PRESS RELEASE:
LONDON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–February 22, 2017–
Tech City UK is delighted to announce the 26 new companies that are joining its Future Fifty programme, which showcases and supports 50 of the country’s leading growth stage companies. Future Fifty companies have enjoyed phenomenal success since the programme began, demonstrating that the Tech City UK initiative is a real proving ground for the UK’s most talented entrepreneurs and their teams.
Future Fifty gives the 26 fast-growing companies immediate access to a valuable peer network; expert-led classes and workshops designed to take their businesses to the next level; and a higher profile amongst the wider tech ecosystem. Future Fifty companies represent some of the country’s most exciting growth stage tech businesses, while changing the sectors that they operate in fundamentally.
Of the 77 companies that have been through the programme since 2014, Future Fifty’s track record now includes:
- Five IPOs on the London Stock Exchange, raising $1.5 bn
- 17 mergers and acquisitions of which 11 in the last year, including SwiftKey (Microsoft), Housetrip (TripAdvisor), One Fine Stay (Accor Group) and Skyscanner (Ctrip)
- Over $3.8 bn raised in funding, across the 77 companies, including more than $1.5 bn in 2016
- The companies have created 27,000 jobs around the world, demonstrating the extent to which tech is rapidly creating jobs and wealth throughout the UK
- A string of alumni companies that are household names including Zoopla and Just Eat.
Other well known companies that have graduated from the Future Fifty programme include:
- Farfetch – the global fashion retailer
- Lyst – a personalised fashion marketplace
- Notonthehighstreet.com – the retail site for unique gifts
- Naked Wines – which was bought by Majestic Wines
- Unruly – the viral ad company that was bought by Rupert Murdoch’s News UK
- Photobox – sold to a private equity company in 2015
The 26 companies that join the programme now could soon become household names and active in global markets. Four of the latest intake are graduates of our Upscale programme, which is an intensive six-month coaching initiative for early stage companies.
This year’s Future Fifty intake includes:
- Carwow – the app that helps you find a car, at the price you want. £1 bn sales already achieved through the platform that saves buyers on average £3,500
- Clearscore – in just 18 months has become the UK’s number one credit checking company
- LoveCrafts – a digital community for crafters: patterns, inspiration, advice and yarns for knitters and crocheters
- Onfido – the identity verification platform which uses machine learning to carry out background checks
- Trak Global Group – the world’s 7th largest telematics company, which is expanding rapidly overseas
All 26 companies have been identified by a highly experienced and respected judging panel made up of some of the most successful entrepreneurs and investors in UK tech. They believe these companies have the potential to scale rapidly and build significant businesses. The full list of Future Fifty companies is (1 – 26 are new companies, 27 – 50 existing companies):
1. Azimo (www.azimo.com) is an online international money transfer service that allows people to send money to any internet-connected device in over 190 countries around the world
2. Blis (www.blis.com) uses location data technology to create audiences for advertisers
3. Bloom & Wild (www.bloomandwild.com) provides flower delivery through the letterbox
4. Carwow (www.carwow.co.uk) is the most convenient, stress free way to find and buy a new car.
5. ClearScore (www.clearscore.com) is a company that provides free access to credit scores and reports
6. Condeco Group (www.condecosoftware.com) helps companies manage their meeting and office spaces more effectively
7. Ebury (www.ebury.com) is a financial services company that helps small and medium enterprises grow internationally with foreign exchange, business lending and cash management solutions
8. Epos Now (www.eposnow.com) is a point-of-sale software and hardware provider that automates small business banking
9. Fairsail (www.fairsail.com) provides cloud-based human resources and people management software to mid-sized organizations
10. Festicket (www.festicket.com) is an online marketplace to discover and book musical festival experiences
11. Gousto (www.gousto.co.uk) provides innovative recipe boxes with pre-portioned ingredients packaged and delivered to the door each week
12. Interact (www.interact-intranet.com) provides intranet software and professional services to help companies solve internal communication and collaboration challenges
13. Kano (www.kano.me) creates computers and coding kits for all ages
14. LoveCrafts (www.lovecrafts.com) is an online community and marketplace for the crafts sector
15. My UNiDAYS (www.myunidays.com) connects brands and services to a verified audience of students around the world
16. Onfido (www.onfido.com) is an identity verification platform that helps over 1,000 companies ensure their customers are who they claim to be
17. Receipt Bank (www.receipt-bank.com) automates small business bookkeeping
18. ROLI (www.roli.com) is a music technology company that makes a modular music creation system that opens up new possibilities for musical expression
19. Tails.com (www.tails.com) is an online pet nutrition service that makes and delivers tailormade food for an individual dog’s unique diet and nutritional needs
20. Thread (www.thread.com) is an e-commerce company that uses human stylists and machine learning to help men dress well without going shopping
21. Threads Styling (www.threadsstyling.com) is a company reinventing luxury goods commerce for the Snapchat generation
22. Spitfire Audio (www.spitfireaudio.com) provides virtual instruments to composers and producers to produce and earn royalties on quality musical samples
23. SuperAwesome (www.superawesome.tv) powers a kid-safe digital media ecosystem with products that are designed for kids’ data privacy requirements
24. Swoon Editions (www.swooneditions.com) is an online furniture brand that works directly with suppliers to provide better quality products at a better price than traditional retailers
25. Trak Global Group (www.trakglobal.co.uk) is a telematics company that uses embedded devices to gather data and manage driver risk
26. Ve Interactive (www.veinteractive.com) provides software that helps companies with digital advertising and online conversion
27. Adzuna (www.adzuna.com) is a search engine for jobs ads that lists every job, everywhere
28. Algomi (www.algomi.com) enables all market participants to securely and intelligently harness data to make valuable financial trading connections
29. Brandwatch (www.brandwatch.com) is the world’s leading social intelligence company
30. buddi (www.buddi.com) is a personal emergency response service
31. Busuu (www.busuu.com) is the world’s largest social network for language learning
32. Crowdcube (www.crowdcube.com) is a leading investment crowdfunding platform
33. Deliveroo (www.deliveroo.com) was founded in 2013 to provide the ultimate food delivery experience
34. FundApps (www.fundapps.co) provides cloud-based regulatory compliance monitoring SaaS to financial institutions
35. GoCardless (www.gocardeless.com) is the easy way to collect Direct Debit payments
36. iwoca (www.iwoca.com) offers flexible credit to small businesses across Europe
37. Just Giving (www.justgiving.com) is the Number 1 platform for online giving in the world
38. LMAX (www.lmax.com) was established to deliver the benefits of exchange quality execution to both buy-side and sell-side trading institutions
39. Lost My Name (www.lostmyname.com) is an award-winning independent technology and publishing business
40. MWR InfoSecurity (www.mwrinfosecurity.com) is an independent cyber security consultancy with research at the heart of what they do
41. NewVoiceMedia (www.newvoicemedia.com) powers customers connections that transform businesses globally
42. Performance Horizon (www.performancehorizon.com) is the leading provider of SaaS solutions for digital partner marketing
43. Qubit (www.qubit.com) empowers businesses to customise and optimise websites in real-time using qualitative and quantitative visitor data
44. RateSetter (www.ratesetter.com) is one of the largest P2P lending platforms in the UK
45. scoota (www.scoota.com) is an online advertising technology company that enables advertisers to create, activate, measure and optimise brand campaigns to scale
46. Space Ape (www.spaceapegames.com) is a gaming company focussed on mid-core games
47. The Floow (www.thefloow.com) designs the world’s most insightful, feature-rich and cost effective telematic system to make vehicles safer and cheaper for all
48. TransferWise (www.tranferwise.com) is an international money transfer platform
49. WorldRemit (www.worldremit.com) lets people send money to friends and family living abroad, using a computer, smartphone or tablet
50. Yieldify (www.yieldify.com) founded in 2013, helps marketers convert visitors easily
For more information go to www.futurefifty.com
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170222005673/en/
For Tech City UK
Katy Zack
katy@burlington.cc