Martin Bryant, February 22, 2017 2 min read
Tech City UK’s Future Fifty is all about showcasing and supporting some of the country’s leading growth-stage tech companies.
Today, two Northern companies have joined the Future Fifty – Manchester’s Interact and Crewe-based telematics group Trak Global. They join existing Northern programme members The Floow and Performance Horizon.
Future Fifty members get access to a peer network, and expert-led classes and workshops. That’s not to mention the raised profile from being involved. Since the programme launched in 2014, five members have listed on the London Stock Exchange, raising a total of $1.5 billion in IPOs. There have been 17 mergers and acquisitions. Over $3.8 billion has been raised in funding across the 77 companies, including more than $1.5 billion in 2016. The companies have created 27,000 jobs around the world.
In short, these companies are a big deal, so it’s great to see more Northerners represented in the list.
For intranet software firm Interact, the Future Fifty is all about increased visibility and a bigger network in the UK at a time when the company’s American business is growing fast. Interact employs more than 100 people, most of whom are based in Altrincham, the same Greater Manchester town in which it was founded in a bedroom 21 years ago.
Interact has no IPO plans right now, but it is enjoying rapid organic growth, particularly in the US. The company’s SVP of Global Sales, Scott Hitchens says that its in-depth hands-on work with clients to tweak the design and structure of their intranets helps set it apart from rivals like Microsoft Sharepoint.
US growth is key for Interact but Hitchens says Future Fifty membership will help the company’s profile at home. This is especially important for recruitment in a competitive market.
Future Fifty alumni include household names like Just Eat and Zoopla. Take a look through the full 2017 Future Fifty list, and you might just spot some household names of the future.
