22. PayasUgym.com

Founders: Jamie Ward, Mike Blake and Neil Harmsworth
Founded: February 2011
Website: www.payasugym.com

Now making our list for the third year in a row, PayasUgym represents a long-overdue overhaul of the UK gym industry, which has typically been reliant on long-term contracts tying customers to specific locations at extortionate rates. Allowing customers to pay for single-use passes across a network of more than 1,700 gyms across the UK – a third of the entire market – PayasUgym has grown to become the largest gym access programme in the world, with around 150,000 registered users.

The business has significant potential for further growth, with no direct competitor in the UK, but the founders are keeping their feet firmly on the ground – they insist it has not been an easy route to success, with further challenges ahead. PayasUgym plans to launch a new class booking service this year, and with a recent further investment of 1.6m led by Albion and MMC Ventures, the founders are investigating the possibility of launching the successful model internationally in 2015.