The Sunday Times has published its second annual league table of Britain’s fastest-growing companies in both software and hardware.
The tables rank private UK-headquartered tech companies on the growth in their annual revenues, measured over three years.
The 2026 Sunday Times 100 Tech is led by Abound, a lending FinTech company which just yesterday completed its latest acquisition to move into mortgages.
Founded in 2020 by Michelle He and Gerald Chappell, Abound uses AI to help borrowers bypass traditional lending through its technology-driven loans platform.
The company now employs 120 people and has a small office based in Bermondsey, London. Over the past three years, it has grown by an impressive 490% a year, generating £66.8 million in sales last year.
Fuse Energy is number one in the hardware category with a rate of annual sales growth that places it second fastest-growing overall.
The renewable energy company was founded by two former Revolut executives, Alan Chang and Charles Orr, who have led the business from start-up to unicorn status in just three years.
They have seen an impressive 484% annual growth in the last three years, with £129.7m sales in the last year.
Collectively the 100 companies on the list generated sales of £3.7 billion, up by £3 bn in the last three years. In total these companies employ 23,100 people, having created 11,600 new jobs in the last three years.
Out of the 100 companies featured in the ranking more than a half (57) are based in London, with the rest spread throughout the country. This includes 14 in the South East, 11 in the East of England, 5 in the North West, 4 in the South West of England, 4 in Northern Ireland, 3 in Scotland, one each in Wales and West Midlands.
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Nearly a fifth (16) of the businesses are founded or led by women. This includes Abound co-founder and chief operating officer He, as well as Clare Grey, co-founder and chief scientific officer of energy storage technology developer Nyobolt; Raj Kaur, co-founder and deputy global chief executive of bid writing software developer AutogenAI; and Thuria Wenbar, co-founder and chief executive of digital pharmacy Evaro.
Nearly three fifths (58) of the companies were founded in the last decade – in 2016 or after. Fuse Energy, No 1 company on the hardware list, is one of the youngest businesses on this year’s ranking, founded in 2022.
The oldest company on the list is Hampshire-based subsea technology developer Sonardyne. Started by engineer John Partridge, 86, in 1971, Sonardyne operates in a group alongside sister companies working in energy, environment and defence.
The majority (90+) of the companies have received external investment, raising a combined total of £11.3 billion (£3.8 billion for the software list, and £7.5 billion for the hardware list). The combined total is partly skewed by some companies that raised large amounts, including CityFibre, Netomnia, and Zenobē.
It also includes Synthesia, which is number 11 in the software category. It makes hyper-realistic AI-generated video for companies to use for marketing or employee training, and its ‘video agents’ can hold real-time video conversations with users. The business was valued at around $2.1 billion in January last year when it raised $180 million, bringing total external investment to over $330m.
Synthesia is one of nine unicorns included in the list – companies valued at more than $1bn by their investors, potential buyers, or based on a multiple of their profits – with others including energy supplier Fuse; DNA manufacturing firm Touchlight; medical devices and service firm Huma; and battery storage technology developer Zenobē.
Software companies
| Rank | Name | Activity | Location | Sales | Growth | Profit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Abound | Lending fintech | London | £66.8m | 490.24% | Y |
| 2 | Vertice | AI procurement platform | London | £27.0m | 437.37% | N |
| 3 | Oxbury Bank | Banking fintech | Chester | £112.5m | 399.21% | Y |
| 4 | BondAval | Credit insurance | London | £11.4m | 334.47% | N |
| 5 | Lindus Health | Clinical trials platform | London | £8.2m | 265.74% | N |
| 6 | OneDome | Property platform | London | £20.0m | 246.58% | Y |
| 7 | Hived | Tech-enabled courier | London | £8.2m | 221.97% | N |
| 8 | Carmoola | Digital car finance | London | £16.0m | 218.25% | N |
| 9 | LendingCrowd | Lending fintech | Edinburgh | £12.1m | 207.08% | Y |
| 10 | Scan.com | Medical imaging services | London | £40.7m | 200.47% | Y |
| 11 | Synthesia | AI video creator | London | £45.7m | 196.86% | N |
| 12 | PolyAI | AI voice assistants | London | £11.9m | 186.85% | N |
| 13 | Phlo | Digital pharmacy | Glasgow | £23.1m | 180.14% | N |
| 14 | Sessions | Food delivery platform | London | £13.8m | 177.04% | N |
| 15 | Payhawk | Spend management software | London | £20.6m | 150.85% | N |
| 16 | Chip | Investment and savings fintech | London | £23.8m | 148.00% | N |
| 17 | Creditspring | Lending fintech | London | £32.8m | 135.17% | Y |
| 18 | Connectd | Fractional working platform | London | £5.1m | 135.11% | N |
| 19 | Cleo AI | Personal finance fintech | London | £106.2m | 132.34% | Y |
| 20 | Lottie | Care home marketplace | London | £5.0m | 126.19% | Y |
| 21 | Moneybox | Personal finance fintech | London | £115.9m | 125.17% | Y |
| 22 | Peppy Health | Employee benefits platform | London | £10.4m | 124.15% | N |
| 23 | MiFinity | Payment services | Belfast | £21.5m | 124.14% | Y |
| 24 | 9fin | Corporate debt analytics | London | £14.7m | 117.75% | N |
| 25 | Zilch Technology | Lending fintech | London | £110.3m | 115.88% | N |
| 26 | Flagstone | Savings fintech | London | £55.3m | 111.25% | Y |
| 27 | Zinc | Employee screening | London | £11.2m | 110.83% | N |
| 28 | Juro | AI legal services | London | £7.0m | 110.17% | N |
| 29 | Evaro | Digital pharmacy | Norwich | £12.1m | 109.72% | Y |
| 30 | Envelop Risk | Cyber reinsurance | Bristol | £34.6m | 104.94% | Y |
| 31 | Zen Educate | Education staffing platform | London | £67.9m | 104.25% | N |
| 32 | ANNA Money | Business accountancy services | London | £19.2m | 100.99% | N |
| 33 | Hyperexponential | Insurance pricing software | London | £24.4m | 98.24% | N |
| 34 | TrueLayer | Payments fintech | London | £20.3m | 97.20% | N |
| 35 | Yoto | Children’s audio platform | London | £94.8m | 96.33% | N |
| 36 | Halo Service Solutions | Outsourced IT support | Suffolk | £74.3m | 96.22% | Y |
| 37 | Xelix | AI accounts software | London | £6.4m | 95.22% | Y |
| 38 | AutogenAI | Bid writing software | London/New York | £10.7m | 94.05% | N |
| 39 | iplicit | Business finance software | Bournemouth | £6.3m | 92.91% | N |
| 40 | Veremark | Employee screening | London | £5.0m | 92.04% | N |
| 41 | Vitesse | Treasury and payment insurtech | London | £32.9m | 89.74% | N |
| 42 | HeliosX | Digital pharmacy | London | £178.4m | 88.36% | N |
| 43 | Stream | Employee benefits fintech | London | £36.9m | 87.23% | N |
| 44 | Monavate | Payments platform | Cambridge | £39.0m† | 86.18% | N |
| 45 | Content Ignite | Advertising technology | Bournemouth | £8.7m | 84.87% | Y |
| 46 | Tandem | Banking fintech | Blackpool | £87.5m | 84.70% | Y |
| 47 | Yoti | Digital ID provider | London | £20.3m | 83.79% | N |
| 48 | Gravitee | Software API manager | London/Denver | £11.1m | 82.16% | N |
| 49 | Sokin | Payments platform | London | £16.8m | 81.04% | Y |
| 50 | Reincubate | AI video enhancement | London | £6.8m | 80.47% | Y |
Hardware companies
| Rank | Name | Activity | Location | Sales | Growth | Profit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fuse Energy | Energy supplier | London | £129.7m | 484.09% | N |
| 2 | E1 | Electric raceboat developer | London | £25.9m | 470.15% | N |
| 3 | Netomnia | Fibre broadband provider | Tewkesbury | £38.7m | 352.78% | N |
| 4 | MAGIC AI | AI personal trainer | London | £10.7m | 342.16% | N |
| 5 | Autifony Therapeutics | Nervous system disorder drugs | Stevenage | £19.3m | 200.34% | Y |
| 6 | Biomodal | Disease detection | Cambridge | £6.9m | 189.71% | N |
| 7 | Quell Therapeutics | Cell therapy immunology | London | £43.8m | 173.74% | N |
| 8 | bit.bio | Human cell-based drugs | Cambridge | £6.9m | 172.91% | N |
| 9 | toob | Fibre broadband provider | Portsmouth | £14.0m | 169.89% | N |
| 10 | Osprey Charging | EV charging network | London | £18.8m | 158.22% | N |
| 11 | PQShield | Quantum cryptography | Oxford | £5.0m | 135.06% | Y |
| 12 | Reacta Healthcare | Food allergy diagnostics | Deeside | £7.3m | 117.05% | Y |
| 13 | Fibrus | Fibre broadband provider | Belfast | £29.5m | 116.05% | N |
| 14 | Open Cosmos | Satellite developer | Oxfordshire | £29.7m | 110.04% | Y |
| 15 | Cerca Magnetics | Wearable brain scanners | Kent | £6.4m | 106.98% | Y |
| 16 | InstaVolt | EV charging network | Basingstoke | £50.0m | 105.39% | N |
| 17 | Nyobolt | Energy storage technology | Cambridge | £7.5m | 102.54% | N |
| 18 | Community Fibre | Fibre broadband provider | London | £76.0m | 101.93% | N |
| 19 | XYZ Reality | Construction augmented reality | London | £7.1m | 89.01% | N |
| 20 | Carbon Clean | Carbon capture technology | London | £18.1m | 86.35% | N |
| 21 | Connected Kerb | EV charging network | London | £15.0m | 82.76% | N |
| 22 | Cycle Pharmaceuticals | Pharmaceuticals developer | Cambridge | £104.5m | 80.21% | Y |
| 23 | floLIVE | Connected devices technology | London | £12.3m | 79.20% | N |
| 24 | Touchlight | DNA manufacturing | London | £16.6m | 78.35% | N |
| 25 | Huma | Medical devices & services | London | £30.1m | 78.28% | N |
| 26 | Zenobē | Battery storage and EV fleets | London | £96.8m | 68.51% | N |
| 27 | Catagen | Catalyst testing | Belfast | £8.5m | 65.82% | Y |
| 28 | System Loco | Supply chain sensors | Lancaster | £14.9m | 63.98% | N |
| 29 | Inventus | Clinical trials devices | London | £14.7m | 62.76% | Y |
| 30 | Genomics | Genetic sequencing | Oxford | £11.1m | 59.28% | N |
| 31 | ITS | Fibre infrastructure provider | Warrington | £34.5m | 54.74% | N |
| 32 | Giraffe360 | Real estate visual technology | London | £9.3m | 53.67% | N |
| 33 | Alloyed | Metal alloy technology | Oxford | £16.2m | 53.19% | N |
| 34 | LIO | Digital health | Oxfordshire | £7.6m | 48.61% | N |
| 35 | Oxford BioTherapeutics | Cancer immunotherapies | Oxford | £20.7m | 46.38% | Y |
| 36 | Perspectum | Medical imaging & diagnostics | Oxford | £26.5m | 46.25% | N |
| 37 | Kigen | Connected devices security | Cambridge | £21.8m | 45.73% | N |
| 38 | C4X Discovery | Drug molecule visualisation | Manchester | £17.5m† | 45.71% | Y |
| 39 | Refeyn | Mass photometry | Oxford | £29.0m† | 39.68% | N |
| 40 | Redtail Telematics | Vehicle telematics and tracking | Essex | £11.4m | 37.71% | Y |
| 41 | VoCoVo | Wireless retail comms | Oxfordshire | £40.7m | 36.37% | Y |
| 42 | Skyrora | Space launch services | Glasgow | £36.1m | 33.25% | Y |
| 43 | Camlin Group | Infrastructure sensor technologies | Lisburn | £88.2m | 32.30% | Y |
| 44 | Verne | Data centre provider | London | £134.1m | 30.46% | Y |
| 45 | Sonardyne | Subsea technology maker | Hampshire | £122.3m | 29.89% | Y |
| 46 | Biocomposites | Medical devices | Staffordshire | £141.1m | 29.04% | Y |
| 47 | ALL.SPACE | Satellite comms devices | Reading | £13.1m | 28.31% | N |
| 48 | CityFibre | Fibre broadband provider | London | £133.5m | 27.82% | N |
| 49 | Vision RT | Radiation therapy | London | £108.3m | 26.37% | Y |
| 50 | Meteor Communications | Environmental monitoring systems | St Albans | £7.6m | 22.63% | Y |
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