The Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50 is one of the UK's foremost technology awards programmes. Now in its twenty-fifth year, the awards are an acknowledgement of the 50 fastest-growing technology companies in the UK. The ranking is based on revenue growth over the last four years.
I’m pleased to announce that entries are now open, and I would encourage any companies eligible in the North East to apply. The UK Technology Fast 50 is part of an international programme run by Deloitte. Previous UK winners have been both large and small, and included some of the most dynamic players in all areas of technology, from internet specialists to biotech, digital media technology to life sciences, computers to semiconductors and software to telecommunications.
The North has produced a number of Fast 50-ranked companies in previous years, such as True Potential, Chameleon Technology, SoPost and BigChange.
Since 1998, the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 awards have showcased an increasingly innovative and diverse range of UK-based technology companies. Last year’s cohort generated cumulative revenues of £2.92 billion in 2020/21, an impressive average growth rate of 3,337% and employed more than 19,000 people. In addition to the top 50 ranking, Deloitte’s awards also recognise an annual ‘Rising Star’ in the UK technology sector. The award category recognises the innovation and achievements of UK tech businesses that are leading the way but have not been in operation for four years and therefore cannot yet enter the main awards. The Regional Winners category also recognises the fastest growing business within each region of the UK. This year we are proud to launch the ‘Fast 50 Women in Leadership’ award category. This ranking will recognise those companies within the Tech Fast 50 that are either led by a female CEO or have a founding team that is at least 50% women.
Last year’s winners
With an impressive three-year growth of 21,569%, last year’s winning entrant was payment and banking services provider ClearBank. The top three in last year’s competition were FinTech businesses, with FinTech companies making up 24% of the overall Fast 50. Tyne & Wear-based Inflo was ranked 20th with an average growth of 1,923%. This was Inflo’s debut in the Fast 50 and is one of several fast-growth companies offering support to the professional services sector. Inflo’s Cloud-based service is now used by more than 1,000 firms across 120 countries.
The Eligibility Criteria
To be eligible the company must have accounts covering a minimum of four years and be headquartered in the UK. The company must be considered a technology company which, for this purpose, is defined as a company that meets at least one of the following four criteria:
Owns proprietary intellectual property or proprietary technology that contributes to a significant portion of the company’s operating revenues;
Manufactures a technology related product;
Devotes a significant proportion of operating revenues to research and development of technology;
Is technology intensive, or uses its own unique technology to solve problems. The company must not be a subsidiary of a larger group. If there is more than one trading company in a group of companies, the nomination should reflect consolidated revenue and not the revenue of a particular company within the group. And the company must have base-year (year 1) operating revenues of £41,000 (50,000) and a current year (year 4) operating revenue of at least £835,000 (1,000,000).
