Best British tech startups grow six times faster than UK businesses

The UK’s hottest tech startups part of London Tech City’s Future Fifty are growing at six times the rate than other UK businesses.

Startups that are part of Tech City’s Future Fifty, some of the UK’s leading digital businesses, have been found to be growing at a rate that is six times faster than the national average.

The latest figures showed that companies in the Future Fifty - the hottest new tech businesses with the highest potential for growth, selected by Tech City UK - saw their workforce increase by an average of 30% in the year to June 2015, significantly higher than the national average of 5.4%.

Growth stage companies are vital

Taking the 12 alumni companies of the Future Fifty into account, these firms employ more than 17,000 staff around the globe and are helping to boost economic growth in Britain.

Future Fifty director Philipp Stoeckl commented: “Growth stage companies are vital to the UK’s tech ecosystem.

“As a leading source of innovation and jobs, it is important that we continue to attract and support the world’s most promising companies to grow and scale their businesses in the UK.”

The bulk of the new hires were software developers, as they accounted for nearly 60% of the positions filled by Future Fifty companies in the last year. Customer service was the next highest category of hires at 11%, and sales followed with nine%.

The data is indicative of the ripe environment for the UK’s small businesses, as a recent Enterprise Research Centre report showed that they are growing at their fastest rates since the financial crisis in 2008.

The rapid growth of these top-notch tech businesses is testament to the success of their funding initiatives. Future Fifty members raised a combined total of £675 million in 22 funding rounds, and nearly two-thirds (£443 million) of that was raised in the last 12 months alone.

Exciting time to be part of the UK's digital community

Past experience shows that their success doesn’t end when these companies leave the Future Fifty. Alumni such as Just-Eat, Zoopla, Horizon Discovery and Ao.com raised an impressive combined total £1.18 billion in their initial public offerings.

Andrew Hunter, cofounder of Future Fifty company Adzuna, hailed the results as an indication of the UK’s burgeoning tech scene.

“This data reflects our own research, confirming the explosive growth of the UK’s digital businesses,” he said.

“It’s an exciting time to be part of the UK’s digital community. Fuelled by record investment, we’re witnessing significant job creation in a maturing sector that is developing into one of the UK’s main employers.”