10. Flubit

Founders: Bertie Stephens and Adel Louertatani
Founded: March 2011
Website: www.flubit.com

Valued at $50m in its soon-to-be-announced Series A funding round, we placed Flubit at number 13 last year, despite it having launched less than a year earlier. Since then, the Tech City-based e-commerce start-up has continued to deliver on its rich potential and looks set to make another step-change imminently. The online shopping service uses its relationships with hundreds of retailers to give consumers the best possible offer on anything they are looking to buy online, be it a laptop, book, toy or anything else.

It is a model which works for consumers, retailers and Flubit itself. Consumers get a lower price, retailers get better conversion rates and Flubit makes a commission on every sale. Having raised $2.75m seed funding from business angels and turned over a seriously impressive £2.5m in 2013, founders 27-year-old Bertie Stephens and Adel Louertatani, 48, have today disclosed a major commercial partnership with Barclays. The deal will see it able to access a million active users of Barclaycard’s bespoke offers. A Growing Business Young Gun, Stephens is confident the deal will propel 35-employee Flubit to new heights and told one publication he would like to see the business resembling Amazon in five years – watch this space!