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Here are 58 tech startups that are on track to become Britain's next billion dollar companies

Sam Shead   

Here are 58 tech startups that are on track to become Britain's next billion dollar companies
Tech7 min read

Sherry Coutu

YouTube/Silicon Real

Angel investor Sherry Coutu.

A group backed by a team that wants to support the UK's most promising high-growth technology companies has invited 58 tech startups to be part of an elite club.

Silicon Valley Comes To the UK (SVC2UK), an organisation set up by LinkedIn cofounder Reed Hoffman, former LinkedIn VP of corporate strategy Ellen Levy, and LoveFilm investor Sherry Coutu, chose the companies based on their potential to grow into huge tech corporations.

The "Scale Up Club," designed to encourage "high-impact entrepreneurship," is for companies that could hit £100 million in revenue in the next three to five years.

The companies in the 2015 intake span a variety of industries, from artificial intelligence and drones, to flower delivery services and consumer hardware.

Newcomers that were added include computer building kit provider Kano, on demand cleaning service Hassle and micro computer developer Raspberry Pi.

Between the 58 companies, they generate £300 million in revenue each year and employ 3,100 people, SVC2UK said, adding that they're growing at 110% a year.

The new club members were announced at an event held at the London Stock Exchange today, and they will receive mentoring from successful people in the global technology industry, including TomTom cofounder Corinne Goddijn-Vigreux and Catherine Mohr, VP of medical research at Intuitive Surgical.

Previous Scale Up Club alumni such as TransferWise and SkyScanner are now valued at over $1 billion (£660 million) and it's hoped that the latest intake of companies will follow a similar path.

TransferWise co-founders, from left, Kristo Kaarmann and Taavet Hinrikus.

TransferWise

TransferWise co-founders Kristo Kaarmann and Taavet Hinrikus joined the Scale Up Club in 2013.

These high valuations have been made possible off the back of venture capital money pouring into UK companies.

Research from London & Partners, the Mayor of London's inward investment agency, reveals that the UK has attracted more VC investment from Silicon Valley based investors than any other major European country over the last five years having completed 290 deals, worth a combined total of around $4.2 billion (£3 billion).

London-based technology companies attracted almost half (45%) of all deals into the UK from Silicon Valley, totalling $1.9 billion, more than Paris, Madrid and Amsterdam combined.

Janet Coyle, Director SVC2UK at London & Partners said: "This year's Scale Up Club includes some of the UK's fastest growing digital businesses and provides further proof that we can produce companies of genuine scale."

UK still lacks a $100 billion tech company

While the scale of some of the UK's tech startups isn't to be sniffed at, it's worth noting that the UK is yet to create a company that's anywhere near the same size as the likes of Google, Apple, Amazon or Facebook. In other words, the UK may have plenty of unicorns but where are its mega-unicorns?

Coutu, who sits on a several boards including LinkedIn's board of advisors and the board of the London Stock Exchange, has been calling on the UK government to do more to support the nation's fastest growing technology companies if it wants to create technology corporations with valuations in excess of $100 billion.

One area she's been focusing on is immigration, as she strongly believes that UK tech companies need to be able to hire anyone from anywhere in the world.

Full list of companies in the Scale Up Club. The 58 companies that were added today appear in the left-hand column.

2015

2014

2013

Adzuna

Blaze

Bloom & Wild

BorrowMyDoggy

busuu.com

Cambridge Intelligence

Careflow connect

Clear Returns

CMO Software

Commerce Guys

Concirrus

Dressippi

Duedil

Entrade Energie Systems

ESBConnect

Freeformers

Graze

Grub Club

Halo Insurance Services Limited

Hassle.com

Invenio Business Solutions

Isansys

iStorage Limited

Kaizen Furniture

Kano

Kanteron Systems

Miradore

Mosaicoon

MotorK

My Showcase Limited

Network Locum

Oviva

Parkopedia

Pointr

Prisma Electronics

Raspberry Pi Foundation

Realeyes

Reevoo

Renal Services

Rocketseed

Secretsales.com

Skimlinks

Sky­-Futures

Smart Currency Exchange

Snapfashion

Swiftkey

Switch

Technology Will Save Us

The Test People

translate plus

TrialReach

TRULY Experiences

uMotif

Undo Software

Urban Massage

Vocality

WhatUsersDo

Yomp

Amplience

Appear Here

AppsBuilder

Benefex

Beyondtheschoolrun

Blippar

Blueliv

Bossa Studios

Cambridge Cognition

Cambridge Intelligence

Cause4

CertiVox

CityFibre

Clear Returns

Code Club

Concirrus

Conversocial

Digital Shadows

Eblink

eLife

Genius Food

Glow

Hassle.com

HealthUnlocked

InSkin Media

Jolla

Love Home Swap

LoveSpace

LovethEsign

Mars Space

minube.com

Moneydashboard

MSquared Lasers

Musement

MVF

MyShowcase

Neverbland

nucleobase

Object Matrix

PathXL

Payment Sense

Postcode Anywhere

Purple Wifi

Real Eyes

Secretesales.com

Server Density

Smart Traffic

Somo

Spark Energy

StreetHub

SwiftKey

Taragenyx

Technology Will Save Us

The Test People

Thread

Translate Plus

TVTY

Undo

Versarie

Affectv

AlexandAlexa.com

Artfinder

Asset Match Limited

Axol Bioscience Limited

Base79

Boticca

Bright*Sun

Cause4

CertiVox UK Ltd.

ConcretePlatform

Coveritas Limited

DataShaka

EDITD

EVRYTHNG Limited

Greenman Gaming

HealthUnlocked

HybridCluster

i2O Water

import·io

Insane Logic

Intelesant

itradein.com Ltd

Jostle Corporation

Kiosked Ltd

Love Home Swap

Lulu

Lumi Mobile

M Squared Lasers

Marmalade

Masabi

Medikidz

Neo Mobile

NewVoiceMedia

onefinestay

Ontrac Ltd

Pocketprof

Postcode Anywhere

PsychologyOnline

Realex Payments

RedBite Solutions

Rightster

Seedrs

ServerSpace Limited

Signkick

Skimlinks

Skyscanner

sofar sounds

Somo

SuperAwesome Ltd

SwiftKey

Synthesio

Teddle

Test and Verification Solutions Ltd

TransferWise

TranslateMedia

Tray.io

TrialReach

Trustev

WAYN (Where Are You Now?)

Wifarer

Worldwide Computer Company (Charity Engine)

YPlan

Zopa

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