent years, with tech integrations now being a normal part of the fishing trip. The pastime is popular in digital forms too, and a lot of modern anglers may discover it for the first time online.

For example, in gaming, fishing is a prevalent theme. Many online casino players find themselves trying out Big Bass Splash and similar games in the Pragmatic Play franchise, because they are so prominent on iGaming sites. These games give players a taster of what it’s like on the riverbank, and they have the chance to try to catch a range of pixelated fish species.

There have also been quite a few realistic fishing experiences in gaming, and it has emerged as a popular option for virtual reality adaptations. Real VR Fishing is realistic and aims to capture the feel of real-world fishing.

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When people go out to fishing spots in the real world now, technology is never far away. Most anglers are now equipped with at least a smartphone, and many others will have sonar, bite alarms, and other upgrades that improve their all-round fishing experience as well.

What Are Some of the Most Promising Startups?

With fishing continuously evolving alongside digital developments, it’s a ripe industry for startups to get into. Numerous promising companies are emerging, with a few coming out of the UK. One example is AnglingAI, an AI fishing assistant aimed at UK anglers and fishing clubs. It offers various tools from fish identification to venue research. It comes with a range of subscription models suited to everyone from beginners to pros.

There are similar apps to AnglingAI, with Anglr having launched recently. It has many useful features and is great for catch logging and bite-time prediction. As these platforms grow their databases and add new features, there’s a good chance that they could become integral to the fishing experience. It will be interesting to see if they can grow into huge companies over time.

The growth of AI fishing technology is likely to make fishing accessible to a much wider range of people, as there’s no longer the need to possess a lot of knowledge to be able to fish successfully. It could also help the environment, as tech can monitor areas and ensure there’s no overfishing. It wouldn’t be surprising to see many more fishing tech startups emerging in the years ahead.

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