NORTHERN TECH 100
T H E N O R T H ’ S F A S T E S T G R O W I N G T E C H C O M P A N I E S
That was back in 2014. Within weeks
of starting out in the store cupboard,
developing a test and trial proposition
with the company’s now tech director
James Branton, and switching on their
pay-per-click advertising,
the
leads
started rolling in.
He quickly realised that convenience
was going to be their USP and set about
capitalising on it. “We looked at how
convenient the selling process was for
sellers at that time and decided we
could take that to a new level. Rather
than getting customers to drive their car
hundreds of miles, we could collect it from
their doorstep. Rather than make them
wait three days for payment, we’d pay
them immediately with an online transfer.”
Of course, an easy sale might sacrifice
some of the money you could make but
that's just part of the business, Marley
says. “That’s the market we operate in.
It’s not about getting the highest sale
price possible for your car, but it’s more
convenient through us, and everybody
knows that – we all know where we stand
in the market.”
The thing that powers all this for the end
user is the tech the Car Buying Group has
developed. Getting that right was their
number one priority before going live with
the online platform. “Our biggest asset,
our IP if you like, is the valuations engine
we’ve developed. It’s a living, breathing
organism, constantly interrogating data,
pricing and what we’re buying.”
Continued on page 3...
The Car Buying Group
might be one of the
youngest companies
on the Northern Tech
100 league table, but
it’s also the fastest
growing.
VICKI SHIEL
A store cupboard in Bradford surrounded
by toilet rolls might not seem like a fitting
environment for a promising young
startup. But that’s where The Car Buying
Group began operating in 2014.
“It really was a startup story,” says
managing director Tom Marley.
“I
remortgaged my house, my parents
remortgaged theirs — the lot.”
The
idea came from spotting an
opportunity in the online space for car
sales. Tom and a few friends discussed a
large deal that had recently taken place
between We Buy Any Car and British Car
Auctions and realised there seemed to be
plenty of room in the market.
“We looked at that deal, knew that online
car purchasing was still in its infancy, that
there was only one big monopoly player,
and that they were only taking up between
5% and 10% of the marketplace, so it was
ripe for someone to come in and give
them a run for their money. We realised
we could probably make a nuisance of
ourselves,” he explains.
2. TVSQUARED
In 2012 Calum Smeaton, the former CEO
of data analytics firm Sumerian, founded
TVSquared
to bring
state-of-the-art
analytical capabilities to TV advertising.
Now more than 360 brands, agencies
and networks across 48 countries use
TVSquared to measure and optimise TV.
The company has helped organisations
improve TV efficiency between 20% and
80% by determining the effectiveness of a
single spot, improving the performance of
on-air campaigns and optimising media
spend. Headquartered
in Edinburgh,
TVSquared has opened offices in London,
New York and Los Angeles.
3. THELADBIBLE GROUP
Founded in 2012 by Solly Solomou and
Arian Kalantari, TheLADbible Group is
redefining entertainment and news for a
social generation. Based in Manchester’s
Northern Quarter, their flagship brand
TheLADbible Group is followed by half of all
UK men aged 18-24, and a fifth of women in
the same age group.
Their
brands
include
TheLADbible
Group, SPORTbible, Pretty 52, branded
content agency Joyride and licensing arm
CONTENTbible. In the past five years, their
team has grown to just over 140 people,
with a second office in Shoreditch.
T E C H N O R T H
• •
# N O R T H E R N T E C H 1 0 0
• •
3 0 M A R C H 2 0 1 7
• •
Produced by:
In association with:
THE CAR
BUYING GROUP
1.
T E C H N O R T H
• •
• 2 •
3 0 M A R C H 2 0 1 7
• •
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THE CAR BUYING GROUP
TVSQUARED
THELADBIBLE GROUP
DOUBLE ELEVEN
TRAK GLOBAL GROUP
PURPLE WIFI
PROFILE FINANCIAL
ACCESSPAY
ZEROLIGHT
CONTROL F1
HEDGEHOG LAB
BIGCHANGE APPS
HYPERDRIVE INNOVATION
PIMORONI
TYRES ON THE DRIVE
RESDIARY.COM
3SQUARED
REDU GROUP
RRADAR
CLOUD TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS
INVENTRY
CURRENTBODY.COM
TRIBEPAD
GIACOM WORLD NETWORKS
PERFORMANCE HORIZON
DEGREE 53
EVOLUTION FUNDING
LPW TECHNOLOGY
AZZURE IT
SHIELD SAFETY GROUP
GODEL TECHNOLOGIES EUROPE
THE FLOOW
BEDE GAMING
PANINTELLIGENCE
INTECHNICA
TELCOM NETWORKS
ENGAGE INTERACTIVE
REASON DIGITAL
INTERACT
HIRING HUB
THE HUT GROUP
ZUTO
SKY BETTING AND GAMING
MPD GROUP
TEAM17
RESULTING
CONNEXIN
EVOKE CREATIVE
PARALLAX
UTILIGROUP
IMPULSEPAY
MOBYSOFT
AIRANGEL
METRONET (UK)
ANGEL SOLUTIONS LTD
MANDO
CHESS
MTECH IT SOLUTIONS
CONTRACTHIREANDLEASING.COM
ADVANCERY
SUMO DIGITAL
AMPERSAND COMMERCE
OPENCAST SOFTWARE EUROPE
ASPIRE TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS
FAT MEDIA
SAFEGUARD
ELEMENTARY TECHNOLOGY
PINK BOUTIQUE
MOBICA
TPP
APADMI
EBECS
SYKES COTTAGES
BETTER2KNOW
PROVU COMMUNICATIONS
THE ESP GROUP
WMG
C365CLOUD
VAIONI
EVERYTHING DIFFERENT
VENN DIGITAL
OPENCRM
FRESH GENERATION UK
PURE TECHNOLOGY GROUP
VISUALSOFT
RESPONSETAP
UKFAST
PARCEL2GO.COM
UNIFORM
WAX DIGITAL
NITESITE
SIMPLEUSABILITY
SONOCENT
BLUE LOGIC
DELETE AGENCY
AXON
CONTEXT PUBLIC RELATIONS
4040 MEDIA
YOOMEE
INVOSYS
Ecommerce
Enterprise Software
Digital Media
Betting & Gaming
Telecoms Services
Enterprise Software
Fintech
Fintech
Enterprise Software
Enterprise Software
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Hardware
Ecommerce
Ecommerce
Enterprise Software
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IT Services
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Ecommerce
Enterprise Software
IT Services
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IT Services
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Hardware
Betting & Gaming
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Digital Media
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Betting & Gaming
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IT Services
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Digital Media
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IT Services
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Betting & Gaming
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Ecommerce
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Wakefield
Edinburgh
Manchester
Middlesbrough
Crewe
Oldham
Preston
Manchester
Newcastle
Huddersfield
Newcastle
Leeds
Sunderland
Sheffield
Holmes Chapel
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Leeds
Cheadle
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Hull
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Chesterfield
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Sandbach
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Worsley
UK-wide car buying service with regional offices across the UK
More than 360 brands, agencies and networks across 48 countries use TVSquared
Their flagship brand is followed by half of all UK men aged 18-24
Worked on games for Sony, Microsoft and Warner Brothers
Founded by Nick Corrie; an economics graduate, former RAF officer and experienced businessman
Allows businesses to monitor their physical spaces and promote their brand
Improved retirement prospects for over 12,000 customers so far
In 2016, they were awarded £1m funding from Barclays
Clients include Audi AG, Pagani Automobili, VW and Toyota Motor Europe
Clients include Globavista, Johnson & Johnson, the NHS and Risk Technology
Offices in London, Boston, Austin, Copenhagen and Hyderabad
They have 15,000 paid subscribers serving over 600 SMEs and enterprise customers
Designed the battery technology used in the world's quickest street legal electric car
Pimoroni's first product, Pibow, has now sold over 175,000 units
Founded in 2011 by Dominic Clark, a former senior manager at Michelin.
Their system processes 2.5M bookings each month.
Won the Queen's Award for Enterprise in Innovation
Delivers high volume incremental sales for brands and retailers
Trains and advises its clients to help them avoid risks
Deliver tailored digital transformations to organisations in 47 countries
The market leader for site access and visitor management products, trusted by over 3,000 schools
Partners with leading brands in the market, including L'Oreal and Unilever
Their software is currently used in over 120 countries
Provides over 4,000 IT professionals and resellers with access to cloud services
Based in Newcastle, with offices in the U.S.A., Japan and Australia
Based at The Sharp Project in Manchester; a creative digital business hub
Provides market-leading motor finance products to consumers
Uses its leading 3D printing software to develop and supply metal powders
Sells and deploys Microsoft business software products to support SME's
The No. 1 provider of Food, Fire and Health & Safety services and software
Employs over 300 people; more than half of their management team are female
Operates globally from Sheffield, helping make vehicles safer and cheaper for all
Process over 200 million transactions per month
The only Sage certified BI solution for Sage 200 and Sage CRM
Its co-founders implemented and optimised the system that sold tickets for Glastonbury 2005
Clients include Cirque du Soleil, the NHS, LADbible, Allied London and Uber
Works with Northern household names including Yorkshire Tea, Jet2 and Leeds Building Society
Works with the UK's biggest charities, social enterprises and corporate responsibility departments
Headquartered near Manchester, Interact has offices in New York, San Francisco and Sydney.
Hiring Hub's clients include Morrisons, Capita, Nisa, Iceland and Ascribe.
The Hut Group serve over 400 million website visitors annually.
Zuto currently employ over 300 people, affectionately known as 'Zutonites'.
Sky Betting & Gaming has offices in Leeds, Sheffield, London and Rome.
Manchester-based MPD Group has secured £6.5 million in funding since 2013.
In 2016 they secured a £16.5million investment from LDC
Strategic suppliers to a number of large consulting firms
Founded and is currently led by Furqan Alamgir, an Imperial College graduate
Staff numbers have almost doubled over the past 18 months
Clients include British Airways, Nespresso, Hisense, American Express, Kerry Foods and easyGym
Market leading provider of SaaS software to the utilities and energy industry
Clients include SpareRoom, Cross Country Trains, 192.com and Virgin Trains
Help over 70 housing organisations maximise income, create efficiencies and mitigate welfare reform
Airangel's products cover nearly 100,000 rooms or units in twenty-seven countries.
The business operates from Manchester, UK and Bucharest, Romania.
In 2012 their Liverpool-based office underwent a circus-themed refurbishment.
Customers include Transport for London, TalkTalk, Thomas Cook Group and Warburtons
In 2016 awarded 2nd place in 'The Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work for'.
Their customers include the Leeds Rhinos, Summer Boarding Courses and Springfield Care Homes.
Employees enjoy free Nespresso coffee machines, regular fruit deliveries and a car allowance scheme.
Clients include Safestyle UK and leading milk logistics company, SJ Bargh.
Studios in Leeds, Nottingham and Pune, India.
Their clients include Harvey Nichols, Poundland and Bensons for Beds.
Their clients include HM Revenue & Customs, Betfair, Barclays, Catapult, Sage and the NHS.
Since 2013, the company has grown their workforce from 40 to over 100 employees.
Founded in Lancaster, the company has opened two more offices in Bristol and London
Caters to companies of all sizes in mature and emerging international markets.
An audio visual and interactive technology reseller working in education and enterprise marketplaces.
Pink Boutique ship between 2000 - 4000 items of glam clothing worldwide each day.
Based in Wilmslow, Mobica has eleven R&D locations around the world.
Their software has supported NHS services for nearly twenty years.
Develops applications for iOS, Android, Windows Phone and Blackberry devices.
Works with sectors including finance, insurance, manufacturing, distribution, retail and not-for-profit
Provide a cottage booking and management service to over 8,000 cottages in the UK and Ireland
Helped thousands of people around the world get health-tested discreetly and quickly
The principal distributors for many leading brands of IP phones
Assists major transport operators, local and metropolitan transport authorities and national schemes
Employs over 120 people across the group, with offices in London, Harrogate and Wetherby
Their customers include Bupa, Co-op, Sainsbury's, Heineken, RSLs and NHS Trusts
Manchester-based Vaioni is a market leading provider of connectivity
Their clients include Sky, L'Oreal, Sage, Nexus and the NHS
Global platform allows users to edit content on their website from anywhere
The company has worked with with customers in 14 countries with over 6000 users
Fresh Generation UK launched 452 websites and generated over £515m in revenue for their clients
A leading provider of ICT services and solutions to SME, corporate and public sectors.
Their client list includes TJ Hughes, Carpet Runners UK, Charles Clinkard, Gabor and Beauty Base
Supports more than 2000 clients worldwide, including British Gas, Aviva, Mercedes Benz and Virgin
The firm has offices in Manchester, London and Glasgow
The company runs websites and customer services for couriers such as TNT, Hermes, DPD and UPS
Uniform now employs 54 people, mostly in Liverpool but with a small outpost in London
Their web3 software is deployed via the cloud to 260,000 users in over 100 countries
Nitesite’s products are exported to thirty-one countries, with a presence on every continent
Their clients include EE, Playtech, Asda, Jet2.com, the NHS, McDonald's and Hermes
Develops software that visualises speech from audio recordings
Worked with industry leading vendors like Microsoft, Sonicwall, Sage, Netapp and Veaam
Operates out of London, Leeds and Munich.
Began as a single-source IT company and in 2011 shifted its focus to cloud computing
Services include media relations, content marketing and social media management
Created over 1,750 videos for over 1,000 clients around the world
Designs and develops new digital services for social good
Recently expanded globally with the launch of its market-leading platform, Number Manager
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Information
THE NORTHERN TECH 100
In association with the
NORTHERN TECH AWARDS
# N O R T H E R N T E C H 1 0 0
• •
• 3 •
3 0 M A R C H 2 0 1 7
• •
4. DOUBLE ELEVEN
Double Eleven is a niche publisher and
developer of interactive entertainment;
publishing and developing video games
on Xbox, PlayStation and PC. The
Middlesbrough-based
company was
founded in 2009 by Lee Hutchinson and
Matt Shepcar,
former developers at
Rockstar Games.
Double Eleven have worked on games for
Sony, Microsoft and Warner Brothers. Their
titles include LittleBigPlanet, Nom Nom
Galaxy, Goat Simulator, Lego Harry Potter:
Years 1-4 and Lego Harry Potter: Years 5-7.
In 2016 Shahid Ahmad, previously head of
PlayStation UK’s strategic content division,
joined Double Eleven as an advisor.
5. TRAK GLOBAL GROUP
Operating in five countries, Trak Global
Group is one of the world's largest
telematics companies, gathering and
interpreting data from connected devices
to help organisations manage driver and
vehicle risk. The Crewe-based company
was founded by Nick Corrie, an economics
graduate,
former RAF officer and
experienced businessman.
To date, the company has gathered and
interpreted over 500 million safer journeys;
in 2015 it received the Prince Michael
International Road Safety Award for its
work in reducing young driver accident
frequency.
6. PURPLE WIFI
In May 2012 Gavin Wheeldon founded
Purple, a WiFi and location SaaS solution
offering analytics and marketing tools
to businesses. Their software allows
businesses to monitor their physical spaces
and promote their brand, while providing
insights into customer behaviour within
venues.
The Oldham-based company is observing
growth
in multiple sectors,
including
hospitality, retail, healthcare and cities.
Since 2014, Purple has received two major
investments: to £3.3m in January and
£5.4m in September 2016.
7. PROFILE FINANCIAL
Preston-based Profile Financial was co-
founded by Ian Floyed and Steven Naylor.
A leading pension adviser in the UK, the
company has switched almost £500m of
pension assets and improved retirement
prospects for over 12,000 customers so far.
The company takes a hybrid approach to
customer service, balancing technology
and scalability with human interactions.
8. ACCESSPAY
AccessPay is a Manchester-based tech
firm founded by Ali Moiyed in 2012. The
firm works with businesses and banks to
adopt next-generation payment services
and tear up the bricks and mortar concept
associated with finance as well as the
traditional nature of bank-customer-
business relationships.
AccessPay’s team of developers have
created a cloud-based connectivity layer,
enabling business finance systems, bank
accounts and major payments networks to
talk to one another. The service is delivered
in one portal, negating manual intervention
across multiple platforms and interfaces,
providing resource and cost savings as well
as supporting management information
and security. In 2016, AccessPay were
awarded £1m funding from Barclays.
9. ZEROLIGHT
Darren Jobling founded Newcastle-based
ZeroLight in 2014. The company are
pioneers in the field of commercial 3D
visualisation for the automotive industry
using virtual reality; their omnichannel
platform empowers OEMs and partners
to create and deliver compelling customer
experiences
that
drive
engagement
across all touch points, leading to higher
specification sales in-store and online.
Deployed in multiple markets worldwide
by clients including Audi AG, Pagani
Automobili, VW and Toyota Motor Europe,
ZeroLight’s technology is revolutionising
the automotive retail landscape.
10. CONTROL F1
In 2010, Andy Dumbell and Carl Howarth
founded Control F1, a digital software
company that specialises in telematics and
the Internet of Things. The Huddersfield-
based team are currently working on
software projects
including
i-Motors,
a commercially viable platform for
connected vehicles, and My ICU Voice, a
tablet-based system that allows
hospital patients to communicate clearly
with hospital staff.
Control F1’s clients
include the RAC,
Globavista, Johnson & Johnson, the NHS
and Risk Technology.
Contrary to what many say about a lack
of technical talent in the sector, Tom says
he had no trouble there. “We’re firmly
rooted in the Yorkshire area which puts
us in a unique place. Our location near
the M1 (the company now operates
from Wakefield) means we have access
to people living in Sheffield, Wakefield,
Leeds and Bradford. We’ve got some
really good people who don’t want to
have to move to a London startup or
commute to Manchester and we’re able
to capture that wealth of talent.”
commercial partnerships based on the
online valuation tool they’ve developed.
This means they now have two sets of
customers – consumers and corporates.
Tom is confident about the year ahead.
With a number of big projects in the
pipeline he expects the company to at
least double its growth rate this year.
Quite the trajectory from its humble store
cupboard beginnings.
...Continued from page 1
He then cautiously elaborates, trying not
to give too much away. In essence the
tool they’ve developed gathers data from
various industry sources and applies a
complex set of algorithms that factor in
the minutiae of the car before offering a
guide value.
The tech team is so good that they even
build their own products for internal
use, such as a scheduling tool for the
company’s call centre.
He adds: “It’s easier to say it’s not out
there. I think you just need to think about
it differently and allow people to work
differently, remotely if necessary. Our
tech director lives in Plymouth.” In fact, he
says hiring the right sales staff quickly is
actually his biggest business challenge.
Having a good
tech and market
intelligence team is what’s enabling the
company to run as efficiently as possible,
diversify and grow fast. 18 months ago The
Car Buying Group decided to accelerate
its growth by selling white-label solutions
to other websites, as well as forging
Produced by:
Tech North
technorthhq.com
Editor:
Vicki Shiel
@vickishiel
Copy:
Vicki Shiel, Martin Bryant, Richard Gregory,
Hugh Campbell, Nadina Osmani,
Jennifer Lee O'Brien
League Table:
GP Bullhound, Northern Tech Awards
Data and Insight:
Paul Braidford
Design and Production:
Hebe Works
CREDITS
• 4 •
3 0 M A R C H 2 0 1 7
• •
11. HEDGEHOG LAB
In 2007, co-workers Sarat Pediredla &
Mark Forster left their positions as senior
developers to co-found hedgehog lab, a
global enterprise app developer & post-
PC technology consultancy. Specialising
in digital applications for smartphones,
tablets,
desktops
and
wearables,
the Newcastle-based company now
have offices in London, Boston, Austin,
Copenhagen and Hyderabad.
Their clients include Channel 4, Mitsubishi,
Hult International Business School and the
Financial Times.
12. BIGCHANGE APPS LIMITED
Martin Port launched BigChange Apps
on New Year’s Day, 2013. Based in Leeds,
BigChange is a cloud based Mobile
Workforce Management software serving
the service, transport, construction, hire
and waste industries. Their all-in-one
JobWatch platform is the paperless way
to plan, manage, schedule and track a
mobile workforce; it combines a cloud
based back-office, an Android mobile app
and real-time tracking.
Notable
customers
are Hargreaves
Services, Serco, Baxi, Silentnight, Komatsu
and John Deere. It is also used by 2015
Apprentice Winner Joseph Valente and Lord
Sugar in their Impra-Gas home services
business. By the end of 2017, BigChange
will have 15,000 paid subscribers serving
over 600 SMEs and enterprise customers.
13. HYPERDRIVE INNOVATION LTD
Established
in
2012
in Sunderland,
Hyperdrive
develops
innovative
technologies to power electric vehicles,
homes and businesses. Hyperdrive has
developed a range of high specification
Battery Management Systems (BMS)
and supports customers in defining and
integrating systems.
Recent
projects
have
included
collaborations with the British Antarctic
Survey and OXIS Energy to design and
develop battery technology that operates
at -80 degrees Celsius. Hyperdrive also
designed the battery technology used in
the world’s quickest street legal electric
car, the Flux Capacitor, in partnership with
Jonny Smith.
14. PIMORONI LTD
Founded in 2012 by Jon Williamson and Paul
Beech, Pimoroni aims to make electronics
accessible by making kits for the Raspberry
Pi. Its first product, Pibow, has sold over
175,000 units.
The Sheffield-based business has grown
from one laser company and its co-
founders, to more than thirty employees,
with five laser cutters and several circuit-
building robots. They’ve also successfully
completed two fundraisers on Kickstarter.
15. TYRES ON THE DRIVE
Tyres On The Drive is a mobile tyre-
fitting company that allows customers to
book online or over the phone and have
new tyres fitted, or punctures repaired,
at any suitable location. The company
was founded in 2011 in Holmes Chapel by
Dominic Clark, a former senior manager at
Michelin.
In January 2017, Tyres On The Drive
secured an investment of up to £8m from
Halfords, the UK’s leading retailer of
motoring, cycling and leisure products as
well as Halfords Autocentres, a leading
independent operator in vehicle servicing,
maintenance and repairs.
16. RESDIARY.COM LIMITED
Founded
in 2006 by Mike Conyers,
ResDiary.com
provide
software
to
restaurant operators to help maximise
their yield through reservation and table
management. With 6,500 restaurants in
60 countries using ResDiary, their system is
used to process 2.5 million bookings each
month.
Headquartered in Glasgow, ResDiary have
sales and support staff in the UK, Ireland,
New Zealand, Australia, Singapore and
Hong Kong, with resellers in South Africa,
Norway, Switzerland, Portugal, Malta,
Indonesia, Canada and Uruguay.
17. 3SQUARED
3Squared, a technology consultancy based
in Sheffield, has over 15 years experience
offering a range of software products,
services and consultancy. Co-founders
Tim Jones and James Fox met during a
course in computer software engineering
at Sheffield Hallam University;
they
formed the company in 2002, shortly after
graduating.
In 2016, 3Squared won the Queen’s Award
for Enterprise in Innovation for their
licensed RailSmart software suite, now
used by the majority of the UK’s rail freight
sector. They currently employ 45 full-time
members of staff in Sheffield, and have
plans to become the leading software
supplier to the UK rail sector.
18. REDU GROUP
Redu is an award-winning provider of
social, mobile and data-driven affiliate
marketing. The Seaham-based company
was founded by Darren Williams, Sam
Morton and Gary Hunter; it delivers high
volume incremental sales for brands
and retailers through its Ashleigh Money
Saver and Ashleigh Plus Size Brands. The
company also has its own proprietary
software IP in its affiliate manager system,
NLite.
Ashleigh Money Saver is an established
and profitable affiliate model operated
by Facebook, websites and emailing,
promoting offers from leading retailers
including Very, John Lewis, Asda and Boots.
19. RRADAR
rradar is a new kind of law firm, training
and advising its clients to help them avoid
risks ranging from health and safety to
fraud prevention. rradar was founded by
Gary Gallen in 2014, who resigned from his
job at a traditional law firm to set up the
company.
The Hessle-based firm has recently
launched a legal Virtual Assistant called
Grace, the first of its kind, using bespoke
coding and content designed in-house in
partnership with IBM Watson.
20. CLOUD TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS
Cloud
Technology
Solutions
is
a
Manchester-based tech company that
provides G Suite and Google Cloud platform
solutions. They are one of the world’s
leading Google Cloud Premier Partners,
delivering tailored digital transformations
to organisations in 47 countries. Their
CloudMigrator and CloudPages software
has close to 10 million users.
The driving force behind CTS’ growth is
CEO James Doggart; prior to CTS, James
ran a software solutions and services
business where he doubled the turnover
and profitability of the organisation.
Their clients include organisations such
as AG Barr, Yahoo!, Majestic Wine and
Manchester City Council.
21. INVENTRY LTD
InVentry was established in 2010 in Leeds,
with a goal to streamline and perfect the
school sign in process. InVentry are now the
market leader for site access and visitor
management products, trusted by over
3,000 schools.
With a fully integrated system allowing
its users to accurately monitor who is
on-site at any one time, InVentry speeds
up the signing in process, keeps identity
information secure and leaves senior
leaders in schools feeling confident that
their students are safe.
22. CURRENTBODY.COM LTD
CurrentBody was the first ecommerce
company to recognise the fastest growing
niche in the beauty industry over the
last two years; the rapid introduction
of professional devices miniaturised
into handheld units for consumer use.
CurrentBody partners with leading brands
in the market including L’Oreal’s highly
acclaimed facial cleanser Clarisonic and
Unilever's hair removal systems.
Co-founders Laurence Newman and
Andrew Showman, alongside a senior
management team lead by Chairman Mike
McGrath, have grown the company to 20
staff in a hybrid office and warehouse,
purpose built in Cheadle.
23. TRIBEPAD
Dean Sadler, a former CIO and CTO at
Plusnet, founded TribePad in 2008. The
Sheffield-based
company���s
award-
winning
recruitment
software allows
candidates to apply for jobs from any
device, at any location.
TribePad’s software is currently used in
over 120 countries in seventeen languages
and has processed over 35 million job
applications. Their customers include the
BBC, KFC, Tesco, Sweaty Betty, Skipton
Building Society and Bupa.
24. GIACOM WORLD NETWORKS
Founded in 1991 by CEO Nick Marshall,
Giacom is a service provider based in Hull.
The company was initially built as an ISP
serving tens of thousands of consumers
and businesses.
Giacom now operates MessageStream
Cloud Marketplace which provides over
4,000 IT professionals and resellers with
access to cloud services. It is Europe’s
largest cloud marketplace exclusively for IT
support professionals.
25. PERFORMANCE HORIZON
Performance Horizon was founded in 2010
by a team of Affiliate Marketing veterans,
including Malcolm Cowley and Paul
Fellows.
In 2011, they launched their core product:
Performance Horizon Enterprise. They
are now the leading provider of SaaS
software for partner marketing, and the
team has grown to 100 employees. Based
in Newcastle, with offices in the USA, Japan
and Australia, Performance Horizon is
backed by top-tier investors, including
Mithril, Greycroft Partners and DN Capital.
T E C H N O R T H
• •
• 5 •
3 0 M A R C H 2 0 1 7
• •
# N O R T H E R N T E C H 1 0 0
• •
You may not follow
them on Facebook or
visit their website, but
chances are you’ve
seen (and laughed) at
something published by
TheLADbible Group.
VICKI SHIEL
Started by school friends Solly Solomou
and Arian Kalantari in 2012 when they were
still at university (Solomou was at Leeds
and Kalantari at Liverpool), TheLADbible
Group has filled the void left following the
demise of lads’ mags such as Loaded in the
nineties and is now followed by half of all
British males aged 18 to 24.
“We were just producing funny content
for the younger audience,” says co-
founder Kalantari of the early days. But
the duo have always seen it as a business.
Following early success on Facebook they
built a website and heavily promoted it
through advertising networks. “We found
that what we were doing really resonated
with our audience,’ he adds.
It seems so. To date they’ve accumulated
23 million followers on Facebook and
ladbible.com is now the 10th most-visited
website in the UK according to Alexa. Since
growing that community TheLADbible
Group has gone on to build a portfolio of
other brands including SPORTbible, Pretty
52, branded content agency Joyride, and
licensing arm CONTENTbible, used by TV
networks, brand and publishers.
That’s their core business, Kalantari tells
me. They also run a number of ‘incubator
channels’ — new brands they treat as
startups, constantly testing and learning
what works for that particular audience.
These include LENSbible (Instagram-only
photography content), GAMINGbible and
FOODbible, all typically aimed at a youth
audience.
How do they manage all this? They’ve
grown the team over the past five years to
just under 140 people and have offices in
both Manchester and Shoreditch. Not bad
considering they’re both 25 years old. Just
don’t use the term millennial to describe
their target audience. “I’m 25 and I behave
quite differently to most 16-year-olds,” he
explains.
Of the 140 employees they have a tech
team of just under 30 and they’ve custom
built everything from the website and
submissions platform to their editorial
management system.
“From the off we’ve seen the importance
of tech. We position our companies as
a combination of tech and media,” says
Kalantari.
The secret of their success seems to be a
combination of good timing, listening to
their audience, and an ability to carve out
a niche in this new and evolving publishing
space. “There’s no traditional way of doing
this, we’re kind of writing the book.”
“The thing we do that traditional publishing
doesn’t is look at tech and data closely with
creative. We provide writers with data on
topics and encourage them to get creative
within that framework. Authenticity is very
important to us. We listen to comments,
look at the data, and feed it back to
creative — it’s full circle.”
Already popular in the US, Australia and
Ireland, the team’s plan this year is to
further expand globally. So expect to see
even more from TheLADbible Group.
“WE WERE JUST
PRODUCING
FUNNY
CONTENT FOR
THE YOUNGER
AUDIENCE”
THE-
LADBIBLE
GROUP
INTERVIEW
T E C H N O R T H
• •
• 6 •
3 0 M A R C H 2 0 1 7
• •
One of the first things
that jumped out at me
from the table was
the diversity of the
sectors. In the largest
six companies alone,
there’s everything from
ecommerce, transport,
telecoms and gaming.
Something that’s really exciting is the age
of some of these companies. Twenty-six
of them have been created in the last five
years. TheLADbible Group, for example, is
a really fast-growing, young business with
impressive revenues, who have used social
media in exciting new ways; so that’s an
interesting trend to watch.
Of course, you can’t help but get drawn
into some of the things that are still holding
companies back. One of the challenges we
find in the North is that there’s relatively
less access to funding at early stages. It
is disproportionately hard in the North of
England to get funding. There’s a real job to
increase awareness of tech opportunities in
the region with angel investors. Sixty-eight
percent of the businesses on this table have
had no VC backing; they’re still growing
at a phenomenal rate — which of course,
is a wonderful thing. Imagine how great
that list could be if we had more access to
funding?
We’re seeing more connectivity between
Liverpool and Manchester in the Northwest
and Sheffield, Leeds and Hull in Yorkshire;
but we’ve still got a challenge to get people
thinking cross-region. There are still very
few pan-Northern organisations on the list;
something I find odd. A lot of the companies
are very big in one location.
One of the big challenges in the tech space
is procuring more talent. I think Sky Betting
& Gaming is a good example of how pan-
northern growth can help resolve this
issue. They launched in Leeds and grew
to the point where they had over 1,000
employees, which is wonderful. When they
realised there’s only so much in the talent
pool, they opened a second office in
Sheffield where they employ another 150 to
200 people. I wouldn’t be surprised if they
opened another office in the North at some
point. With a pan-Northern mindset, they’ll
continue to grow.
It’s extremely important to acknowledge
the lack of gender diversity
in this
table. The owners, founders or majority
shareholders of companies on the table
are predominantly men. That’s got to
change; we’ve got a lot more work to do
in this space.
Gender diversity is one of the areas the
whole industry has to focus on, so that this
table is much more representative in years
to come.
Historically, the league table has been a
top 50, so the fact that we’ve extended
it to 100 this year — that there’s so many
opportunities to talk about — is really
reassuring. We’re talking about a growth
market that feels really sustainable.
"WITH A
PAN-NORTHERN
MINDSET, COMPANIES
WILL CONTINUE TO
GROW"
RICHARD
GREGORY
DIRECTOR OF TECH NORTH
OPINION
• 7 •
3 0 M A R C H 2 0 1 7
• •
The tech scene in the
North is more robust
than ever. Over the
past twelve months we
have seen high profile
transactions as well
as growth from key
regional players.
Behind these private sector successes,
there is a visible recognition from the
public sector regarding the importance
of technology to the Northern economy.
Furthermore, there has been a flow of
people and funding from corporates to
the North as they seek to develop their
technology platforms and offerings. The
momentum is with the North when it comes
to technology. The story we have all long
believed is starting to become reality.
Technology is coming home to the North.
Skyscanner stole the headlines with its sale
to the Chinese travel firm Ctrip for £1.4bn
– a fantastic and pioneering journey for
the Northern tech scene which saw a
business go from back bedroom to global
unicorn. Skyscanner is no flash-in-the-
pan experience, as demonstrated by the
likes of BooHoo.com, MoneySupermarket.
com and AO.com which have all achieved
Unicorn status. Critically, these business
are all underpinned by strong revenues
and have been able to show sustained
growth over a number of years.
Beneath the Unicorns, there is a plethora of
smaller, but no less ambitious companies,
the Northern Foals, with the aspiration, the
ambitions, the capability and the products
to become the next Unicorns. It should be
the aim of everyone involved in the tech
scene in the North to help these businesses
achieve their obvious potential. This
includes companies like On the Beach, GB
Group and Zuto which have used a digital
platform to transform more traditional
industries. Although based in the North,
their scope is very much UK-wide and they
are looking to roll out their models overseas
too. Others like Performance Horizon and
LADbible Group have already established
a significant international footprint. Like
SkyScanner before them, they too have
caught the eye of international corporates
and investors for the real innovation and
value they can bring to their customers.
The success of these private sector
companies has spurred on the policy
makers in the region. This infrastructure
is vital to support, maintain and grow the
tech ecosystem. It is also recognition of how
important technology is and will continue
to be for the region. This support is focused
on three key areas: funding, promotion and
education.
There has been consistent feedback about
funding gaps within the North, however this
is slowly being addressed. Amongst other
organisations, there has been the launch of
the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund
and Accelerated Digital Ventures which
receive both private investment alongside
funding from the British Business Bank.
Across the North, there are now a number
of organisations, particularly at a local
government level, looking to shout about the
achievements both locally and regionally.
Tech North, Sunderland Software City,
Dot Forge, Dynamo and Digital Union are
all examples of organisations which are
focused on developing and promoting the
tech ecosystem in their specific regions.
Crucially, as these ecosystems develop, it
also encourages the skills developed in the
region to remain.
Ultimately, tech in the North is about the
people and equipping those people with
the skills to create globally successful
companies. We are lucky to have some
of the best universities in the world which
are producing highly skilled graduates.
Nevertheless, there is still an identified
shortage of key technology skills. A number
of apprenticeship schemes are being
promoted across the region to ensure the
talent pool is available to ensure continued
tech investment in the region.
Finally, we should not forget the North has
a lot more to offer the tech community:
an excellent
transport
infrastructure,
good international airports, a relatively
inexpensive
standard of
living,
the
opportunity to live and work in a city, yet
have some of the most stunning countryside
on your doorstep. The reasons for the
continued success of tech in the North are
compelling.
OPINION
"THE MOMENTUM
IS WITH THE NORTH
WHEN IT COMES TO
TECHNOLOGY."
HUGH
CAMPBELL
CO-FOUNDER & MANAGING
PARTNER AT GP BULLHOUND
# N O R T H E R N T E C H 1 0 0
• •
• 8 •
3 0 M A R C H 2 0 1 7
• •
26. DEGREE 53
Degree 53 is an award-winning digital
agency specialising in mobile app and
website development, UX, design and
consultancy services. Founded in 2013
by Andrew Daniels, the company offers
development,
design,
research and
consultancy to a number of industries,
including
online
gambling,
sports,
finance, retail and education. Degree 53
holds the Remote Gambling Software
licence accredited by the UK Gambling
Commission, allowing them to provide
comprehensive and secure digital services
to its clients in the gambling industry.
Degree 53 is based at The Sharp Project
in Manchester, a creative digital business
hub.
27. EVOLUTION FUNDING
Established
in 2002
in Chesterfield,
Evolution Funding is an automotive funding
and retailing group. Led by company
Director Jeremy Levine, Evolution Funding
employs over 270 people UK-wide with
multiple arms to the operation, including a
motor finance brokerage, vehicle rentals,
vehicle loans, two car dealerships and a
body shop and accident repair centre.
The company provides market-leading
motor finance products to consumers
via more than 4,000 approved dealer
partnerships and groups, with a fleet of
2,000 flexi-rental vehicles.
28. LPW TECHNOLOGY LTD
In 2007, Phil Carroll PHD founded LPW
Technology. LPW uses its leading 3D
printing software to develop and supply
metal powders for additive manufacturing
and safety critical industries including
aerospace, automotive and medical
sectors. Known worldwide for its research
and development, LPW’s respected team
of software, mechanical and applications
engineers has developed a unique AM
powder
lifecycle management system
called PowderLife.
LPW is headquartered in Runcorn, with
operations in the USA, Europe and Asia.
29. AZZURE IT
Founded by Craig Such in 2011, Azzure IT
is a Microsoft Dynamics provider, with a
headquarters in Sheffield and offices in
Reading and Newcastle. The company sells
and deploys Microsoft business software
products to support SMEs in the growth and
development of their businesses. It works
with companies across a range of sectors
including manufacturing,
professional
services, logistics and not for profit.
Azzure IT is the UK’s leading Microsoft Gold
Partner, a two-time Deloitte Fast UK fastest
growing tech company and Microsoft
President’s Club member 2016.
30. SHIELD SAFETY
Shield Safety believes in making safety
simple for every business in the UK.
Founded by Mark Flanagan, Shield Safety
is the No. 1 provider of Food, Fire and Health
& Safety services and software for multi-
location businesses within the hospitality
industry, with increasing growth across
retail, manufacturing and SMEs.
In 2017, Shield Safety was shortlisted
for Company of the Year and Flanagan
was shortlisted for Business Person of
the Year by the Greater Manchester
Business Awards. The company is based in
Manchester’s Northern Quarter.
31. GODEL TECHNOLOGIES EUROPE
Godel Technologies is a nearshore software
development partner, engaging with some
of the UK’s leading household names and
technology companies to extend their
development capacity. The company
provides high performance teams for
clients, with expertise in agile consulting,
continuous delivery, business analysis,
software development, quality assurance
and digital and business intelligence.
The company is led by CEO Neil Turvin,
who has over 15 years of experience in IT
and software development. With offices in
Manchester and London, Godel employs
over 300 people; more than half of their
management team are female.
32. THE FLOOW
The idea for The Floow came from Aldo
Monteforte, an Italian entrepreneur and
investor who saw a gap in the telematics
market and co-founded the company with
Dr. Sam Chapman, a researcher at The
University of Sheffield. The Floow designs
and operates insightful and user-friendly
telematics systems, providing some of the
world’s largest motor insurers and auto
organisations with actionable analytics to
increase customer loyalty and ROI.
The Floow operates globally from Sheffield,
helping make vehicles safer and cheaper
for all.
33. BEDE GAMING
Over the past five years Bede Gaming
has built a world class platform for the
online gambling industry. Headquartered
in Newcastle Upon Tyne, with offices
in London and Sofia, Bulgaria, Bede
processes over 200 million transactions
and handle more than £550m of wagers
per month, powering some of the largest
online gambling operators and lotteries
worldwide.
The company was founded in 2011 by
Joseph Saumarez Smith, Dan Smyth and
Michael Brady, who had previously worked
with games suppliers including OpenBet,
Playtech and Dragonfish.
34. PANINTELLIGENCE
Panintelligence is an independent Business
Intelligence software vendor providing
data visualisation software
to other
software vendors and resellers in sectors
such as education, document management
and fintech.
Led by Managing Director Mike Cripps and
based in Leeds, Panintelligence are the
only Sage certified BI solution for Sage 200
and Sage CRM; in 2014 they won Sage’s
Development Partner Innovation Award.
Their software partners include Capita,
Tribal, RM, Communisis and Advanced.
35. INTECHNICA
Intechnica enables businesses to improve
their website and application performance,
reduce hosting costs and
technical
debt and maximise sales
revenues.
The Manchester-based company was
launched after co-founders Gidlow and
Andy Still implemented and optimised the
system that successfully sold the tickets for
Glastonbury 2005.
The company works across a diverse range
of sectors including retail, B2B commerce,
gambling, online Gaming, ticketing, media
and insurance. In 2015 the company
developed TrafficDefender, a product
designed to help businesses manage high
and variable traffic demands on online
systems, and to remove unwanted traffic
from bots, crawlers and spiders.
36. TELCOM NETWORKS LTD
After travelling the UK collecting startup
stories for their site Tech Britain, Doug
Ward and Shaun Gibson co-founded
Telcom, a Manchester-based ISP providing
internet connectivity to businesses across
Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool and London.
Using the latest technology to make
installation quicker and more efficient,
Telcom provide reliable internet up to
1GB per second to support commerce and
innovation.
Their clients include Cirque du Soleil, the
NHS, LADbible Group, Allied London and
Uber.
37. ENGAGE INTERACTIVE LTD
Engage is a full service digital agency in
Leeds, providing digital strategy, website
design and development,
campaign
planning and execution, social media
management, SEO and PPC. The company
was launched in 2007 by Creative Director
Alex Willcocks and Technical Director Dave
Wrightson, who met working at an agency
in Harrogate.
With over twenty-five clients in the UK,
the company has worked with northern
household names including Yorkshire Tea,
Jet2 and Leeds Building Society.
38. REASON DIGITAL
In 2007, Matt Haworth and Ed Cox founded
Reason Digital, a digital
innovation
agency working with the UK's biggest
charities, social enterprises and corporate
responsibility departments to
improve
social impact.
Reason Digital apply a human-centred
design approach to co-produce digital
products
including websites,
online
platforms, mobile apps and digital
communities to change more people's
lives, make efficiencies and deliver critical
services at scale. They’ve developed
apps to make it easy to donate unwanted
goods to charity shops, built early warning
systems to help keep sex workers safer and
created platforms connecting volunteers
to older people to combat isolation and
decline in mental health.
39. INTERACT
Nigel Danson PHD founded
Interact
with the aim of connecting people to
people, and people to content. They
are now a global enterprise software
company, providing their product to over
750 customers worldwide, with over
one million users.
Interact specialise
in solving internal communication and
collaboration challenges by combining
their sophisticated intranet software with
outstanding professional services.
Headquartered near Manchester, Interact
has offices in New York, San Francisco and
Sydney..
40. HIRING HUB
Co-founded by Simon Swan and Sara
Jones in 2010, Hiring Hub is an online
platform helping companies find and work
with trusted,
independent recruitment
agencies. Its mission: to make recruiting
talent hassle-free while placing trust and
integrity at the heart of the recruitment
agency.
The first employer to sign up with Hiring
Hub was high street retailer Schuch; their
clients now include Morrisons, Capita,
Nisa, Iceland and Ascribe. In 2015, Swan
was named Software Entrepreneur of the
Year at the Digital Entrepreneur Awards,
and included in Real Business’ Young Guns.
The company’s story has been featured
by The Guardian, The Sunday Times, BBC
News and the London Evening Standard.
T E C H N O R T H
• •
• 9 •
3 0 M A R C H 2 0 1 7
• •
Rradar is transforming
how businesses
work with the legal
profession.
MARTIN BRYANT
Next time someone tells you that robots
are coming for everyone’s jobs, point them
in the direction of Rradar. Founder Gary
Gallen is shaking up the legal profession by
automating as much work as possible. But
still, he’s hiring lawyers at a fair clip. The
East Yorkshire-based firm already employs
nearly 100 people, and that headcount is
set to double this year.
It’s impressive growth for a firm that lawyer
Gallen started alone in his conservatory
just four years ago.
Today, law works much the same as it
always has. The Legal Services Act of 2007
aimed to relax the way the sector worked,
but it hasn’t led to much in the way of real
disruption. Now Rradar is changing that by
completely rethinking how businesses work
with lawyers and insurers.
Rradar is as much an education company
as it is a law firm. Rather than just working
with businesses when something goes
wrong, it trains them to help stop things
going wrong in the first place.
Online training, seminars, one-to-one
calls, podcasts and more are provided to
help businesses understand and tackle the
risks they’re likely to face. These risks range
from health and safety to fraud prevention.
If insurers can cover something, Rradar
can offer a training package that helps
reduce the risk that a claim will ever have
to be made.
Now Rradar has launched a ‘Siri for legal
advice’ app called Grace. If an executive
needs to check, say, employment law, they
can ask this virtual assistant for answers
rather than being charged a hefty hourly
fee for the same information from a
human.
Gallen says the rest of the legal sector
hasn’t been too keen on the idea of taking
work away from human lawyers. After all,
this basic advice is the bread and butter of
many law firms. But it seems to be making
life more interesting for Rradar’s lawyers.
Now that it’s so easy for customers to get
answers to basic questions, they come
to the company with more advanced,
interesting problems that are more fulfilling
to work on.
“Lawyers want challenging work. When we
commoditise basic info, we get more calls
about the more clever second- and third-
tier work."
The tech side of Rradar’s business is
growing — it’s explored virtual reality as
one way of educating clients, for example.
But despite that, its Leeds and Glasgow
satellite offices are growing fast as they
staff up with legal professionals. “Our
customers want local representatives. They
want drop-in centres they can come to for
a chat and advice,” says Gallen.
Gallen argues that if the legal profession
doesn’t commoditise
its most basic
knowledge, the likes of Google will come in
and do it instead.
“Tech doesn’t put humans out of work,"
he says. "It just reframes where humans
provide the true value, using technology to
create bridges of trust.”
"TECH DOESN’T
PUT HUMANS
OUT OF WORK. IT
JUST REFRAMES
WHERE THEY
PROVIDE VALUE"
# N O R T H E R N T E C H 1 0 0
• •
RRADAR
INTERVIEW
41. THE HUT GROUP
In 2004 John Gallemore and Matthew
Moulding, former co-workers at The
Caudwell Group, founded The Hut Group.
The company operates over 100 high-
profit websites that sell premium, non-
perishable FMCG direct to consumer and
the fast growing, global health and beauty
markets via its in-house technology and
operating platform.
During 2015, The Hut group shipped over
9 million items to 192 countries, and they
serve 400 million website visitors annually.
They employ over 1,000 people, and are
headquartered in Cheshire.
42. ZUTO
In 2006, James Wilkinson and Ryan Dignan
founded Zuto, an online car finance
and loan company, in Macclesfield. The
company supports UK car buyers in the
search and funding of their vehicle. They
have helped more than half a million
people find car finance, with one-to-one
support for customers through the car
buying process.
In 2015, the company expanded into
central Manchester; they currently employ
over 300 people, affectionately known as
‘Zutonites’.
43. SKY BETTING & GAMING
Led by Chief Executive Richard Flint, Sky
Betting & Gaming was formed in 2001 in
Leeds. The company has grown to become
one of the UK’s leading online bookmakers,
with a team of over 1,000 employees.
As one of the first bookmakers to recognise
the potential of online and then mobile
platforms for betting and gaming, Sky
Betting & Gaming operates five major
online products — Bet, Vegas, Casino,
Poker, and Bingo — as well as leading
sports affiliate, Oddschecker. Sky Betting
& Gaming also has offices in Sheffield,
London and Rome.
44. MPD GROUP
MPD Group are a software company
that create technology that enables
fulfilment and deliveries for businesses
and consumers. Founded in 2010 by
CEO David Grimes, their brands include
Electio, a delivery management platform
that enables retailers to rapidly increase
the delivery options they offer to their
customers, and My Parcel Delivery, a multi-
award winning parcel delivery comparison
website.
The Manchester-based company has
secured £6.5m in funding since 2013.
45. TEAM17
Team17
is a games developer and
publisher based in Wakefield, best known
for the popular Worms franchise. Founded
by Debbie Bestwick, the company has a
27-year heritage in games development,
retail and publishing. Team17 creates and
sells a range of successful titles worldwide,
through major digital distributors such as
Sony, Microsoft, Apple and Google.
In 2016, Team17 secured a £16.5m
investment from LDC to fuel its expansion,
and acquired games developer Mouldy
Toof Studios.
46. RESULTING
Resulting was founded in 2004 by Stuart
Browne. Based in Warrington, Resulting
designs, builds and runs high-performing
IT delivery organisations for businesses.
The company are strategic suppliers to a
number of large consulting firms and work
client-side for large enterprises, globally.
Their customers include EY, Nationwide
and HMRC.
47. CONNEXIN
Connexin is a UK telecoms operator
delivering broadband and voice services
to SMEs and residential customers. The
company is currently delivering broadband
services in Hull and offering a national
voice service.
Connexin was founded and is currently led
by Furqan Alamgir, an Imperial College
graduate. Alamgir has assembled a solid
operational management
team and
engaged industry heavyweights to come
alongside as Non Executive Directors,
including Ed Candy (formerly CTO at
Hutchinson Three Group UK), who acts as
technical advisor.
48. EVOKE CREATIVE
Founded in 2003 by Dean Ward, Neil
Clark, Graham Boyd and Iain Quayle,
Evoke Creative designs interactive digital
products for major blue-chip clients
including JD Sports, Debenhams, Google
and McDonald’s. Based in the Wirral,
their solutions include self-service kiosks,
video walls, digital signage, information
points, payment terminals and interactive
experiences.
The company has rapidly established
themselves as a market leader in the UK,
with products exported to more than
a dozen countries. Staff numbers have
almost doubled over the past 18 months
and the business now employs 56 people.
49. PARALLAX
Parallax began as two companies between
four friends: Dario Grandich, Lawrence
Dudley, Andy Fitch and James Hall. The
website and web application companies
operated between several bedrooms in
York.
In 2009, they took the decision to merge
and move to Leeds. The digital agency
now works with a diverse range of clients
including British Airways, Nespresso,
Hisense, American Express, Kerry Foods,
easyGym and the Yorkshire Cricket Club.
50. UTILIGROUP
Utiligroup is a market leading provider of
SaaS software to the utilities and energy
industry. Led by CEO Matthew Hirst and
based in Chorley, the company makes a
complex industry easier to understand,
removing
competitive
barriers
and
enabling their clients to provide excellent
service for their customers.
Utiligroup works with established and new
entrant energy suppliers, as well as power
traders, asset providers, metering agents
and distribution companies.
51. IMPULSEPAY LIMITED
Chris Newell started his first business,
TextYou, while studying Computing for
Business at the University of Northumbria.
He later rebranded the company as
Interlinked Media, sold it and used the
proceeds to launch ImpulsePay; a UK
Mobile Payments facilitator in Newcastle.
Most of ImpulsePay’s customers are online
retailers looking to integrate a mobile
payment method; their clients include
SpareRoom, Cross Country Trains, 192.
com and Virgin Trains. The company are
an accredited payment intermediary of EE,
Vodafone, O2, and Three.
52. MOBYSOFT
Founded in 2003 by Derek Steele, Manchester-
based Mobysoft provides a cloud based
predictive analytic software called Rentsense
to social landlords in the UK.
Their software helps over 70 housing
organisations maximise
income, create
efficiencies and mitigate welfare reform. On
average, their customers achieve a 15.8%
arrears reduction in the first year as well as an
average efficiency saving of 25%.
In 2016 Mobysoft won a Queen’s Award for
Enterprise in Innovation and the Housing
Excellence Best IT system for its RentSense
software.
53. AIRANGEL
Warrington-based
company
Airangel
provides public and guest WiFi products
to
the enterprise hospitality market,
serviced
apartment
buildings
and
large public venues. Led by CEO Dean
Wilkinson, Airangel’s products cover nearly
100,000 rooms or units in 27 countries.
Their customers include Mercedes-Benz,
Malmaison Hotel du Vin and the NHS.
Airangel has expanded internationally and
opened a second office in Dubai, covering
the Middle East and Africa regions.
54. METRONET (UK)
Led by CEO Lee Perkins, Metronet is one
of the UK’s fastest growing connectivity
providers, operating connectivity products
including wireless, fibre, VoIP, network
security and datacentre and cloud services.
In October 2016 Metronet acquired internet
infrastructure company M247. Following
this acquisition, the Metronet Group now
offer a combined portfolio of connectivity
and content services across the UK and
Europe. The business operates from
Manchester and Bucharest, Romania.
55. ANGEL SOLUTIONS
Angel Solutions has been building software
for the education industry since 1999.
Founded by Andy Kent, Angel Solution’s
web-based software is used by every
local authority in England, as well as
thousands of schools, children’s centres
and nurseries. In 2012, their Liverpool-
based office underwent a circus-themed
refurbishment with a colourful ball pool,
popcorn machine, unicycle and a big top,
circus tent meeting space.
In 2016, the company were named Business
of the Year (up to 50 employees) by the
Liverpool Echo.
T E C H N O R T H
• •
• 10 •
3 0 M A R C H 2 0 1 7
• •
• 11 •
3 0 M A R C H 2 0 1 7
• •
The future of car
insurance flows
straight out of
Sheffield.
MARTIN BRYANT
The future of cars is data, and Sheffield-
based The Floow is well placed to be a key
player in this new world.
Vehicle insurance premiums used to be
based on informed guesses about how
likely you were to be a safe driver. Now the
industry is taking a more precise approach,
and The Floow is leading the way.
If you’ve installed a data collection device
in your car, or engaged with an app to
lower your premiums over the past few
years, there’s a strong possibility The Floow
has something to do with the ‘scores’ you
receive.
It’s all about better informed insurers and
better informed, safer drivers. As well as
sending information to your insurer about
how you’re driving, the company offers
advice that helps you make better choices in
the future – economically, environmentally,
and from a safety perspective.
The Floow works with major insurers
around the world, including Direct Line
Group and AIG. It also deals directly with
car companies like Renault and Nissan.
Now the company is ready for major
international expansion. A recent £13
million investment led by China’s Fosun
will see the company double its headcount
to support growth in the American and
Chinese markets. But co-founder Sam
Chapman is keen to stress that The Floow
will stay firmly rooted in Sheffield.
Being based in Sheffield was no accident.
The insurance industry is centred around
London, Singapore and New York, but
serial entrepreneur Aldo Monteforte was
convinced the South Yorkshire city was
an ideal home for The Floow. Cost of
living, quality of life and a pipeline of local
graduates with the right skills were strong
deciding factors.
The choice of location has paid off. The
Floow has no problem attracting staff
to relocate from around the world. Sam
Chapman says that one team member
moved from working on the Large Hadron
Collider
in Switzerland because
the
problems that The Floow was solving were
more interesting.
The Floow is transforming a staid market
with a fresh approach, but autonomous
driving presents the company with exc