Interview with Jessica Hanley

Jessica Hanley started homeware brand Piglet in Bed in her mum’s Sussex shed in 2017, selling quality, sustainable linen bedding with a scruffy chic. Instagrammers loved it, helping the business capitalise on the pandemic-era DTC boom, with sales surging sixfold between 2019 and 2021.

Winner Profile – Castore

Whatever Castore is doing, it’s doing it right. By 2021, the business was turning over £17 million. The following year, it hit £48 million. Last year, it was £115 million. Equally impressively, it has achieved this rampant growth alongside healthy margins since its early days.

Winner Profile – InstaVolt

In 2016, it was clear that electric vehicles (EVs) were the future of mobility. But given the rate of adoption – barely 37,000 plug-in cars were sold in the UK that year – you’d have been forgiven for thinking they weren’t the near future.

Winner Profile – The Ralph

Shailen Jasani’s veterinary referral  hospital, The Ralph, focuses on three key elements – core values, culture and mission – which have helped propel it to become Britain’s fastest-growing company over the past two years.