The Sunday Times & Virgin MB name UK's top 10 disruptive companies
Written by Isabelle de Grave
LendInvest has been named in the Disruptor 10, part of the Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track 100, which ranks Britain’s 100 private companies with the fastest-growing sales over their latest three years.
To select the Disruptor 10, Fast Track researched and identified some of the UK’s most disruptive private companies and worked with Virgin Media Business to select the best. The ten companies are recognised for having a business model, product or service that is creating a new market, or transforming existing markets and rapidly taking market share from competitors.
Peter Kelly, Managing Director, Virgin Media Business, said: “These disruptors are re-writing the business rule book. At the core of the disruptive forces in all these businesses are digital innovation and technology platforms. The success of these disruptors shows how digital has progressed in just one generation and is the now the backbone of successful companies who are taking market share away from companies who are less digitally focussed.”
The Virgin Media Business Disruptor 10 companies featured in this weekend’s supplement in The Sunday Times. The winner will be announced at an awards event in May. Here’s the full list of nominees:
The Top 10 Disruptors in the UK
| Company | Disruptive activities |
|---|---|
| AlphaSights Business information services | Connects experienced experts with companies that require their specialist knowledge, challenging the business models of established consultancies and changing top-level corporate decision-making |
| Blockchain Bitcoin wallet provider | Says its platform hosts 10m “Bitcoin wallets” and services 50% of the digital currency’s global transactions. Secured $31m (£25m) in 2014, which, at the time, was the largest first-round digital currency fundraising |
| BrewDog Brewery | Sells its craft beer in more than 60 countries. About 6,000 of its beer-loving investors attended the company’s annual meeting in Aberdeen in April and it has raised £30m from 53,000 “equity punks” |
| Crowdcube Crowdfunding platform | More than 10% of the UK’s public equity fundraisings were completed via this crowdsourcing platform in the first half of this year, including challenger bank Monzo, which raised £1m from 1,800 investors in 96 seconds |
| Ecotricity Green energy supplier | Says it was the world’s first green energy company and that its “electric highway” of 300 charging points at UK service stations is Europe’s largest. It is now pioneering carbon neutral gas production |
| LendInvest Online property finance lender | Its online finance platform is reinventing the £1.3 trillion mortgage market by cutting completion time to as little as seven days. Has taken a 10% share of the short-term mortgage market |
| Made.com Online furniture retailer | Raised £50m to develop its pioneering ecommerce model for designer furniture and, with almost 40% of its customers in Europe, it is now expanding its profitable UK business overseas |
| Notonthehighstreet.com Online retail marketplace | Has raised £33m to develop its ground-breaking online marketplace, which was launched in 2006 and is now used by more than 5,000 creative small businesses to sell their wares |
| PureGym Gym operator | With more than 800,000 contract-free members, it has taken a 37% share of the value gym sector in just eight years, with its innovative low-cost model and 24/7 gyms |
| TransferWise Currency transfer platform | Says its faster, more transparent currency exchange system handles more than £800m each month and saves customers £1m in fees every day. Valued at more than $1bn after raising $117m |