Since 2014, the annual Northern Tech Awards have highlighted the leading technology businesses based in the North of England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Organised by GP Bullhound, the Awards celebrate the innovative technologies and businesses developed in the region and recognise those who contribute to their success.
The Northern Tech Awards Top 100 League Table acknowledges the 100 fastest-growing technology companies in the region. The ranking is based on revenue growth over the past three years.
From the list of ‘Fastest Growing Technology Companies,’ ten companies are selected by a judging panel composed of investors and industry experts to compete for the special Judges’ Awards.
Entry to the Northern Tech Awards is free. To qualify for inclusion in the Top 100, companies must demonstrate at least three years of revenue growth and achieve a minimum revenue of £500,000 in 2022. The Northern Stars Awards recognise the innovation and achievements of tech businesses with revenues below this threshold.
The Event
The CEOs of the Top 100 companies and the Top 10 Northern Stars are invited to celebrate and receive their awards at the Northern Tech Awards ceremony on Thursday 24 April in Liverpool.
The 2025 Northern Tech Awards are proudly sponsored by HSBC Innovation Banking, Apprentify, Cazenove Capital, Squire Patton Boggs, Inflexion, Bruntwood SciTech, London Stock Exchange, and YFM Equity Partners.
This invitation-only event is attended by CEOs, entrepreneurs, and business leaders in the digital economy, providing an excellent networking opportunity for like-minded individuals to connect and share ideas. The event is free of charge and operates as a not-for-profit initiative, funded by GP Bullhound and a select group of sponsors dedicated to supporting entrepreneurship across the North.
The Awards Ceremony
The winners will have the chance to network with their peers and present their work to the judges, some of whom have successfully built and sold their own technology firms.
Each year the Award Ceremony is held in a different city. Recent awards have been held in Manchester (2014, 2019, 2022 and 2024), Leeds (2015 and 2021), Liverpool (2016), Newcastle (2017) and Edinburgh (2018 and 2023). The 2025 Northern Tech Awards will be held in Liverpool, as it continues to showcase tech innovation in northern cities.
2025 Top 100 Award Categories
2025 Northern Stars Award categories
Criteria to enter the Northern Tech Awards 2025
In order to be eligible for the Top 100, companies must display revenue growth over the last 3 years, and have generated at least £500k in revenue in 2022.
Companies with revenues below this threshold of £500k are eligible to compete for the NORTHERN STARS AWARDS, showcasing early-stage tech companies to watch in the North of the UK.
For an entry to be valid, please submit your scanned audited accounts/management accounts or a P&L which has been certified by one of your directors, before the entry deadline.
If your financial year is not aligned with the calendar year, you need to state the period your financial year covers. Revenue figures should be the company’s audited revenue figures where possible, or management accounts where applicable.
Only company growth rates will be disclosed in the literature, not underlying figures.
Only one entry form is to be completed for all the Award categories. (The Top 100 Fastest Growing Technology Companies are selected and ranked by revenue growth over the last three years.)
Entries are open from 15 January 2025 to 19 March 2025.
Headline Sponsor
HSBC Innovation Banking provides commercial banking services, expertise and insights to the technology, life science and healthcare, private equity and venture capital industries.
HSBC Innovation Banking UK is a subsidiary of HSBC Group, benefiting from its stability, strong credit rating and international reach to help fuel its growth.
Premium Sponsors
At Apprentify, we pride ourselves on our Digital and Technical apprenticeship offerings. We have a unique approach to finding, recruiting, and training the best apprenticeship talent from start to finish. We have taken our time to develop specialist programmes to advance careers and develop teams.
Not only do we offer apprenticeships, but we also have a variety of short courses ranging from coding and data analytics, all the way to Leadership Training. www.apprentify.com
Cazenove Capital is the wealth management arm of Schroders in the UK, and has been helping individuals, families and charities meet their objectives for many years.
As a long-established wealth manager with an absolute focus on preserving and growing our clients’ wealth, what matters most to our clients, matters most to us. We offer our clients one expert team to serve their needs over many years, from wealth planning, to portfolio management, to banking. Our experience of navigating complex markets and adapting to change helps us balance risk and reward. We believe the scale of our investment resource, combined with the disciplines of a FTSE 100 company and the ethos of a family business, make us unique within the wealth management industry. Just as every client is unique, so is the service we build around them.
Your wealth. Your way.
Ready to support you – wherever law, business and government interact Squire Patton Boggs is a full-service global law firm. We provide insight at the point where law, business and government meet, giving you a voice, supporting your ambitions and achieving successful outcomes.
Inflexion’s flexible approach allows it to back both majority and minority investments, typically investing £10m to £400m of equity in each deal.
Funds advised by Inflexion Private Equity Partners LLP have funds under management of c. £7.1bn.
Awards Sponsors
Bruntwood SciTech is the UK’s leading provider of office, lab and scientific services for the science and technology sector. A 50:50 joint venture between Bruntwood and Legal & General, our network of innovation districts connects the UK’s most ambitious cities, regions and science and technology communities through collaboration and a unique public, private, academic, clinical partner network.
Businesses at every stage of their growth journey need access to capital in order to grow and succeed. The London Stock Exchange, in partnership with Floww, is helping to bridge traditional funding gaps by meeting the capital needs and ambitions of all businesses – from early-stage to scale-ups and beyond.
As largest and most active stock exchange in Europe, in the last three years the exchange has helped British and international businesses to raise approximately £82 billion.
25 of the 194 companies which listed on the London Stock Exchange over the last three years are from the North and we are proud to continue to work with our fellow partners in helping Northern Tech companies aim higher and achieve sustainable growth.
Celebrating our 40th year of investing experience, we seek to unlock value and growth potential by providing up to £10 million to fuel the development of scale-up businesses throughout the UK regions. We do this by helping our portfolio companies grow sales and marketing, invest in the product roadmap, launch new initiatives, expand into new markets, and upgrade technologies and systems.
In partnership with management teams we create long-term shareholder value whilst targeting a positive environmental and economic impact on the communities in which we work.
Northern Tech Awards Judges 2025
Serial Entrepreneur
Serial entrepreneur, three-time founder and public board member. Presently Operating Partner at Exponent PE, Chair of GoCity and a NED at Flutter PLC. Formerly in Executive roles at Carlsberg Group until May 2021, where she was also Chief Digital Officer.”
Managing Director, HSBC Innovation Banking
Richard Faulkner is a managing director with HSBC Innovation Banking, where he is responsible for growth in the north of England and Scotland. Richard has more than 15 years of experience in technology banking, and he supports clients that include Matillion, Darktrace plc and Castore. Richard is committed to supporting HSBC Innovation Banking’s growth in the vibrant innovation sector and entrepreneurs leading high-growth, disruptive technology businesses.
CEO, Apprentify Group
Jonathan Fitchew is a serial entrepreneur and angel investor with over 30 years of experience in the training and education sector. He is the founder and former CEO of Pareto Law, the UK’s largest sales training and recruitment company, which he grew from a start-up to a £30 million turnover business. He is also a founder shareholder of Venn Digital, a digital marketing agency, and Next Connex, a cloud hosting provider.
Currently, Jonathan is the group CEO of Apprentify Group, a leading training provider that offers apprenticeships and bootcamps in digital and sales skills. He joined the group in 2022 as executive chairman and became CEO in 2022. He is passionate about supporting future talent and helping businesses grow through learning and development. He is also involved in various charitable causes, such as raising funds for cancer research and supporting local communities.
Serial Investor
He is also a Non Executive Director of Ladbible Group plc and Flutter Entertainment plc, and an angel investor in a number of other start up and scale ups.
Richard was Chief Executive of Leeds based Sky Betting and Gaming from 2006 to 2018, during which time he grew the company from around 100 employees to over 1700. He led the company through its £800m spin out from Sky, and then on to its acquisition by The Stars Group for £3.4bn last year, before The Stars Group was in turn acquired by Flutter Entertainment plc.
Richard was Glassdoors Chief Executive of the Year for 2018. He holds an Engineering Degree from Oxford and a Masters in Public Policy from Harvard University.
Co-founder, MPP Global
Paul is the co-founder of MPP Global and was CEO for 20 years until its acquisition by AIM-listed Aptitude Software in October 2021. MPP Global is the award-winning international provider of the cloud-based subscription management and billing SaaS platform, eSuite. Paul led the business from cradle to sale; including its angel funding and bootstrapped early growth phase, various strategy pivots, a series B fundraise and international expansion before its recent trade sale.
At exit, MPP Global had grown to over 100 employees plus offshore development teams and £9m ARR. As CEO, Paul became an all-rounder with an entrepreneurial spirit and a strong background in all areas of growing an international software company, including finance and metrics, sales, marketing, product and software engineering. Paul continues to work with passionate and entrepreneurial founders of exciting and high growth SaaS, Software and Fintech companies.
Head of Investments, University of Strathclyde
Dr Poonam Malik is an entrepreneurial business strategist, Life Sciences leader and an investor in Innovation. Dr Malik is Head of Investments at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow – accountable for strategic leadership of University’s enhanced Investment ambition into new ventures and its portfolio of start-ups, spinouts and spinin companies.
A GlobalScot, Poonam, is a Scottish Enterprise (SE) Board member and is also the Sustainability, NetZero, Climate Transformation and equitable opportunities Champion on the SE board. She is Chairperson and Co-Founder, Board Director of Microplate Dx Ltd, a multi-award winning MedTech Company. Poonam brings 25+ years expertise from technology, enterprise, research & innovation, governance, health industry and business sectors, globally.
Dr Malik was recently appointed Co-Chair, by Scottish Government, to lead on First Minister’s ‘New Deal for Business Group (NDBG)’ representing business and industry- co-sharing the role with the ScotGov, Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy.
Poonam is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) and the Royal Society of Biology (FRSB). She sits on many National Committees, advises policymakers and is recipient of several awards. She holds a PhD in Biomedical Sciences/Virology from the University of Glasgow, UK, an MBA (with Distinction) in ‘Strategy and Leadership’ from the University of Edinburgh Business School, a Masters (MSc) degree in Biotechnology and a Bachelors (BSc) in Chemistry & Zoology from India.
Portfolio Director – North, Cazenove Capital
With over 30 years of experience in financial services, Simon has been helping high-net-worth and ultra-high net-worth families to achieve their long-term financial objectives for many years. He continues to do so in his current role as Portfolio Director at Cazenove Capital, and Heads up the offices across the Northern regions.
He joined Cazenove Capital from UBS where he was the Regional Head for North West of England. Before that Simon spent most of his working life at Lloyds Banking Group in a range of wealth management roles. He is a member of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investments (CISI).
Executive Director, Turing Innovation Catalyst
Liz is a long time tech ecosystem supporter, advisor and advocate. She has supported businesses large and small, nationally and internationally to grow, innovate and evolve for over 20 years. As Executive Director at the newly established Turing Innovation Catalyst Manchester (TIC), Liz is focused on building a new not for profit that will catalyse an AI ecosystem across Greater Manchester, and will use AI to grow careers, businesses and the city economy. Over the next 2 years TIC will be delivering AI accelerators, Venture Builders, Skills programmes as well as a whole host of events and activities to drive the AI ecosystem forward.
Prior to TIC Liz was part of the Executive Board at Tech Nation, responsible for supporting a National Community of 4500+ scaleups; delivery of international programmes; the Global Tech Talent Visa programme; all non-grant revenue; and strategic partnerships. In her Non-Exec Director and Advisory board roles Liz works with a number of tech sector focused organisations.
Partner and Head of Inflexion’s Manchester Office
Chris is a Partner and Head of Inflexion’s Manchester Office where he is responsible for originating, evaluating and managing majority and minority investments, principally across the North of England. Chris led the investments in CMSPI and Detectortesters. He sits on the boards of CMSPI, Detectortesters and Granite.
Chris has fifteen years of experience in working with businesses across the North at board level, assisting in strategic development, acquisitions, international growth and managing successful exits to both trade and private equity
He is a Chartered Accountant having trained at KPMG and has a degree in Economics from Manchester University.
Northern Stars Judges 2025
Partner, Squire Patton Boggs
Mae Salem is a partner in the Corporate Practice Group in Leeds. Mae has experience in private acquisitions and disposals, private equity investments, corporate restructuring and generally advising clients in a corporate setting.
Associate, GP Bullhound
Joe is an Associate at GP Bullhound. Post joining in 2022, he has worked on a range of buy-side and sell-side transactions, whilst actively working in the Northern tech ecosystem to help earlier stage start-ups and entrepreneurs.
Joe is a Chartered Accountant and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England & Wales, having previously worked at BDO LLP & Mazars LLP in both audit and corporate finance practices, respectively.
Associate, GP Bullhound
Evgeny serves as an Associate at GP Bullhound. Over the span of his tenure, Evgeny successfully executed global M&A and Fundraising transactions valued at over £1bn.
Prior to joining GP Bullhound, Evgeny was a successful entrepreneur in retail & hospitality sectors.
Evgeny holds an MSc in Analytics and Decision Sciences from the University of Leeds.
Ada, the National College of Digital Skills’ mission is to educate and empower the next generation of diverse digital talent.
We are delighted to be the chosen charity for this year’s Northern Tech Awards. Your support will help us further our mission to connect young people in the North West with opportunities in the tech sector in Manchester.
The digital industry is experiencing epic growth but there is a talent shortage. Over 130,000 tech jobs are available each year in the UK but students are leaving education without sufficient knowledge and experience to get the job. We want to change this.
FUTURE GAME CHANGERS
With Ada, young people can learn relevant digital skills to pursue their dream job in tech. We are a unique community which puts computer programming at the heart of everything we do. Our learners are the future game changers: challenging the norm, excited by change, and resilient in the face of adversity.
We want to remove the glass ceiling for women and individuals from low-income backgrounds in the tech industry. Everyone, from any background, is entitled to a quality education and a better future.
Please watch our short film and hear what our learners have to say about Ada:
Ada’s achievement rates far exceed national averages for apprentices from underrepresented groups:
Industry Partners
Our strong industry connections bridge the gap between education and the real world. We are working closely with local, national and international industry partners rooted in the region, and are currently inviting new employers to work with us at the forefront of digital skills development in the region.
Apprenticeships in Manchester
Our first cohort of apprentices in the region started their training in February 2021. In the three years since we launched Ada Manchester, our reputation for delivering high quality tech training, and for unlocking competitive career opportunities, has grown – with the number of apprentices studying with us increasing annually.
In January 2024 we moved into a new home: Ada Manchester is now in Ancoats and our new site has space for up to 1,000 learners a year, with a wide range of multi-purpose spaces for teaching, showcasing collaborative work, practical hardware labs and quiet study. This expansion provides a significant and quick return to the local and national economy – as well as a pool of skilled staff to the region’s employers.
Our apprentices thrive in an open and inclusive culture at Ada and graduate with some of the best tech degree apprenticeship results in the country. Over the past 3 years, 79% of apprentices have received a 2:1 or 1st class degree and 91% have received a BSc (Hons) degree. This is achieved through Ada’s commitment to a high-quality learning journey and outstanding pastoral support through our experienced team of Technical Skills Coaches
Please get in touch to find out more or to see how you can support Ada: katy@ada.ac.uk
2024 Northern Tech Awards Winners Announced
We are delighted to announce the winners of the 2024 Northern Tech Awards, held last night at Manchester Cathedral.
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 showcased earlier-stage companies considered to have the most potential to be tech successes in the coming years.
Last year’s award ceremony was held on 25 April 2024 in Manchester, UK.
2024 Northern Tech Awards Winners
GP Bullhound will reveal the 2025 Northern Tech Awards Shortlist in April, recognising the fastest-growing technology companies & Northern Stars in the North of the UK.
Press Coverage
2024
2023