Interview with Simon Mellin
In 2019, Simon Mellin launched The Modern Milkman as a technology platform. In some respects it closely resembled the milk round of old, even using the same bottling machines, which have seen little to no innovation in decades. But unlike its traditional counterparts The Modern Milkman also allows customers to make and amend orders easily, and pay online without having to fish for cash, while optimising routes and small-batch logistics for its self-employed drivers and bottling partners.
Retail on the rebound
Our inaugural Retail Index tells a story of exceptional companies outperforming a sluggish market that has seen shoppers prioritise essentials like groceries during the cost-of-living crisis. Yet their impressive average 61.9% two-year CAGR indicates much more than the slow recovery of consumer confidence, following a new government, falling inflation and gradually easing interest rates. It represents the surging interest in “emotional” spending in discretionary sectors that capture the desire for relationship, hobbies, self-care and wanderlust.
Interview with Freddy Ward
After a brief test period, Wild secured £500,000 in angel investor funding and launched in early 2020 with a refillable, plastic-free product. They achieved rapid growth, hitting revenues of £12.5 million the following year, and £46.9 million by the end of 2023, when it also became a certified B Corp. Total funding now stands at £7.5 million.
Profitability is back
Growth Index companies can operate in any sector. They can be B2B or B2C, growing organically or via M&A. What unites them is their ability to transform their top line, putting them on a trajectory to be major players of tomorrow.
A veteran’s guide to fundraising
When growing a business, money helps. Unfortunately, there’s less of it around these days. As interest rates rose around the world, global venture capital deal-value halved between 2021 and 2023 according to Pitchbook, while exit value was the lowest since 2017.
Green growth and shifting sectors
This is the year that Growth Index went green. Three of the top ten fastest-growing companies in the UK participate in the clean and renewable energy market, offering electric vehicle charging (InstaVolt)
The rise of conscious capitalism
Social and environmental impact is firmly on the corporate agenda, but the proliferation of purpose statements and ESG brochures doesn’t necessarily mean that companies are being run for the greater good
Interview with Charlotte Harrington
Sustainable beverage business Belu was doing well by doing good long before it was fashionable. A social enterprise launched in 2007, its purpose is to change the way the world sees water. It’s donated all of its profits since 2011 to Water Aid, in a partnership fixed until 2030.
Interview with Shaun Doak
React Group Plc isn’t your typical cleaning company. Alongside conventional services like the regular commercial cleaning of windows, facilities and facades, it looks after what you might call ‘extreme’ cases: ad-hoc specialist cleaning of crime scenes, railway fatalities and biohazards.
Rachel Heather & Tracy Egan
Over half of British women wear size 16 or above, and the figure is rising. Yet for years plus-sized fashion was largely an afterthought. “Curvier women want the same look and contemporary style as everyone else, but they’ve just felt forgotten,” says Tracy Egan, who for 20 years manufactured quality clothing for high-street retailers with business partner Rachel Heather.
