A raft of MSPs, distributors and vendors have featured on an annual list of fast-growing northern tech firms.
QBS Software, ANS and Purple were among the bigger names making the cut for the 13th annual Northern Tech Awards.
Put on by investment bank GP Bullhound, they are designed to highlight the importance of the North to the UK digital economy, with the top 100 generating around £2.4bn in aggregate revenue.
Globe-trotting, Cheshire-based software distributor QBS ranked 11th, owing to its 69% compound annual growth over the three-year period examined.
Doncaster-based Connectus Business Solutions (39th with 30% CAGR), Gateshead-based Aspire Technology Solutions (48th with 26% CAGR), Gateshead-based Synergi (77th with 12% CAGR), Stockton-on-Tees-based Razorblue (81st with 11% CAGR), Manchester-based ANS (92nd with 7% CAGR), Newcastle-based Atlas Cloud (99th with 3% CAGR) and Durham-based Waterstons (100th with 3% CAGR) were among the MSPs and IT consultancies to get the nod.
Manchester-based human risk management specialist usecure (13th with a CAGR of 65%) and Bury-based enterprise Wi-Fi outfit Purple (47th with 26% CAGR) were among the vendors that made the cut.
“We remain encouraged by the ecosystem and its continued maturity, as evident from this year being the first that companies with revenues greater than £10m accounted for more than half of all entrants,” GP Bullhound stated in the report.
The Northern Tech Awards styles itself as “the definitive celebration of the fastest-growing and most innovative technology companies across the North of the UK”.
Taking place at the Imperial War Museum North, Manchester last Thursday, the event itself featured a keynote from Scott Fletcher MBE, the entrepreneur who built ANS Group from scratch and sold it for over £200m (to Inflexion/UKFast).
QBS Software walked away with the award for the Fastest Growing Larger Company of the Year on the evening.
