Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50: A Summary of the UK's Fastest-Growing Tech Companies in 2022

The Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50 report for 2022 was released in November last year, and it tells of the resilience, innovation, and growth of the UK’s technology sector amidst challenging times. As the research partner for 2022’s Deloitte Fast 50, we analysed high-growth tech companies across the UK. The comprehensive report, created with Deloitte Private, celebrates the UK’s fastest-growing technology businesses, with a special focus on the 50 companies that have shown exceptional growth over the past four years.

Below is an overview, but take a look at the full report for all the in-depth analysis.

Key Highlights from the Report

• The 2022 Fast 50 winners have demonstrated an average growth rate of 4,568% across sectors including fintech, software, healthcare, and media. These companies are not just driving economic growth but are also solving problems, creating jobs, and supporting local communities.
• The top spot was claimed by Tripledot Studios, a mobile gaming company that has shown an astonishing growth of just under 69,400% over the past four years. The London-based company, founded just five years ago, is now valued at $1.4b.
• Second place was secured by Wonde, a company that creates vouchers to help students access school meals. It’s now expanding its services to assist refugees and housing association tenants.
• Third place was taken by Nonacus Ltd, a healthcare company from the Midlands, with a growth rate of 28,211%.
• The report also introduced a new category this year – the Fast 50 Women in Leadership. This category recognizes companies within the Technology Fast 50 that are either led by a female CEO or have a founding team comprised of at least 50% women. The winner in this category was OKRA.ai, a company that has grown by 4,227%.

Top Investors

Equity investment can be critical for high-growth companies as it provides entrepreneurs and leaders with much-needed capital to help them grow and scale their businesses. It can also help companies to attract and retain top talent, as employees are often attracted to companies where they have the potential to share in the financial success of a company upon exit. The top investor into the 2022 Fast 50 companies by number of deals was Equity Gap with 11. Seedrs was close behind on ten, followed by Par Equity and Octopus Ventures on eight each.

The Impact of the Challenging Funding Environment

Despite the challenging funding environment, the report highlights that significant pools of capital are still available for investment from both venture funds and private equity. Businesses are also able to look to venture debt from both banks and a variety of debt funds offering “venture debt”.

Sector Breakdown

The report provides a detailed breakdown of the sectors represented in the Fast 50. Topping the list was software, with 27 of the 50 companies, followed by fintech with 12. Media and entertainment was tied with healthcare in third place with four companies in each. Environmental technology and hardware completes the list, with two and one companies respectively.

Investments

The Fast 50 secured an impressive £1.26b in 2021. The number of deals completed in 2021 (40) was the same as in 2019, but the amount of equity investment secured in 2021 was over seven times that raised in 2019. This speaks to the growth journey that this year’s Fast 50 are on; they are becoming increasingly attractive investment opportunities.

With a different investment landscape in 2022, the first half of the year still saw the Fast 50 raise a significant £688m from funders, showing that UK tech companies can still progress during economic uncertainty.