24 Fastest-Growing Companies in the UK | 2022 | Beauhurst (2024)

The title of the UK’s fastest-growing company in 2022 goes to Xeinadin Group. Formed in 2019, the company is a consolidation of over 100 independent small and medium-sized accountancy firms across the UK and Ireland. While its head office is based in London, Xeinadin has 14 regional hubs dotted around the British Isles; each provides localised accounting and financial services, including tax planning, payroll assistance and auditing.

Xeinadin’s turnover has grown by a staggering 94,309%, from just £110k in 2020 to £104m in 2021. In May this year, the company announced a strategic partnership with and fundraising from private equity firm Exponent. Xeinadin will use the investment to complete acquisitions. It took over Lancashire-based accountancy firm Scott & Wilkinson in June 2022.

The title of the UK’s fastest-growing company in 2022 goes to PrimaryBid. Headquartered in London, the fintech company connects companies raising capital to individual investors, allowing them to invest at the same time and price as institutional investors. On its LinkedIn, PrimaryBid describes itself as “THE platform for individuals looking to access IPOs as they go live”.

PrimaryBid was founded in 2012 and, six years later, attended the Fintech Innovation Lab, Accenture’s 12-week accelerator programme. This was followed by Tech Nation’s Fintech accelerator in 2019 and Future Fifty 2021 accelerator. Sitting as one of Europe’s fastest-growing companies, PrimaryBid has grown its turnover by an impressive 3,752%, from £129k in 2020 to £4.95m in 2021. It has since secured a £140m equity funding round in February 2022, from investors including Molten Ventures and SoftBank Vision Fund, taking its total equity investment to £188m.

Freetrade develops a fee-free platform for investing in stocks and funds. It aims to democratise stock market investing by making it more accessible through its mobile app, which allows users to invest from their phone. The London-based fintech was founded in 2015 and now has over 1m users, with plans to expand into Europe this year.

The company attended the Octopus Labs Accelerator in 2016, and has raised £113m in equity investment so far, across 10 funding rounds. Freetrade has featured in numerous high-growth lists, including the 100 FinTech Disrupters ranking and the Lazard T100 European Venture Growth Index. The company saw impressive growth last year, growing their turnover by 664%, from £1.66m in 2020 to £12.7m in 2021.

Gloucestershire-based Autograph Homes builds and manages housing projects across the South West of England. Its real estate developments focus on creating characterful homes that match their locations, and are built with sustainable and renewable materials wherever possible, using low-carbon technologies to minimise environmental impact.

Founded in 2016, Autograph Homes received £2.8m in equity funding from the Housing Growth Partnership (HGP) in March 2017, to support its first two developments in Hambrook and Bristol. HGP’s objective is to address housing affordability in the UK, by supporting developers to build more homes. Last year, Autograph Homes grew its turnover by 635%, from £2.5m in 2020 to £18.5m in 2021.

Digital security company Yoti was founded in 2015 by co-founders Robin Tombs and Noel Hayden, and is headquartered in London. It develops online security and identification applications, using facial recognition to authenticate users’ identities. Yoti’s mobile app acts as a way to prove your identity both online and in person with your smartphone.

Yoti attended the Mayor’s International Business Programme accelerator in 2017, before featuring on the Regtech 100 in 2019—an annual list of the world’s most innovative regulatory technology companies. Yoti has raised £41.4m in equity investment so far, across six funding rounds, the most recent of which was a £10m deal in August 2021. In the last year, the company’s turnover has increased by 571%, from £100k in 2020 to £671k in 2021.

Founded in 2014, Cheshire-based Tactus is a B2B company that offers design, development and branding for products in the technology sector. Helping to bring new products to market, the company’s key focus is on the gaming sector. It acquired online gaming and technology retailer Box in March 2022, at a valuation of £100m, alongside CCL Computers, BIST Group and Chillblast in 2021.

As well as several debt fundraisings from lenders, Tactus has raised £64.7m worth of equity investment, across seven rounds. The company’s backers include Chrysalis Investments, Arete Capital Partners, Downing and Manchester-based venture capital firm Praetura Ventures. Tactus has achieved impressive growth over the last year, increasing its turnover by 422%, from £8.02m in 2020 to £41.9m in 2021.

Founded in 2018, RecruitHub helps recruitment companies to launch and scale, including investment support, software products and outsourced services. Outsourced services on offer include marketing, cybersecurity, finance management and advisory support, helping founders to stay focused on sales growth to scale their agencies and small businesses.Based in London, RecruitHub has raised £150k in equity investment so far, from a single unannounced round in June 2021. Last year, the startup grew its revenue by 333%, from £105k in 2020 to £454k in 2021.

Adaptix has developed a portable, low-dose 3D X-ray device, helping to make X-ray imaging more widely available and portable in healthcare settings. The company’s vision is to allow more accurate diagnosis at the point of care, allowing patients to have X-ray imaging at their bed-side, chair-side and eventually in ambulances.

Oxfordshire-based Adaptix was part of the 2017 cohorts for the ELITE Programme accelerator and the Royal Academy of Engineering’s SME Leaders Programme. In 2018 and 2020, the company was also featured on the Game Changers high-growth list, before attending the European Space Agency Business Incubation Centre in 2021.

The business has been awarded a long list of innovation grants, totalling £5.86m, and has raised a further £15.3m in equity investment, across 16 fundraisings. Investors include SyndicateRoom, Par Equity and Scottish Enterprise. Adaptix achieved impressive turnover growth last year, increasing 318% from £204k to £854k.

HANetf is a London-based fintech company that was founded in 2017. It offers a web platform that allows investors to buy and sell exchange-traded funds (ETFs). ETFs pool together money from numerous investors to access multiple assets, allowing investors to diversify their stock market portfolios for a lower price. HANeft works with assessment management groups to provide differentiated and innovative ETFs to investors.

In total, HANetf has raised £8.87m in equity investment, across four funding rounds. The company’s backers include Elkstone Capital, Point72 and Third Stream Partners. HANetf saw impressive turnover growth between 2020 and 2021, increasing 310% from £1.25m to £5.14m.

Stenn has developed a platform for financing SMEs that are engaged in international trade. The London-based company offers quick financing to close funding gaps in global supply chains, addressing the working capital requirements of suppliers, mediators and buyers of goods. Founded in 2015, Stenn now operates in 74 countries worldwide.

Stenn has raised £38.0m in equity investment so far, across two funding rounds, with Barclays Ventures, Centerbridge, Coface and Crayhill Capital Management. In 2022, it featured in the FT1000, an annual list of Europe’s fastest-growing companies. Last year, the company saw 302% turnover growth, from £4.20m in 2020 to £16.9m in 2021.

Next in our list of the UK’s fastest-growing companies is Fixed Phage. The Glasgow-based pharmaceutical company has developed a way to store and transport bacteriophages (or phages), a type of virus that target, infect and replicate within specific bacterial cells. Being harmless to humans, animals and plants, phages offer a natural, renewable way to remove unwanted bacteria.

Fixed Phage’s innovative technology allows phages to be used in treating bacterial infection across the food production and healthcare industries. Founded in 2010, the University of Strathclyde spinout has gone on to secure at least £30k in innovation grants and £8.51m worth of equity investment, across 18 rounds. Its investors include Barwell, London & Scottish Investment Partners, Scottish Enterprise and individual angel investors. Fixed Phage grew its turnover by 263% last year, from £101.7k in 2020 to £370k in 2021.

Founded in 2017 and based in Oxfordshire, Enesi Pharma develops vaccination products. Its ImplaVax technology allows needle-free vaccination delivery, so that vaccinations can be delivered with minimal training, helping to deploy treatments faster.

The company works with government agencies and academic institutions worldwide to improve global healthcare, focusing primarily on common and emerging infectious and inflammatory diseases. In 2020, Enesi Pharma collaborated with Imperial College London to develop thermostable RNA vaccines for use in the COVID-19 pandemic, aiming to eliminate the need to transport the vaccine at low temperatures throughout the supply chain.

Enesi Pharma has also secured £18.5m worth of equity funding so far, plus an additional £870k Innovate UK grant. It grew its turnover from £193k in 2020 to £674k in 2021—an increase of 249%.

Lovett Care provides nursing and care services and was founded in 2009. It owns and manages a portfolio of eight care facilities and provides a range of residential and day care options, including dementia, palliative, nursing and respite care. The Stoke-based company operates care homes in Staffordshire, Chesire and the North West.

Lovett announced its first equity funding round in March 2022, with US fund HIG Capital. The company has reported turnover growth of 242%, from £3.33m in 2020 to £11.4 in 2021.

CMR Surgical has developed Versius, a surgical robot to help improve surgical care. The unicorn company works with surgeons, surgical teams, healthcare professionals and hospitals to help make robotic surgery more accessible and affordable. Founded in 2014 and based in Cambridge, CMR Surgical saw 212% turnover growth last year, up from £7.6m in 2020 to £23.7m in 2021.

Having featured on the Start-Up 101 ranking back in 2017, the company has since been included on several other high-growth lists, including: 21toWatch, SyndicateRoom’s Top 100 of Britain’s Fastest Growing Businesses in consecutive years, BusinessCloud’s MedTech 50 and 100 HealthTech Pioneers. It has raised a total of £743m in equity investment, across nine fundraisings, the latest of which was a £425m round led by the Ally Bridge Group and SoftBank Vision Fund.

Wearable tech company NURVV was founded in London in 2015. It has developed smart insoles for running shoes, allowing users to measure and improve their running performance based on the impact of their feet. The insoles have 32 sensors, bringing data to users via their free coaching app, with the Financial Times commenting that it “eclipses all other running-analysis gadgets”.

NURVV’s technology also has healthcare applications, allowing medical professionals to remotely monitor walking movement patterns to support injury diagnosis and rehabilitation. The company has raised £6.93m in equity investment, via a single funding round with Hiro Capital. NURVV has seen their turnover increase by 196% between 2020 and 2021, growing from £131k to £388k.

Alloyed develops and manufactures alloy metals for use in the aerospace, defence and automotive sectors, as well as for electronic and medical devices. The company’s unique alloy design process allows it to provide clients with customised metal solutions for demanding use cases. It acquired London-based tech company Betatype in late 2019.

Spun-out of the University of Oxford in 2017, Alloyed has been awarded seven innovation grants so far, worth £1.57m in total. The company has raised a further £45.2m in equity funding, from four deals, including investment from Oxford Sciences Enterprises. Last year, Alloyed showed impressive growth, increasing its turnover by 187%, from £514k in 2020 to £1.48m in 2021.

Founded in 2018, Kyma Capital is a London-based investment firm. It focuses on secondary securities for private equity firms and corporations, such as investors buying stocks from other investors, rather than directly from a company floating on the stock market.

Kyma Capital’s Founder and Chief Investment Officer, Akshay Shah, was previously a Senior Managing Director at Blackstone. Headquartered in New York, the investment company operates in both leveraged buyouts and commercial real estate.

In total, Kyma Capital has raised £470k in investment, across three equity funding rounds. The company saw impressive turnover growth of 176% last year, increasing from £302k in 2020 to £835k in 2021.

Beauty Pie is an e-commerce business that sells skincare and makeup products directly to customers from the factories they’re made in. In doing so, the company is able to shorten supply chains and reduce the prices of its products.

Beauty Pie has developed a strong social media presence, and operates a subscription model in which users pay an annual fee to receive their heavily discounted prices. It was started by Marcia Kilgore, the founder of high-growth beauty company Soap & Glory and one of the world’s leading female entrepreneurs.

Across four equity fundraisings, Beauty Pie has raised a total of £126.4m, from venture capital funds such as Index Ventures, Balderton Capital and New York-based Insight Partners. In 2021, Beauty Pie achieved turnover of £39.8m, up 174% from 2020.

Rounding off our list of fastest-growing companies is Kinomica, a precision medicine research and diagnostics company. Founded in Cheshire in 2016, it has developed the KScan, which can predict how patients with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) will respond to a particular treatment drug called midostaurin. By predicting the drug’s effectiveness, Kinomica enables healthcare professionals to make better judgements on treatment plans for patients, with the potential to improve their outcomes.

Kinomica received a £472k Innovate UK grant in July 2019, and has secured two equity funding rounds, worth £4.4m in total. Investors include Longwall Ventures, Alderley Park Ventures and BGF. The company’s turnover has grown by an impressive 165% over the last year, from £171k in 2020 to £452k in 2021.

London-based proptech Nested operates an online estate agency, and aims to minimise the exchange time and number of offers that fall through during property transactions. Its real estate software guarantees to sell houses within a set time frame and provide cash advances before the sale’s completion. Nested aims to provide home sellers with more assurance and support throughout each stage of the sales process.

Nested was founded in December 2015, quickly securing its first funding round, just one month after its incorporation. The company has gone on to raise £174m in total equity investment, across eight deals. Investors include Balderton Capital, Northzone Ventures and Passion Capital. It was also named as one of LinkedIn’s top UK startups in 2018, and has attended the Future Fifty accelerator programme. Last year, Nested reported 122% turnover growth, from £306k in 2020 to £680k in 2021.

Interpolitan Money (recently rebranded from The Currency Account) provides an international banking platform for non-resident, private and corporate clients. Its platform offers banking services and processes financial transfers and payments in multiple currencies. Users can buy foreign currency, make international payments and transfer money abroad.

Founded in 2018, the London-based fintech company has raised £2.39m in equity investment so far, across five funding rounds. Last year, it saw its turnover grow from £899k in 2020 to £1.97m in 2021, an increase of 119%.

London-based Value Chain Lab (VCL) develops software to streamline the management of business supply chains. By using cutting-edge technologies, VCL’s platform assists management teams in decision-making and eliminating logistics waste. The fast-growing SaaS company acquired UK-based warehousing marketplace Stowga in November 2021, to further build out its on-demand logistics platform for global expansion.

VCL attended W2 Lab in 2019, an L Marks accelerator programme that’s focused on businesses developing innovative supply-chain solutions. In 2020, the company received an Innovate UK grant for a freight collaboration feasibility study, completed in collaboration with the University of Oxford and University of Cambridge. It has also secured five equity funding rounds, totalling £711k. VCL’s turnover grew by 110% between 2020 and 2021, from £144k to £304k.

London-based eHealth company Unmind has developed a B2B mental health platform, which provides clinically-backed wellness solutions in the workplace. The company’s app offers support, learning and development, assessments, and training tools, including exercises built specifically for stress, focus and sleep. It’s used by more than 2.5m employees at major organisations such as Uber, Virgin Media, Sainsbury’s, Gymshark and the NHS.

Unmind has raised £47.0m in equity investment so far, across five fundraisings. Its most recent funding round (its largest so far) was a £25.1m deal in May 2021, with the likes of Felix Capital, EQT Ventures and Project A Ventures. The company has been named in both the London Tech 50 and 100 HealthTech pioneers high-growth lists, and attended three accelerator programmes. Last year, the company grew its turnover by 109%, from £2.98m in 2020 to £6.21m in 2021.

Moneybox develops a mobile app that provides easy access to shares and savings ISAs. It helps users open a personal savings account, where they can then save and invest their spare change from everyday purchases, giving them the opportunity to outperform traditional current and savings accounts.

The London-based company was founded in 2015 and has since raised £95.4m in equity investment, across seven rounds. Its most recent fundraising was a £5.90m deal, in May 2022, facilitated by equity crowdfunding platform Crowdcube. Last year, Moneybox was named in both the Deloitte Fast 50 and LinkedIn Top Startups UK high-growth lists, and also attended Future Fifty in July. The company more than doubled its turnover last year, growing by 101%, from £2.51m in 2020 to £5.05m in 2021.