Wonde top of the class in Deloitte Fast 50 East Anglia rankings

Newmarket-based thoroughbred business Wonde is the East Anglian/South East region winner in Deloitte’s 2021 UK Technology Fast 50 awards. Wonde, a platform that provides tools to manage school data, was also fifth overall with a three-year growth rate of 10,792 per cent.

ClearBank, the payment and banking services provider, topped the UK rankings. The London-based FinTech company reported an average three-year growth of 21,569 per cent to the year 2020/21. 

It employs 350 people and delivers real-time payment and digital banking services, marketing itself as the first new full-service clearing bank for 250 years.

Fast 50 companies generated a combined revenue of £2.92 billion in 2020/21, an increase of 33 per cent from last year’s total of £2.2bn, and employ 19,320 people with an average revenue growth of 3,337 per cent over a three-year period.

The awards recognise and rank the 50 fastest-growing technology companies in the UK based on average revenue growth over a three-year period and are sponsored by Barclays and Oracle NetSuite.

In second place nationally is Airtime Rewards, a North West-based consumer spending tracker service with a growth rate of 16,907 per cent. Payment processing service, Paysend, ranks in third place with an overall revenue growth rate of 14,498 per cent.

Duncan Down, lead partner for the Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50 programme, said: “The extraordinary growth of this year’s Fast 50 represents the remarkable tenacity of the UK’s technology industry. 

“The country’s 50 fastest-growing technology companies in 2020/21 have achieved combined revenues of nearly £3 billion, an increase of 33 per cent from last year’s total of £2.2bn, showing the clear contribution that innovation is making to the UK’s economic recovery.

“At any time, ClearBank’s three-year growth rate of 21,569 per cent would be impressive, but remarkably they have achieved this during a period of change and economic uncertainty. 

“Deloitte’s 2021 Fast 50 awards are a clear demonstration of the wealth of talent, creativity, and entrepreneurship in the UK’s technology industry today. I would like to personally congratulate all the winners and entrants for this year’s awards.”

Asked about the main drivers for growth, 46 per cent of this year’s Fast 50 business leaders cited the development of new products or services that did not exist before as the main driver of revenue growth.

“For 27 per cent of the Fast 50, improving versions of existing products or services in the market has been the main revenue driver,” Down added.

“The challenges posed by the pandemic have been a driver for innovation as businesses have been forced into creating and adapting to new technologies and ways of working. Technology innovation is pulling the UK’s economy up by its bootstraps.”