Startups 100 2015: Winners unveiled!

Startups.co.uk is pleased to announce the winning businesses to have made the prestigious Startups 100 2015 index – the definitive ranking of the UK’s 100 most innovative and fastest growing start-ups launched in the last three years.

Running for its sixth year, the Startups 100 recognises early-stage companies with high growth potential and competition this year was tougher than ever with hundreds of entries from entrepreneurs across the UK.

Impressively, the annual index reported record average annual turnover of £1.14m for the businesses featured alongside record employee numbers; evidence of the UK’s thriving start-up community.

Taking first place in the index is property technology (proptech) company Purplebricks.com, a new entry for 2015 which combines traditional estate agency with a 24-hour online service.

Launched just last year, Purplebricks won over the judges for its early success in having raised £11m funding, achieved multi-million revenues and scaled to 120 employees – milestones which saw the company pip innovative recipe delivery service Gousto to the top position.

Restaurant delivery start-up Deliveroo, currency exchange platform Currency Cloud and personalised pricing service Flubit complete an exceptional top five.

To qualify for the Startups 100 2015, businesses had to be launched on or after January 1 2012, be privately owned and UK-based with evidence of innovation, solid financials, economic impact and growth potential.

With competition stiffer than ever, among the winning businesses in this year’s index:

• The companies have an average of 19 employees
• The average turnover was £1,147,674
• Almost a quarter of the businesses have female founders or co-founders
• The youngest entrepreneur is 22 year-old Oliver Murphy of Reviveaphone
• The oldest entrepreneur is 57 year-old Chris Barling of Powered Now
• Four businesses have already generated annual turnover of over £6m

While London remains one of the biggest start-up hotspots for the 2015 index, 29 companies are founded outside of London with the North West and South East popular areas for fast-growth start-ups.

The list also reflects several emerging markets including on-demand apps, alternative funding providers, healthy food and drink, and financial technology, with tech standing out as one of the most popular start-up sectors.

Startups.co.uk’s content manager, Lucy Wayment, commented: “It’s encouraging to see that the average turnover for the 100 start-ups in this list is over £1m. With a record number of entries this year, the Startups 100 2015 index not only showcases the fast-growth potential of UK start-ups but also demonstrates the importance of trailblazers to the economy.”

To view the full list of the 2015 Startups 100, click here.

You can share and tweet about this year’s Startups 100 using the hashtag #startups100.