Hosted by international tech journalist Edie Lush, this eighth edition of the Northern Tech Awards ceremony gathered close to 300 CEOs, entrepreneurs and business leaders in the digital economy to celebrate and showcase the leading tech businesses in the North of England and Scotland.
The Top 100 Northern Tech Awards league table revealed the ranking of the fastest growing and most successful tech companies in the region, and the Northern Stars awards showcases earlier stage companies which are considered to have the most potential to be tech successes in the coming years.
Hugh Campbell, Managing Partner and Co-founder of GP Bullhound, commented: “It’s no secret that the Northern tech sector is a true powerhouse in starting and scaling world-class businesses. Entrepreneurship, ambition and innovation are driving growth across the region, and have helped to create a unique ecosystem — one that we are celebrating with tonight’s awards. It’s exciting to be championing so many impressive companies on their growth journey.”
The full list of the 2021 Northern Tech Awards winners:
1. Fastest Growing Company of the Year: Double Eleven
This is what they say about winning the competition:
We are honoured to count ourselves among the best companies to work for in the industry, this is huge recognition for us. Of all the awards out there, this is probably the single most important one to us and resonates with the main reason we started the company originally: to create an awesome place to work where employees could have a healthy work-life balance, an environment that allows them to spend time with their families and friends and thrive both in and out of the office.
The past 18 months or so have been challenging for everyone in both a professional and personal capacity. Our company has not only grown tremendously in this time, but everyone has been working from home which was definitely not the norm for most before March 2020. Despite the challenges that recent times have presented to us, everyone on the team has worked incredibly well and we’re so proud of each and every one of them for the resilience, patience and passion they’ve demonstrated throughout. Around 75% of the score for this award comes from anonymous employee feedback and given the physical distance and the fact that a lot of teams haven’t met many of the people they’re working with in person, you can never be sure whether the environment you work hard to create and maintain as a company carries over on digital platforms as well as it would have in the office. It’s great to know we’re still on the right path for our company and whilst the recognition is fantastic, we know that the work to grow this will carry on; it’s like a living being that needs to be nurtured to thrive.
We can’t wait to celebrate with everyone in person when it’s safe to do so and we’re excited to continue making Double Eleven a fantastic place to work!
2. Fastest Growing Larger Company of the Year: QBS Technology Group
This is what they say about winning the competition:
While the team were collecting gongs at the Lloyds Bank Business Excellence Awards in London on Tuesday night, it turns out that QBS chief Dave Stevinson had another dog in this fight.
Dave Stevinson, CEO of QBS Software, has been on a trip to the Armouries in Leeds on 9 November, where QBS Technology Group picked up two more prizes at the prestigious Northern Tech Awards.
“QBS have been recognised as the Number One fastest growing larger company in the Northern Tech Awards. We were also ranked as the second fastest growing tech company,” he said.
The competition was organised by investment partners and tech finance specialists GP Bullhound — with trophies [pictured, below] commemorative of the animal known as “man’s best friend”.
“What an amazing trophy!” Stevinson said.
Hugh Campbell, managing partner and co-founder of GP Bullhound, said it was exciting to champion so many impressive companies on their growth journey.
“It’s no secret that the Northern tech sector is a true powerhouse in starting and scaling world-class businesses. Entrepreneurship, ambition and innovation are driving growth across the region, and have helped to create a unique ecosystem — one that we are celebrating with tonight’s awards,” he said in the official announcement.
The Northern Tech Awards ranks the fastest growing and most successful tech companies in the North of England, Scotland and Ireland, as well as recognising earlier-stage companies with the most potential to become tech successes.
3. Judges’ Innovation Award: Connex One
Connex One Omnichannel Customer Engagement Platform successfully handles over 15,000,000 of the world’s best customer service interactions per day. We deliver an increase in productivity, sales and customer satisfaction as standard.
Onboarding omnichannel will ripple positivity throughout your company. It will reshape the day to day dealings of your business and benefit everything from your team’s productivity, to your bottom line. The Connex One system is a powerful tool that will give you a deeper insight into your customers than ever before, enabling your teams to give a better service and increase your customer satisfaction.
- Judges’ Award for International Success: Crisp
- Judges’ Leadership Award: Peak
- Tech4Good Award: Twinkl
- Judges’ Entrepreneur Award: Matt Scullion, Founder & CEO of Matillion
- Judges’ Young Entrepreneur Award: David Chamberlain, Jamie Garside & Joey Xoto, Co-founders of Viddyoze
- Overall Judges’ Award: Matillion
- Northern Star Innovation Award: Flawless AI
- Northern Star Award for potential International Success: XR Games
- Northern Star Leadership Award: Culture Shift
- Northern Star Overall Judges’ Award: Modern Milkman
View the Top 100 league table ranking and the photo gallery of the evening here.
A huge thank you to our panel of judges, who have dedicated their time to debating the shortlists and selecting the winners, and to our sponsors — Barclays, ECI, Squire Patton Boggs, Mobica, OBI Property, Pareto Law, Page White & Farrer, Aquiline Partners, Berenberg, Bruntwood SciTech, FJR Group, Inflexion, Intechnica and London Stock Exchange — for helping us make this event possible.
The Northern Tech Awards are proud to support ADA, the National College of Digital Skills in its mission is to educate and empower the next generation of diverse digital talent. For more information or to make a donation, please visit https://www.ada.ac.uk/
Enquiries
Further information can be found at www.northerntechawards.com
For any enquiries or sponsorship requests, please contact northerntechawards@gpbullhound.com
About GP Bullhound
GP Bullhound is a leading technology advisory and investment firm, providing transaction advice and capital to the world’s best entrepreneurs and founders. Founded in 1999 in London and Menlo Park, the firm today has 10 offices spanning Europe, the US and Asia. For more information, please visit www.gpbullhound.com
