2014 Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50 announced

• Switch Concepts wins with average revenue growth of 10,477 per cent;
• The Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50 companies recorded an average five-year growth rate of 1,695 percent in the year 2013/14;
• The Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50 companies generated £963 million of combined revenue in 2013/2014 and employed 8,500 people;
• 82 per cent of the surveyed Fast 50 entrant CEOs were focused on becoming a listed company in the next 12 months.

The 50 fastest growing UK technology companies generated over £963 million in total annual revenues in the year 2013/14, employing more than 8,500 people and recorded an average five-year growth rate of 1,695 per cent, according to the Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50.

This year’s winner – Switch Concepts Ltd
Switch Concepts Ltd has won the Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50 with 10,477 per cent growth. Founded in 2008, by Tom Barnett, Joanne Spector and Julian Spector,  Switch Concepts Ltd is among the small group of specialists that have pioneered decision-engine technology* for real-time bidding (RTB) worldwide. In less than four years, the advent of real-time bidding (RTB) has transformed the world of online advertising. Where big brand names and other advertisers once purchased Internet banner space in bulk, RTB allows them to connect their brands with more relevant audiences by bidding instantly for a single ad.

The business traces its roots back to a shed on a farm in Romsey, Hampshire. Today, with offices in London and Southampton, with approximately 160 staff, it manages over 30 billion ad impressions each month and represents over 80 per cent of the UK’s total online population.**

Tom Barnett, CEO of Switch Concepts Ltd, said: “Online advertising still has a long way to go, with many opportunities to offer within the UK. When we founded Switch Concepts we were inspired by high-frequency trading technology that had taken hold in the financial services industry some years earlier. We understood that the power of the Internet could be harnessed in a similar way for advertising. We set out to develop a system that could bring brands and consumers together more effectively and handle as many transactions as possible.”

In July this year, Switch Concepts acquired London based ad sales house Unanimis, which has enabled it to significantly extend its publisher and advertiser relationships and spur its growth plans.

CEO survey
Deloitte has analysed information submitted by the 159 Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50 entrants and surveyed 68 CEOs from these companies. They said the three most important factors that contributed to their company’s growth in the last 12 months, was a sound business strategy (60%). Other popular choices included employee talent (41 per cent), a culture of innovation (41 per cent), and strong leadership (26 per cent).

David Halstead, partner leading the Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50, said: “Finding the right people is a challenge made more difficult by the scale and pace of recruitment. For these companies, doubling the number of employees in a year is not unusual. These companies spend significant amounts of time and effort recruiting and retaining the people needed to generate growth in the company.

“An additional challenge is the need for diverse skills, to fill specialist, technical and traditional commercial roles, but also people who can translate the world of technology for business.”

Funding and finance
The most common sources of funding for Fast 50 companies in the last five years was cash generated by the business (76 per cent) and bank debts (31 per cent).

Halstead added: “Owner funding was popular among the top performers and eight of the top 10 fund themselves this way. For some this was a conscious decision to sustain the company themselves, for others a necessity during the financial crisis, when funding was difficult to secure.”

Nearly a quarter (24 per cent) of the Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50 entrants have received investment from venture capital or private equity firms over the last five years and there is evidence that companies are increasingly looking to this source of funding. Forty per cent of Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50 entrant CEOs are expecting to access venture capital or private equity funding in the next 12 months. Eighty-two per cent of the surveyed CEOs were either strongly or somewhat focused on becoming a listed company in the next 12 months. This is in contrast to only 10 per cent of CEOs surveyed in 2013 who said this was their ambition.

Regional winners
London dominates with four of the top 10 companies based in the capital and the majority (56 per cent) of the Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50 companies are still based in London and the South East. However, this has fallen since last year (64 per cent) with greater representation across the other regions of the UK. The top five companies are each from a different region of the UK and seven of the nine classified regions are represented in the top 10.

Diverse sectors
The Fast 50 winners include organisations from diverse sectors of the technology industry. Software and Internet firms have always featured heavily within the winners list due to the inherent scalability of their business models, but this year saw a significant increase in their dominance; representing 82 per cent of winners compared with 56 per cent each year from 2009-2013. This bias is even stronger at the top of the league table, making the success of electronics company Cambrionix even more notable. The Cambridge and East winner has scaled rapidly by focusing on the design of charging and data transfer solutions and finding UK-based supply chain partners for manufacture; demonstrating that traditional commercial skills remain a powerful differentiator in the digital age.

End

Notes to editors
* This refers to the set of algorithms (the ‘engine’) that match up (or ‘decides’ on) ad spaces with advertisers, based on a range of variables, including price.
** ComScore MMX, September 2014: The unduplicated audience of Unanimis Ad Network and Switch Concepts is the following:

• Reach: 80.4% of the UK Internet population (monthly)
• Unique visitors: 36.18M unique visitors (monthly)
• Page viewed : 6.3bn (monthly)

*** Our analysis is based on information submitted by the 159 entrants to the Fast 50 programme and a survey of 68 CEOs from these companies.

Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50
The Deloitte Technology Fast 50 is one of the UK’s foremost technology award programmes. Now going into its 17th successful year, it is a ranking of the country’s 50 fastest-growing technology companies, based on revenue growth over the last five years. The UK Fast 50 awards are all about growth driven by leading intellectual property and are a celebration of innovation and entrepreneurship. The UK Fast 50 is part of an international programme run by Deloitte, qualifying entrants of the UK Fast 50 will be put forward to the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) programme. Previous winners have come from across the UK, are 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.

For more information visit www.fast50.co.uk

UK Technology Fast 50 eligibility criteria

1. The company must have been in business for a minimum of five years;
2. The company must be considered a technology company, which is defined as:

    •    Developing or owning proprietary technology that contributes to a significant portion of the company's operating revenues;
    •    Producing technology
    •    Manufacturing technology-related products
    •    Be technology intensive, or use unique technology to solve problems
    •    Devoting a high percentage of effort to technology R&D;
    •    NB: Using another company’s technology or intellectual property in a unique way does not qualify.

3.  The parent company must be UK-owned and have its headquarters in the UK;

    •    NB: Subsidiaries of UK or multinational organisations do not qualify.

4.  Operating revenues must be at least £44,000 (50,000 Euros) for the first financial year of the five year period and £671,000 (800,000 Euros) for the most recent financial year;

    •    NB: The accounts for year five should have an accounting period ending between 1 June 2013 and 31 May 2014.

5.  All submissions must be accompanied by signed accounts for the first and last financial year being measured in the competition. Unless a statutory exemption is being taken, these accounts must be unabbreviated and audited.

Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50 2014 winners

Regional breakdown

Sector breakdown

About Deloitte
In this press release references to Deloitte or Drivers Jonas Deloitte are references to Deloitte LLP, which is among the country's leading professional services firms.

Deloitte LLP is the United Kingdom member firm of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (“DTTL”), a UK private company limited by guarantee whose member firms are legally separate and independent entities. Please see www.deloitte.co.uk/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of DTTL and its member firms.

The information contained in this press release is correct at the time of going to press.

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