UK’s fastest growing tech businesses named by Deloitte survey

Infectious Media’s offices

There is a decided London bias in the latest Deloitte Technology Fast 50, which names the UK’s fastest growing technology companies.  Twenty of the named companies are to be found in the capital and they generate just under half of their £672 million combined revenues over the last year.  The growth rates  used to measure the success of these businesses are jaw-droppingly impressive but can also be partially meaningless for such new companies. The winner grew at a Wonga-esque percentage rate of  just under 10,000 percent and the average for all fifty firms for the past five years was a staggering 1,382 percent. According to Deloitte’s research, the UK’s fastest growing tech company is Clerkenwell based real-time advertising agency Infectious Media.

Regardless of the proportions involved, the Deloitte report also highlights other regional differences, most notably the distinction between the successful technology , media and telecoms (TMT) businesses  in London which focus on ‘softer’ sectors such as software, media, internet and entertainment, while regional winners are more likely to address  ‘hard’ technological market sectors.  However that is clearly not a hard and fast rule as the overall runner up was a Cheshire based software developer called Avecto.

“Britain’s tech companies have faced a challenging five years, even though the winners have grown significantly faster than the economy over the past five years, but they cannot, and do not, operate in isolation,” claimed David Halstead, the Deloitte partner leading the UK Fast 50. In line with the wider economy, the entrants reveal a challenging five-year period, but with a bright outlook. We have seen an increase in software companies from 13 to 16. Internet companies are second with 12 in this year’s ranking, compared to 13 in 2012.”