tech deal of the year award

sponsored by Rothschild & Co

 
The 2022 shortlist:

Allocate/RLDatix

Allocate Software plays a key role in healthcare workforce management, particularly in nurse rostering, where its software helps the NHS manage and effectively deploy its staff at times of great need (Covid-19, over-crowded hospitals etc.).
 
In October 2021, Allocate was acquired by RLDatix in a deal worth over $1.3bn. Headquartered in the US, RLDatix has a suite of cloud-based software that helps organisations report on adverse events, reduce healthcare-acquired infections and ensure patient safety learnings are implemented across the continuum of care. The transaction combines RLDatix’s capabilities in patient safety, risk, compliance and provider management with Allocate’s workforce management solutions and cements the group’s position as the global innovator in healthcare GRC.

Crisp

Leeds-based Crisp is a Real-time Risk Intelligence company that protects brands, assets and people from reputational damage, security threats and online harms. Crisp’s AI technology helps protect children using online games, apps and social networks from paedophiles and child exploitation groups.

In May 2022, Crisp was acquired by Kroll, a US based provider of data, technology and insights related to risk, governance and growth. The deal strengthens Crisp's promise to its clients to provide fast, actionable risk intelligence that delivers peace of mind and enables the group to take the next step in its growth ambitions.

Ideagen plc

Nottingham-based Ideagen’s software helps companies comply with regulation and manage risk. It serves more than 8,000 customers, including Heineken, British Airways, the US Navy, the Bank of New York and the European Central Bank. 

Ideagen is highly acquisitive itself, having made over 20 notable transactions, contributing to its twelve-year record of consecutive sales and profit growth. In December 2021, Ideagen raised £103.5m to further fund its acquisition pipeline and accelerate further growth. In June 2022, the group announced it was set to be taken private  by Rainforest Bidco Limited, a newly-incorporated wholly-owned subsidiary of funds managed by Hg, in a deal worth £1.1bn.

IRIS Software Group Limited

Berkshire-based IRIS Software Group is one of the UK’s largest private software companies. The group simplifies the lives of businesses, schools and organisations, by providing software solutions that substantially enhance operational compliance, efficiency and accuracy.

In December 2021, IRIS acquired AccountantsWorld, a pioneer in cloud technology for accountants in North America. The transaction was another strategic step in IRIS’ mission to revolutionise the professional accounting market in North America and supercharges the group’s presence in this region along with it’s recent acquisitions, including Doc.IT and Conarc.

The Access Group

The Access Group provides business management software to small and mid-sized organisations in the UK, Ireland, and Asia Pacific. The group is headquartered in Loughborough and helps over 60,000 customers across commercial and not-for-profit sectors become more productive and efficient.

In June 2022, Hg made a substantial investment in The Access Group, giving it an enterprise value of £9.2bn, and establishing the group as one of the largest UK-headquartered software providers. The Access Group has more than doubled in size since 2020, driven by double-digit organic growth combined with strategic M&A.

Ultraleap Limited

Bristol-based Ultraleap is the world’s leading natural interaction company. The group’s two world leading technologies - 3D hand tracking and mid-air haptics - enable users to use their own hands when interacting with digital or virtual worlds.

In November 2021, Ultraleap raised £60m in a Series D fundraise to further develop and commercialise its revolutionary technologies. The deal was well received in the tech community and will enable Ultraleap to move faster in its high performing verticals. In the long term, Ultraleap has set its sights on becoming the primary interface for the metaverse.

tech journalist of the year award

sponsored by Gracechurch Group

 
The 2022 shortlist:

Mike Butcher/TechCrunch

Mike is the Editor-at-large of TechCrunch. He has been coined one of the most influential people in the European Technology sector and awarded an MBE for his services to Technology and Journalism.

Mike has had an extensive career in broadcast and journalism. He has provided insight into the hottest up-and-coming tech companies and innovations in the sector, having regularly broadcast across numerous news channels, from the BBC to CNBC. As a freelance journalist, Mike has worked for various news outlets including the New Statesmen, the Guardian, The Industry Standard and the Financial Times. Mike co-founded TechHub.com in 2009 as a response to the need for start-ups and individuals to be supported across all stages of their development, from ideation to exit.

Trevor Clawson

Trevor is a freelance business and technology journalist with over 24 years experience. He has written for a multiplex of magazines and newspapers, in addition to regularly creating content for a broad range of blue-chip finance and professional services companies.

Trevor’s expertise in business technology journalism was recognised in BBC World television’s pan-European text news service, where he was the Business Editor. Following the BBC, he went on to edit e.Business and PLC Director magazines before going freelance. Trevor is the successful author of three books including The Unauthorized Guide to Doing Business the Jamie Oliver Way, and has multiple published works in a variety of news sources such as Forbes, the Guardian, The Times and The Sunday Times.

Calum Muirhead/Daily Mail

Calum joined the Daily Mail as its Markets Reporter in 2021. Calum has become an expert in technology stocks and includes a wide variety of tech companies in his Market Report column. Prior to the Daily Mail, Calum was Senior Journalist at Proactive Investors.

Calum is as comfortable making broader assertions as to the climate of the tech stock market as he is performing a deep dive on individual companies. He provides a far-reaching platform from which companies of any size can build a brand and embraces the wide scope of the tech sector. Calum wrote some insightful articles on some of the tech companies shortlisted at last year’s UK tech awards, including Darktrace and Moonpig.

Jamie Nimmo/The Sunday Times

Jamie has been the Associate Business Editor of The Sunday Times since 2020. He established his name through ten years experience in the business tech news sector for nationals, regionals and broadcasts. Jamie won the tech journalist of the year award in 2020.

It has been clear through Jamie’s early career that he is passionate about writing honest and thought-provoking pieces focused on the tech industry. This passion has allowed Jamie to build a positive reputation in the business tech news industry where he now has hundreds of articles published and headlined in The Sunday Times. Jamie provides new insight and raises awareness of the abilities of the younger generation to change what the future of technology could look like.

Chris Nuttal/Financial Times

Chris is Assistant Editor for the Financial Times Tech Desk. He has accumulated over 35 years of journalist experience, using his expertise to provide commentary on the technology sector internationally.

During the early part of his career, Chris worked as Technology Correspondent for the Financial Times, providing specialised technology coverage for the West Coast of America and writing on topics from the semiconductor industry to telecommunication trends. Following this, Chris was appointed as lead writer for the #techFT newsletter where he covered commentary on big industry players to analysis of issues shaping the technology sector. Chris was fundamental to the success of the newsletter, with the team being recognised as the FT’s 2015 Engagement Champions.

tech growth business of the year award

sponsored by ECI 

The 2022 shortlist:

Aker Systems Limited

Based in Oxford, Aker Systems builds and operates ground-breaking, ultra-secure, high performance, cloud-based data infrastructure for the enterprise.. Aker provides Critical National Infrastructure for multiple UK Government departments, including the Home Office and Border Force. Aker recently led the cloud transition of Advance Passenger Information ("API") data concerning 300m annual passenger movements across UK borders.

Aker’s early growth came from a rare set of circumstances where the group had the expertise to meet the challenges of a major client with complex and critical requirements. Aker’s innovative approach was proven in that most demanding of test cases, and it quickly became evident that this deep market niche offered significant potential for growth. In the financial year to end May 2022, the group reached £25.5m revenues and realised significant profitability with expected normalised EBITDA margins of 40%+.

Bango plc

Cambridge-based Bango has developed unique purchase behaviour technology that enables millions more users to buy products and services using innovative payment methods including carrier billing, digital wallets and subscription bundling.

Bango operates in fast growth markets and has been able to achieve above market growth rates due to the nature and scalability of the Bango Platform. The group has reliably generated significant year-on-year growth, increasing revenue by 32% to $20.7m in 2021. Bango is profitable, generates sufficient cash to fuel its investment in R&D and future growth, and has no debt. 

Darktrace

Headquartered in Cambridge, Darktrace is a global leader in cybersecurity AI. The group delivers complete AI-powered solutions in its mission to free the world of cyber disruption, such as ransomware, cloud, and SaaS attacks.

Since its listing on the public markets in April 2021, Darktrace has “turbocharged” its growth by adding ground-breaking products to its platform, including its new PREVENT offerings. The group’s revenue increased by 45.7% to £415m in the 12 months to end  June 2022, adjusted EBITDA jumped 173% to £91m, while the group’s customer base grew 32.1% to nearly 7,500. 

Exclaimer Ltd

Hampshire-based Exclaimer is the recognised market-leader in email signature management solutions for Microsoft and Google email services. The group’s solutions are used by over 50,000 customers in 150+ countries and clients include the BBC, Sony, Mattel and Volvo.

Over 21 years, Exclaimer has gone from three entrepreneurs to a global SaaS business with 250 employees. Its strong worldwide growth has been due, in part, to the scalability of its solutions and relevance to businesses of all sizes. In January this year, Exclaimer acquired Periodic which drove further rapid expansion in the US. Financial results for the 12 months to end September 2021 saw revenues of £31m. This momentum has continued into the current financial year.

Fruugo plc

Fruugo is the UK’s leading global online marketplace platform, based in Cumbria. The group’s mission is to enable online retailers everywhere to sell to shoppers anywhere. Uniquely, it reduces the complexities of cross-border trade by offering a fully integrated, localised offer for retailers and shoppers around the world.

Last year, Fruugo achieved a transformational period of growth in revenues and profits, driven by the accelerating global customer shift towards online shopping. In May, Fruugo announced 51% growth in TTV for the FY2021, to £136.5m, and 57% growth in revenue to £30.7m, which represented a 220% increase on a two-year basis.

Tripledot Studios Limited

Tripledot is a fast growing studio, led by a team of industry veterans from some of the biggest names in mobile games. The group’s mission is to bring the knowledge and experience of a chart-topping mobile games company into a close-knit, collaborative environment. Tripledot won the tech growth company of the year award in 2021.

Tripledot was created by three friends in 2017 and has rapidly grown into a world class business. In February this year, the group achieved unicorn status after a $116m series B round of funding put the company’s valuation at £1bn. The funding is being used for future M&A to further accelerate Tripledot’s growth. The group has close to 30m monthly active users across its titles and last year tripled its revenues.  

tech for good award

sponsored by Heidrick & Struggles

The 2022 shortlist:

Exscientia AI plc

Headquartered in Oxford, Exscientia is an AI driven pharma company committed to discovering, designing and developing the best possible new medicines in the fastest and most effective manner.

Exscientia has repeatedly demonstrated its ability to create novel, optimised drug candidates several years faster than the industry average. New drugs coming through its pipeline have taken 12-to-15 months from starting the design project to identifying a drug candidate,  compared with four-and-a-half years for the same process in the pharma industry. Exscientia’s technology was validated by its Nasdaq IPO in 2021, which raised a total of $510m and was the largest IPO in terms of gross proceeds for a European biotech.

eyeWitness

London-based eyeWitness to Atrocities was launched in 2015 as an initiative of the International Bar Association (IBA) to help documenters capture and use verifiable footage of international atrocities, including war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and torture.

In a world of deep fakes, editing and misinformation, it can be difficult, if not impossible, for courts of law to accept photos and videos as evidence. As a result, many of the images of atrocities seen online will not lead to justice. Unlike footage captured with regular camera apps, eyeWitness footage is easily verifiable for courts of law and is suitable for both accountability and advocacy. Since launch, eyeWitness has received almost 27,000 photos and videos of potential atrocities across 18 different countries and delivered 26 dossiers of evidence to accountability mechanisms.  

First Light Fusion Limited

Oxford-based First Light Fusion is an innovative deep tech business pushing the boundaries of science and theoretical modelling by taking a new approach to inertial fusion, called projectile fusion. The company was founded as a spin-out from the University of Oxford and is one of the recent great British start-up success stories.
First Light’s mission is to solve the problem of fusion power with the simplest machine possible. The group announced it had achieved fusion in 2022, which was the first time it had been achieved, using the unique targets developed by First Light, and the corresponding projectile technology. First Light has achieved fusion having spent less than £45m and with a rate of performance improvement faster than any other fusion scheme in history.  

Greyparrot AI Ltd

London-based Greyparrot is the leading AI waste analytics platform for the circular economy. The group was founded in 2019 with a mission to digitise the $1.6tn waste management industry and tackle the growing waste crisis head-on.
 
Greyparrot’s cutting-edge AI computer vision systems are deployed globally in sorting facilities to monitor and sort through large waste flows at scale. In turn, the group equips waste managers, producers and regulators with the insights they need to bolster recycling rates and introduce accountability to the waste value chain.  Greyparrot is committed to increasing keeping our planet clean for generations to come and is trusted by some of the world’s leading waste management firms such as Suez, Veolia and Biffa.

Moneyhub Financial Technology Ltd

Bristol-based Moneyhub is a data, intelligence, and payments company that develops certified software for Open Banking, Open Finance, and Open Data applications. Its FCA-regulated Open Data platform enables companies to quickly and easily transform data into personalised digital experiences and initiate payments.

Moneyhub is on a mission to improve financial wellness for all. One such example of this was following the invasion of Ukraine, the group initiated a partnership with Techfugees who used Moneyhub’s Open Banking payments technology to allow donations to be made directly to Techfugees bank account, without the need of credit or debit cards. This meant 100% of the donations go to the not-for-profit and those in need, without the not-for-profit having to pay fees to the likes of Just Giving, Visa, or Mastercard.

R;pple Suicide Prevention Charity

R;pple Suicide Prevention was launched in 2021 by Alice Hendy, after losing her only brother, Josh, to suicide in 2020. Josh had been searching for harmful material online relating to self-harm and suicide and was given tips on the best way to end his life. Alice subsequently created a browser extension that intercepts harmful searches and provides signposting to free mental health support 24/7/365.

Alice launched the charity whilst holding down a stressful day job and trying to deal with her own grief. Since its launch, R;pple has now been downloaded over 250,000 times and to date, 23 individuals have approached the charity directly to say that, thanks to R;pple’s intervention, they are still here today. West Ham Football Club recently announced they have become the first Premier League team to partner with R;pple to support their own staff and players on their books.

tech investor award

sponsored by Panmure Gordon

The 2022 shortlist:

ECI 

London-based ECI is an experienced mid-market private equity firm, having partnered with over 250 growth businesses.

The last twelve months have been very successful for ECI. The group completed ten exits, generating an average gross return of 4.2x and proceeds of £1.3bn. These included MiQ, one of the largest global programmatic media partners; Bionic, the leading marketplace in the UK for SME services; and tech-enabled digital media service company Imagesound. In addition, ECI invested in BCN Group during the period, a fast-growing independent Managed Service provider, and reinvested in Avantia, the virtual insurer.

Hg

Hg is one of the most active tech investors in the world. The group is based in London, Munich and New York and has led over 170 investments in the software and services sector during the last 25 years. HG has won the tech investor award for the past two years.

Hg is the owner of the three largest private equity owned software businesses in Europe, namely, Visma, The Access Group and IFS. The group has funds under management of over $40bn and in 2022 so far, has invested in business collectively worth over $12bn. Hg was ranked joint first in the top ten most acquisitive tech acquired over the last three years in AGC Partner’s 2021 Tech Private Equity Annual Report.

IP Group plc

London-based IP Group is a leading intellectual property commercialisation company. The group focuses on evolving great ideas, mainly from its partner universities, into world-changing businesses.

IP Group manages or advises over £603m in third party capital across its Parkwalk, UK and Australian business units. The group completed a £33m Series C round with First Light Fusion and one of its leading portfolio companies, Istesso, is preparing to commence a Phase 2b trial for its rheumatoid arthritis drug MBS2320. In addition, IP Group launched a wholly-owned platform dedicated to supporting transformative climate technology in the first half of the year.

IQ Capital

Cambridge-based IQ Capital uses deeptech knowledge and extensive global connections to support founders from seed to exit. The group has achieved over 20 exits, to companies including M&A to Apple, Google and Facebook.

IQ Capital’s £800m AUM underpins its dominance in UK Deeptech. In May this year, one of the group’s portfolio companies, Thought Machine, raised $160m in a Series D funding round, doubling its valuation to £2.7bn and enhancing its unicorn status. In addition, another of its portfolio companies, Paragraf, raised £45m to scale up its international growth by increasing sales across the UK, US, EU and Asian markets.

CVC Growth

Headquartered in Luxembourg, CVC is a leading global alternative investment manager focused on private equity, secondaries and credit. The group has a global network of 25 local offices and €125bn AUM.

During the period, CVC were active both on the growth and buy-out side in the UK. On the growth side, CVC backed Unily to further strengthen its position as a world-leading employee experience platform. On the buy-out side, the group successfully acquired System C before merging it with Graphnet. Together these businesses run the IT system used by the NHS to invite people for coronavirus vaccines and track who has received jabs.

TA Associates

Headquartered in Boston, TA Associates helps scale growth companies around the world in its five core industries. The group has made over 560 investments and invested more than $36bn.

TA had an incredibly active year, achieving record liquidity and completing numerous full or partial sales and recapitalisations. The group also celebrated several portfolio company IPOs, the most notable being the listing of ATG, which raised $420m.

best use of tech in the digital economy award

sponsored by BDB Pitmans

The 2022 shortlist:

Castore

Manchester-based Castore was created to bring a new level of performance to sportswear. The group’s mission is to apply it’s proprietry garment technology to build the lightest, most durable, highest performing sportswear in the market.

Castore’s advanced manufacturing capability has allowed the group to incorporate fully seamless technology into its garments which reduces weight, allowing for less bulk and a better drape by eliminating seam tape or double overlap seams. The brand has successfully competed with the likes of Adidas and Nike due to its partnerships with high profile sports teams like Newcastle United FC, Aston Villa FC, Sevilla FC, Maclaren FI and the England Cricket team.

Eagle Eye Solutions Group plc

Guildford-based Eagle Eye is a leading SaaS technology company. The group is transforming marketing by creating digital connections that enable personalised performance marketing in real time through coupons, loyalty, apps, subscriptions and gift services.

Eagle Eye’s tech has helped offline retailers navigate the challenges of COVID and increased consumer satisfaction with retailer brands. The group’s AIR platform powers Pret A Manger’s loyalty scheme, Pret Perks, which is made possible by the integration between the AIR platform and Pret’s instore Oracle MICROS Simphony point of sale system. 

Featurespace Limited

Cambridge-based Featurespace is a leading provider of enterprise financial crime prevention software. The group invented Adaptive Behavioral Analytics and created real-time machine learning software that risk scores events in more than 180 countries.

Featurespace was the first company to profile behaviour to identify fraudulent activity in real time. The group’s latest innovation, Automated Deep Behavioral Networks (ADBN), is fast-tracking Featurespace's data science exploration, based on Recurrent Neural Networks, to create smart memory and enable automated feature discovery for fraud detection. This technology can deliver an additional 16% uplift in fraud detection, while maintaining 99.5% approval of transactions. 

Matillion Limited

Manchester-based Matillion provides a complete data integration and transformation solution that is purpose-built for the cloud and cloud data warehouses.

Today’s modern data teams are handling an influx of data from across enterprises and are facing immense pressure to quickly deliver actionable insights. Traditional methods to deliver are time-consuming and ultimately create information gaps within an organisation. Matillion solves a key challenge in this process for enterprises by unlocking the data supply chain and accelerating time to value by delivering a “breakthrough” data operating system that integrates and manages data at scale.

Onfido Holdings Limited

London-based Onfido is an AI-based digital identity verification platform which assesses whether a user’s government-issued ID is genuine or fraudulent, and then compares it against their facial biometrics.

Onfido’s technology is unique across the market. The group allows IDV processes to be faster, easier and cheaper, while making them more secure and ensuring privacy. Onfido works with businesses such as Revolut, bunq and Bitstamp to provide the assurance they need to onboard customers remotely and securely. The group works with over 800 companies and has offices in London, San Francisco, New York, Lisbon, Paris, Amsterdam, New Delhi and Singapore.

Tractable Ltd

London-based Tractable uses the speed and accuracy of AI to visually assess cars and homes. The group’s solutions help businesses understand the external condition of property and vehicles quickly and accurately to help assess their value, or how much repairs might cost.

Tractable’s new AI Property solution helps homeowners recover when natural disasters affect their homes. It provides human-level appraisal for home damage, using pictures that can be captured directly from the homeowner’s smartphone. The solution was deployed during Japan’s 2021 typhoon season by a leading Japanese insurer to help homeowners settle insurance claims within the same day – a claims process that typically takes weeks to months.

tech innovation of the year award

sponsored by William Blair

The 2022 shortlist:

Bango plc

Bango is a payments company, based in Cambridge. The group uses mobile carrier billing to help customers efficiently manage their payment options and finances.

Bango has built a Purchase Behaviour Architecture, using the data they have on their customers, which they share with advertisers to help drive better buying behaviour. The idea originated from within the business, in the Engineering department, when the team realised the data they had on its portfolio of customers could be harnessed for a new product. As a result, Bango’s ‘purchase behaviour targeting’ has reinvented the way in which online advertising is targeted.

DiffBlue Limited

Oxford-based DiffBlue writes software using Artificial Intelligence. The group has developed proprietary technology based on new machine learning techniques that can write code to the same standard as a human developer.

DiffBlue was spun-out from a world-leading AI research group at the University of Oxford. The group’s technology is several years ahead of competitors in that the process used to synthesise the code ensures that it is 100% correct, which allows 100% autonomous operation. Diffblue has solved many practical problems in applying this algorithm to "real world" software systems that are messy, complicated and incorrectly configured.

First Light Fusion Limited

Oxford-based First Light Fusion is an innovative deep tech business pushing the boundaries of science and theoretical modelling by taking a new approach to inertial fusion, called projectile fusion.

First Light’s mission is to solve the problem of fusion power with the simplest machine possible. The group announced it had achieved fusion in 2022, which was the first time it been achieved, using the unique targets developed by First Light, and the corresponding projectile technology. First Light has achieved fusion having spent less than £45m and with a rate of performance improvement faster than any other fusion scheme in history.

Garrison Cybersecurity

Based in London, Garrison was founded to make the cybersecurity market more secure. The group is deeply embedded in the global cybersecurity ecosystem with key involvement in initiatives such as the World Economic Forum Global Innovator.

Garrison has designed a threat elimination product that eradicates the largest cyber risk to organisations and governments worldwide, that of web-borne threats such as malware, phishing attacks and drive-by downloads. The group’s hardsec technology is enabling governments and securing commercial organisations across many geographies and sectors.

Matillion Limited

Manchester-based Matillion provides a complete data integration and transformation solution that is purpose-built for the cloud and cloud data warehouses.

Today’s modern data teams are handling an influx of data from across the enterprise and are facing immense pressure to quickly deliver actionable insights. Traditional methods to deliver are time-consuming and ultimately create information gaps within an organisation. Matillion solves a key challenge in this process for enterprises by unlocking the data supply chain and accelerating time to value by delivering a “breakthrough” data operating system that integrates and manages data at scale.

Satellite Vu

Based in London, Satellite Vu use the power of remote sensing earth observation to provide businesses and governments with the critical tools they need to make vital decisions to reduce energy consumption and improve efficiency.

Satellite Vu’s ground-breaking new category of earth observation data is cost effective and commercially available. It offers a high revisit, super high resolution, that allows for the extrapolation of activity within buildings and structures and is the first in the world with this capability. The group is specifically looking at where in the world we are wasting energy and directing people who are trying to achieve Net Zero ambitions.

Stamp Free Ltd

Edinburgh-based Stamp Free allows businesses and consumers to handle mailings and returns without a postage stamp, label, or printer. It’s AI-based technology utilises handwritten recognition while processing tracking and payments to create an effortless mailing journey.

Stamp Free’s game-changing technology is revolutionising the postal and logistics sector. The Stamp Free Digital Postage Solution allows businesses and consumers to use the Stamp Free or white-labelled app to send parcels and letters, as well as return consumer goods, without the need for a postage stamp or carrier label. Stamp Free also benefits postal carriers by removing issues associated with postage stamps such as fraud, liabilities and the cost of printing and is beneficial for the environment.

Thought Machine Group Limited

London-based Thought Machine aims to change banking through its Vault software. Vault can run any type of banking product, from mortgages to current accounts and has a workflow engine that defines how the bank operates.

Earlier this year, Thought Machine worked with Together, one of the UK’s leading specialist mortgage and secured loan providers, to design new mortgage and loan features and deliver them into the hands of its customers. Vault Core's Universal Product Engine allowed Together to design highly complex and personalised products, using code, and launch them with an accelerated speed-to-market.

tech businesswoman of the year award

sponsored by PwC

The 2022 shortlist:

Somayeh Aghnia/Geeks Ltd

Somayeh founded Geeks with a vision to change the digital world.  She left her home country of Iran to pursue her love of software development in the UK and has since driven Geeks into a multi-award winning company that is home to technologists obsessed by challenging the status quo.

Somayeh is a technology strategist with a strong software delivery heritage. Her vision has been instrumental in the development of some of Geeks most celebrated products, including WordUp: a vocabulary learning app that provides users with a personalised, AI-powered learning experience and its #geekess initiative, which Somayeh spearheaded in order to challenge the gender imbalance in  UK tech.

Joanne Dewar/Global Processing Services Group Limited

Joanne joined GPS in 2013, when the group was a start-up in the middle of the UK challenger bank scene. She subsequently led the transformation of GPS into a private equity-backed scale-up, powering high profile brands such as Starling Bank, Revolut and Curve.

Joanne has accelerated the global expansion of GPS, building on its domestic success to launch new and innovative fintechs and digital banks across Europe and the APAC region. At the end of last year, Joanne secured a $400m investment, which put GPS on remarkable new footing to become the world leader in modern payments processing. Joanne’s leadership style is defined by her passion for empowering others, and she has created measurable improvements for the group’s female and minority colleagues.  

Mikela Druckman/Greyparrot AI Ltd

Mikela is the Co-founder & CEO of Greyparrot. She co-founded the group in 2019 after seeing the waste management industry was going through a massive shift and felt the urgent need to create a world where every piece of waste is valued as a resource.

In just three years, Mikela has driven Greyparrot to become a leader in waste analytics software. The group’s solution is digitising the $1.6trn waste management industry to accelerate the race to meet global recycling targets. Earlier this year, Mikela raised $11m in a Series A funding round to help scale the business. Female founders receive just 1% of funding in Europe, therefore raising a significant investment in a deeply male-dominated deep-tech environment is an exceptional achievement.  

Stephanie Eltz/Doctify Limited

Stephanie is the CEO and co-founder of healthcare review platform Doctify. Stephanie started her career as a trauma and orthopaedic surgeon and during this time, noticed a mole on her skin that she thought was cancerous and started looking for a specialist. Despite being well connected in healthcare, Stephanie struggled to find someone she had confidence in.

Stephanie has grown Doctify into the second most rapidly-growing healthtech company in the UK, according to the Financial Times 1000. Following a UK launch, Stephanie has led Doctify through its expansion into the UAE, Austria, Germany and Australia and has led the group through numerous investments. As one of the first doctor-led healthtech companies in the UK, Stephanie is now using her understanding of the industry to mentor other companies in healthcare to drive further innovation.

Janthana Kaenprakhamroy/Tapoly Ltd

Janthana is founder and CEO of Tapoly. She created the group in 2016 after trying to list her property on AirBnB and finding there were no flexible insurance products available to protect herself and her guests.

Janthana has diligently grown Tapoly into an award-winning, industry-recognised digital MGA and SaaS provider. The group’s continued growth and pipeline of opportunities is a clear testament to Janthana’s ability to lead in times of uncertainty. Currently Janthana and the Tapoly team are fundraising £2m with 60% of these funds committed to embedding innovative new technologies. Janthana is committed to utilising her growing platform to inspire other women to enter the tech sector and demonstrate it is possible to overcome adversity to achieve success.

Elona Mortimer-Zhika/IRIS Software Group Limited

Elona is CEO of IRIS, having previously served as CFO and COO. Over the last three years she has established the company as a unique transatlantic cloud platform with a market-leading position in the UK and the fastest growing challenger in the Americas.

Elona is dedicated to ensuring IRIS is the most trusted provider of mission-critical software and services. Under her leadership, IRIS has grown revenues from c£170m to over £274m, maintaining high EBITDA margins of 44%. As female CEO of a business with over 2600 employees, Elona is passionate about diversity. IRIS’ workforce is 44% female, well over twice the IT sector average of 19%, and she is determined to increase it to 50%. Elona’s focus is on altering the overall talent pool, addressing stereotypes, removing unconscious bias and creating an environment focused on output not input.

Joanna Shields/BenevolentAI

Joanna joined BenevolentAI as CEO in 2018. Since joining the group, she has accelerated its transformation from a start-up to a clinical-stage, AI-enabled drug discovery company.

Joanna has a passion for creating responsible technology that benefits humanity, and has spent her professional life building companies, products and platforms that have transformed markets and reshaped industries. Under Joanna’s leadership, the group has scaled and validated the Benevolent Platform™ and developed lasting successful commercial collaborations with leading pharmaceutical companies. In April 2022, Joanna successfully transitioned BenevolentAI to a NASDAQ publicly traded company via a merger with Odyssey Acquisition.

tech CEO of the year award

sponsored by Silicon Valley Bank

The 2022 shortlist:

John Cotterell/Endava plc

John is CEO of Endava. He founded Concise in 2000, which subsequently merged with Compudava in 2006 to form Endava. John was previously at Capgemini where he set up the Business Process Outsourcing division, taking it from a greenfield start-up to employing 450 people over a five year period.

John has established and grown Endava both organically and by acquisition. He was instrumental in the group’s NASDAQ IPO in 2018 and leads its successful M&A strategy. Endava’s exceptional  growth has been attributed to John’s management skills, which allow employees to feel empowered to solve problems on their own. Endava’s revenue is on track to hit $900m this year, which represents a very strong rate of growth over the past five years.

Ben Dorks/Ideagen plc

Ben was appointed CEO in 2018, having previously served as Chief Customer Officer for Ideagen. Ben joined Ideagen in 2013 via the acquisition of Plumtree Group where he served as Sales and Marketing Director.

Ben is the very definition of an entrepreneur, having bootstrapped the Plumtree Group to acquisition by Ideagen back in 2012. Under his leadership, Ideagen has seen exceptional levels of growth, both organically and through 27 targeted acquisitions, boosting its market value from £350k in 2009 when the business was founded, to more than a £1bn when the group was acquired by Hg earlier this year. Ben was instrumental in Ideagen’s Think Big initiative, which opens up opportunities for young people who are at an educational disadvantage.

Dean Forbes/Forterro UK Limited

Dean Forbes is CEO at Forterro. During his twenty-year career, Dean has transitioned from being a junior sales executive in a call centre to becoming one of Britain’s top 50 business leaders according to Lloyds Bank and The Daily Telegraph.

Dean joined Forterro to reinvigorate the group’s growth strategy in Europe. Most recently he led the growth and expansion of CoreHR, a UK HCM software provider, across Europe. CoreHR was later acquired by The Access Group in the UK’s largest private to private Human Capital Management (HCM) M&A deal. Dean founded the Forbes Family Group in 2020, where he serves as chairman and actively coaches and mentors leaders within the firm’s investment portfolio. Dean is an unwavering champion of social mobility initiatives. 

Ben Maruthappu/Cera Care Limited

Ben is an entrepreneur, physician and health policy specialist, who founded Cera to transform the home care sector through technology and innovation. Ben was driven to create Cera in late 2016 due to his first-hand experience of a broken social care sector.

In just over five years, Ben has grown Cera to more than 10,000 employees delivering 40,000 home care visits every day, with revenues of almost $300m. Cera currently holds 300+ partnerships with the NHS and local authorities, and the company’s technology is used by over 2000 businesses nationwide. Ben has overseen the development of a series of digital technologies which track and monitor the health of its users, enabling families and medical professionals to have visibility of changes in health and well-being status. Thanks to Ben’s drive, Cera’s technology has been proven to predict health deteriorations in patients 30-fold faster than traditional care companies, reducing hospitalisations by 45%.

Elona Mortimer-Zhika/IRIS Software Group Limited

Elona joined IRIS as Chief Financial Officer in 2016, was promoted to Chief Operating Officer in 2018 and appointed Chief Executive Officer in 2019. She has won numerous awards, including that of tech businesswoman of the year at the UK tech awards last year, and is passionate about inspiring younger generations.

Elona not only led IRIS through Covid-19 as a brand-new CEO (she was in post for only six months when then pandemic hit), she is also credited with transforming the business. Elona has grown IRIS from being a desktop provider to a cloud platform business and from an established UK market leader to the number one challenger in the Americas. Elona is committed to fostering an environment that is welcoming to female leaders and has led the group to achieve its exceptional ESG rating of 9.5/10.

Keith Neilson/Craneware plc

Keith Neilson founded Craneware with a childhood friend in 1999. Inspired by the famous crane kick scene from "The Karate Kid" during a late-night brainstorming session, Craneware was born. Today the group is a leader in automated value cycle solutions for US health providers.

Keith is an experienced entrepreneur, with a demonstrable history of working in the hospital and health care sector. He has grown Craneware from its humble beginnings into a healthware market leader in its field. During the period, Keith orchestrated the group’s $400m acquisition of Sentry Data Systems, meaning Craneware now serves nearly 40% of US hospitals and more than 10,000 clinics and retail pharmacies across all the major pharmacy brands as well as local community pharmacies and clinics.

Matthew Scullion/Matillion Limited

Matthew founded Matillion in 2011, having started his first company aged 18, which was subsequently sold to an American company. Matthew has subsequently grown Matillion from a team of 18 people in 2015 with a turnover of £1m, to a company with over 400 branches across the UK and US.

Matthew’s entrepreneurial spirit, combined with decades of industry experience, has made him into the successful leader he is today. He’s been described by those who know him well as a “storm the fort CEO” – someone who, regardless of any barriers, keeps moving forward, adjusting course as needed. Matthew led Matillion through two triple-digit funding rounds, including a $100m Series D round in February 2021 and a $150m Series E funding round in September 2021 that vaulted  Matillion to unicorn status.

tech company of the year award

sponsored by Arma Partners

The 2022 shortlist:

Allocate/RL Datix

Allocate Software plays a key role in healthcare workforce management, particularly in nurse rostering, where its software helps the NHS manage and effectively deploy its staff at times of great need.

In October 2021, Allocate was acquired by RLDatix in a deal worth over $1.3bn. The transaction combined RLDatix’s capabilities with Allocate’s workforce management solutions and established the group as the global innovator in healthcare GRC. Under the stewardship of RLDatix, the group has achieved top of class performance metrics, reporting £101m of revenue and organic ARR growing at 15%. Allocate/RLDatix’s technology is positively impacting over 1.4m healthcare workers daily.

Big Technologies plc

Based in Hertforshire, Big Technologies was founded as Buddi in 2005. The group has created a leading, integrated technology platform for remote monitoring of individuals, providing state-of-the-art Electronic Monitoring solutions on a SaaS-like, subscription basis.

Big Technologies has delivered another strong year of double-digit revenue and profit growth, despite the macroeconomic conditions that continue to be challenging. The group diversified its global footprint with the successful implementation of a significant national monitoring contract in New Zealand, enhancing its strong reputation in the criminal justice sector. Big Technologies reported revenue increases of 27% in H1 2022 and adjusted operating profit increased by 36%. 

CentralNic Group plc

London-based, AIM listed CentralNic is one of the most important providers of internet infrastructure tools globally. The group has been built through a series of acquisitions that have brought together companies in the domain industry.

Since flotation in 2013, CentralNic has doubled in size every year for six of the past seven years through a combination of organic growth, winning new clients, introducing new services and successfully executing an ambitious acquisitions strategy. During the period, the group substantially increased its scale and capabilities, driven by the ongoing market share gains of its marketing solutions. CentralNic reported a transformational increase in revenue and adjusted EBITDA, which have grown by 93% and 97% respectively compared to H1 2021.  

Endava plc

London-based Endava is a leading next-generation technology services provider. The group helps its clients find new ways to interact with customers and users, enabling them to become more engaging, responsive and efficient.

Endava has experienced significant growth over the last year thanks to its cutting-edge technical solutions. The group’s customer satisfaction scores are some of the highest in the industry, which it has achieved whilst maintaining high employee satisfaction. The group reported a 46.7% year-on-year revenue growth to £654.8m, which was driven by demand from existing clients in addition to the acquisition of new ones during the quarter.

IRIS Software Group Limited

Berkshire-based IRIS Software Group has grown from humble beginnings to become one of the UK’s largest privately held software companies. The group exists to take the pain out of processes and give professionals time to do what they value.

IRIS has had an exceptional year and achieved significant growth through both organic development and acquisition. Since 2014, IRIS has acquired 32 businesses, including seven during 2022. IRIS has successfully doubled its EBITDA in 3 years and established a beachhead in North America to become the fastest growing challenger in the American accountancy software market. The group has expanded turnover from £5m in 2002 to over £274m in the year to end April 2022.

Matillion Limited

Manchester-based Matillion is the premier cloud-native data integration and transformation company. The group has grown from a team of 18 people in 2015 to a company with over 400 branches across the UK and US.

In September last year, Matillion was vaulted to unicorn status, thanks to two triple-digit funding rounds, including a $100m Series D round in February 2021 and a $150m Series E funding round in September 2021. The fundraises validated the market demand for the tech that Matillion has built and demonstrates its traction in this space. The group’s rapid growth has resulted in the creation of around 180 jobs for the Greater Manchester area alone while further significant international expansion lies ahead for the group.

The Access Group

Based in Loughborough, The Access Group is a leading provider of business management software. The group has grown significantly since its incorporation in 1991, delivering uninterrupted profitable growth for the last 15 years.

In June this year, Access secured further investment from its main shareholders, giving the group an enterprise value of £9.2bn. Since 2020, Access has more than doubled in size driven by double-digit organic growth and strategic M&A. The group completed 18 acquisitions in FY21, the largest being the local businesses of Sage Group in Australia and Asia. In the year to end June 2021, Access reported revenues up 48% to £392m, while adjusted EBITDA grew 61% to £148m.