Thursday 03 November 2016 6:36 am

Meet the hottest 50 UK tech startups which are now “scale-ups”

By: Lynsey Barber

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50 of the hottest startups from across the UK have now been named the country's top "scale-ups" – the fastest growing businesses boasting average growth of 47 per cent over the past year.

Jobs website Adzuna and smart city technology firm Pavegen are among the new cohort of businesses chosen to join the scale-up club of tech group Silicon Valley Comes to the UK (SVC2UK)

Equity crowdfunding platform Syndicate Room and flash sales website secretsales.com also join this years cohort, which boasts a string of successful alumni such as fintech unicorn Transferwise and Swiftkey, the artificial intelligence-powered keyboard startup snapped up by Microsoft earlier this year.

Read more: What Brexit? UK startup funding has bucked a global slowdown

It comes as new figures show the extent of tech startups' contribution to the economy over the last decade.

Since 2006, there's been a 17 per cent rise in the number of jobs created in the sector, compared with seven per cent across all sectors. In London alone that growth stands at 77 per cent. 

The number of digital tech businesses has rocketed 44 per cent, and almost doubled in the capital, compared to 23 per cent across all types of industry. Their contribution to the economy has grown by a third, compared to 13 per cent across all industries. And the capital has rocketed ahead with GVA doubling in a decade, according to the figures from London and Partners. 

“With our unrivalled mix of investors, talent and creativity it is hardly surprising that tech businesses and entrepreneurs are clamouring to be part of London’s tech story. These latest figures underline that London is the best place to invest in tech and how important this sector is as a driver for the UK economy," said the deputy mayor for business Rajesh Agrawal.

In recent weeks the Mayor and I have been speaking to business leaders in tech and beyond to reassure them London is open for business. Moving forward, Sadiq’s plans include the establishment of a ‘tech talent pipeline’ to ensure young Londoners have the digital skills to access employment and to encourage Londoners, especially girls, to work in tech.

The companies will be given support through the group's events aimed to connect UK startups with Silicon Valley to promote further growth, including mentoring and networking.

SVCUK was set up by investors and entrepreneurs Sherry Coutu, Ellen Levy and Reid Hoffman, the founder of LinkedIn and is now in its tenth year.

Read more: Red tape could stop London startups' Brexit exodus

"When Reid, Ellen and I founded this initiative we couldn’t have foreseen that ten years on it would still be going and have grown into such an incredible and impactful programme that has helped so many companies achieve more, and scale up faster," said Coutu.

We see from our own internal data that the UK’s tech and digital industry is growing year on year – and now combined with London and Partners data about tech growth over the last ten years this is resolutely confirmed.