Fast 50 Insight Report 2022

It’s been another challenging year, with the cost of living crisis, supply chain disruption and rising interest rates putting pressure on SMEs across the UK. Yet despite these pressures, the UK’s technology sector continues to show resilience and companies are finding impressive ways to overcome these challenges.

This year we had another phenomenal pool of entrants to our Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50 programme, which celebrates and champions the UK’s fastest-growing technology businesses. This year’s Fast 50, perhaps more than ever, demonstrates the wide range of innovative companies being built and scaled in the UK.

In fact, our winner in this year’s list - mobile gaming company Tripledot Studios - did not appear in 2021’s list. Tripledot Studios, which offers a unique take on classic games such as Solitaire and Sudoku, has achieved astonishing growth of 69,387% over the past four years – a figure not seen since 2017. The London-headquartered company, founded just five years ago, is now worth $1.4bn and we look forward to seeing where the company heads next.

As our Fast 50 programme shows, the UK’s tech sector is a key driver of economic growth. The average growth rate of the 2022 Fast 50 winners is an impressive 4,568% across sectors including fintech, software, healthcare and media. These companies are solving problems, providing employment and supporting local communities.

Take second-place Wonde, for example, which creates vouchers to help students get access to school meals and is now expanding to help refugees and housing association tenants. Meanwhile Cera, in sixth place, is transforming the UK’s overburdened care system by a digital-first healthcare-at-home approach. There are so many exciting businesses in the UK and we are proud to showcase them in our annual programme.

This is our 25th year of running the Fast 50, and in this year’s report we explore themes including the cost of living crisis, Government policy, innovation and retaining talent.

The UK’s tech sector is a world leader when it comes to technology innovation, and we need it to stay that way. In this year’s survey, leaders of these businesses told us of the importance of R&D tax credits and of the Government providing clarity on tax, policy and regulation. Others wish the visa system could be simplified - making it easier to bring new talent into the UK - and that the Government would do more to support green initiatives.

Clearly there are many positives to doing business in the UK, but access to talent and access to funding are critical for the UK to remain competitive on the world stage, and we have no doubt these will remain priorities for Government at what is a potentially precarious time for UK entrepreneurs.

We were overwhelmed by the quality of entries for this year’s Fast 50 programme. It was truly humbling to see UK technology businesses across a range of sectors who are doing such innovative things to improve our lives and society as a whole. Each has proved they have the right ingredients for growth in spite of the wider economic obstacles.

The Fast 50 programme and performance of its winners is juxtaposed to the broader economic climate this year, with many countries expected to head into a recession in the coming months, and difficult times ahead for governments, companies and consumers. We wish everyone safe passage through these choppy waters, As Winston Churchill may or may not have once said, “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts”.