8. LeadStream UK

Founders: Matthew Milnes and Michael Hubbard
Founded: September 2014 (launched November 2014)
Website: www.leadstream.co.uk

For financial services businesses, finding prospective customers who want to learn more about their brand and buy into their products can be a difficult task. As Matthew Milnes and Michael Hubbard discovered when they witnessed busy brokers being inundated with leads that were destined to go nowhere.

Deciding that the market was crying out for innovation, Milnes and Hubbard founded LeadStream; a start-up specialising in online customer acquisition for financial services companies.

Instead of simply selling companies leads, after a customer has filled out its web form LeadStream verifies the lead over the phone – confirming whether or not they would like to speak to a broker. LeadStream then transfers the customer to the best company for their requirements.

In short, brokers get connected to customers who actually want a quote for their product.

The innovative service, which has secured a ranking among the Startups 100 top 10, attracts around 1,700 customer enquiries per day, and has garnered 1,862 four and five-star reviews. With 92 brokers, finance companies and intermediaries using LeadStream to purchase meaningful leads, LeadStream’s buyer numbers have surged – rising a whopping 300% from January to November in 2016.

This rapid growth has been reflected across the start-up’s operations. In March 2016, the business had 16 operators verifying leads each day, and by October this number had grown to 27. In the same time frame, the start-up increased its gross profitability by a staggering 3,605%.

LeadStream’s ambitious plans for the next two years include diversifying its range of products, expanding into other insurance-specific sectors, and growing from B2C (business to consumer) lead generation into B2B (business to business).

As LeadStream’s founders comment; “our rate of growth over the last three years has been incredible and we don’t want this to stop.”