These are the fastest-growing tech businesses in the UK right now

Start-ups and small businesses looking for inspiration should take note of the latest Fast 50 winners; the 50 UK tech-companies which have enjoyed the highest-growth in revenues over the past four years.

Compiled by Deloitte, the 20th annual Fast 50 2017 ranking has named Deliveroo – the on-demand food delivery service – as the country’s fastest-growing tech company, setting a new record with revenue growth of 107,1117% since 2013.

Launched by Young Guns Will Shu and Greg Orlowski in 2013, Deliveroo now operates in 150 cities and recently raised $385m in fresh funding.

This week Deliveroo, which employs 27,000 riders, won a landmark legal victory which confirmed that its riders are self-employed and not workers.

See more: Will Shu – ‘How I went from investment banker to founder of $857m-backed Deliveroo'

Startups Awards finalist Bloom & Wild, the flowers-through-the letterbox delivery service founded by Young Gun Aron Gelbard, ranked as the second fastest-growing tech business for having achieved revenue growth of 13,818% since 2013.

Other familiar names to Startups’ readers among this year’s Fast 50 include Funding Circle, Yieldify, Smarkets, GoCardless, Farfetch, WorldRemit, and Seedrs.

Common trends shared by the UK’s fastest growing tech companies

Analysing the Fast 50 and entries submitted for the index by 147 tech companies and 93 CEOs, Deloitte has highlighted recurring themes among fast-growth tech businesses. These included:

• CEOs of fast-growth tech companies learn from experience and past mistakes. Nearly 60% of CEOs had previously founded – or been involved in founding – another start-up, while 20% of CEOs said they had built success from lessons learnt from previous failures.
• The fastest-growing tech companies tend to be those who either do better than market incumbents…
• Or have launched a product or service which did not previously exist.
• The fastest-growing tech companies are most likely to have started in, or be headquartered in, London. 32 of this year’s Fast 50 are based in London.
• Software businesses are the most likely to enjoy soaring revenues. 44% of the Fast 50 operate in the software sector…
• But, emerging sectors are on the rise. 20% of the Fast 50 operate in fintech, while 16% operate in media and entertainment, and another 16% are internet-based.
• CEOs of the UK’s fastest-growing tech companies prioritise revenue growth over profits. 70% of the CEOs surveyed said that revenue growth was a more important objective than profitability but 60% CEOs did say they expected profitability to become the most important factor over the next five years.

The Fast 50 2017 winners, ranked by revenue growth

David Cobb, lead partner for the Fast 50 programme concluded: “Successful pursuit of growth is an implicit characteristic amongst Fast 50 companies, but this is a far from simple feat.

“Winners tend to be those that have spotted, and capitalised on, market opportunities for tech-enabled growth in new and existing sectors.

“And when looking across all of the 662 unique winners over the last twenty years, it is easy to see that having a great product or service, knowing your customer and employing excellent staff are the common ingredients to help ensure fast-paced growth.”