The UK needsmore than one growth engine
The companies on this list are achieving exceptional things and deserve our warmest congratulations. Wouldn’t it be amazing if we had more of them? For too long, we’ve been like a plane running on one engine, with opportunity limited for large sections of the population. To unleash the UK’s full potential we need to get the whole country firing.
How to make purpose practical
If you ask CEOs what their company’s purpose is, very few will say to make money. Most will reel off their mission – the thing they aim for that, if satisfied, will produce a financial return.
Money talks
There was a slight drop this year in the number of GX companies that had received venture capital or private equity funding, from 47 to 41.
A tale of two sectors
It’s been a bumper year for retail, with 26 companies making our top 100. That’s a significant improvement even on last year, when there were 21 (including those previously defined as fashion companies).
How Huel aims to be the world’s leading plant-based brand
The idea behind Huel is simple. The company sells a powder product designed to replace meals, and since launching in 2015 has attracted legions of fans worldwide who refer to themselves as Hueligans and swear by its benefits.
What we can learn from the UK’s 10 fastest retailers
In popular imagination, the fastest way to grow a business is with an app or algorithm. Yet it is retail, not tech, that dominates the definitive list of the UK’s 100 fastest growing companies.
Winner Interview – Au Vodka
The chemistry swots among you may find it fitting that this year’s fastest-growing company is named after the chemical symbol for every winner’s favourite element, gold.
GX winner AU Vodka has dazzled the drinks industry with its signature gold bottles – concealing often startlingly-coloured spirits – and its highly effective social media and influencer marketing.
Lior Shiff, CEO, Tripledot Studios
Companies that monetised games through in-app purchases, like the business I co-founded in 2007, Product Madness, used to look down on companies that monetised through advertising, because the revenue per player was much lower.
Bambino Mio: Environmental concerns over single-use disposable nappies means reusable alternatives are becoming mainstream
Bambino Mio aims to make reusable nappies mainstream and cut the thousands of single-use plastic nappies sent to landfill
Activate Group: A hobby that very quickly grew and grew
Mark Wilcox lasted just two weeks in retirement before he got the idea for Activate, a technology-led vehicle insurance and accident management company that now employs 750 and has annual sales of almost £200m.
