Meet the UK's fastest-growing channel firms
The latest Sunday Times Tech Track report features a host of MSPs, cybersecurity consultancies, IT services firms and born-in-the-cloud providers that have gone from zero to revenues of £10m or more in just a few years
Cloud and cybersecurity consultancies, managed services providers (MSPs) and IT services providers have featured prominently in an annual Sunday Times list of the UK's fastest-growing private tech companies.
Cloud services provider UKCloud and Roc Technologies, an IT services provider run by four former 2e2 executives, finished one and two in the Sunday Times Hiscox Tech Track 100, which ranks privately held UK firms with sales of over £5m based on their growth over the past three years.
The research, carried out by Fast Track, features a number of IT suppliers founded in the past five years, some of which are now turning over tens of millions of pounds annually. Interestingly, "pure computer resellers" were among the categories of firms barred from inclusion.
Here are some edited highlights:
UKCloud
Founded 2011
Revenues: £32.1m
Despite having been founded as recently as 2011, UKCloud...
Meet the UK's fastest-growing channel firms
The latest Sunday Times Tech Track report features a host of MSPs, cybersecurity consultancies, IT services firms and born-in-the-cloud providers that have gone from zero to revenues of £10m or more in just a few years
UKCloud
Founded: 2011
Revenues: £32.1m
Despite having been founded just five years ago, UKCloud turned over £32.1m in its year to March 2016. The Farnborough-based public sector cloud specialist - which was recently forced to rebrand from Skyscape - topped the league table courtesy of its average sales growth of 262 per cent over the past three years.
Roc Technologies
Founded 2011
Revenues: £15.8m
Run by four former 2e2 employees, including its founder Steve Shirley, Roc Technologies ranked second in the league table having grown sales 221 per cent over the past three years. The Newbury-based firm, whose clients include Tesco and BAE, recently told CRN it has ambitious plans to break the £50m revenue barrier in the next three years.
6Point6
Founded: 2011
Revenues: £7.2m
Central London-based 6Point6 was one of a number of cybersecurity consultancies to feature in the league table. It turned over £7.2m in its year to February 2016 on the back of an average growth rate of 145 per cent over the past three years. Fellow IT security provider ECS Security also featured on the list, ranking at number 40, after growing sales by an average of 86 per cent to £12.2m.
CloudReach
Founded: 2009
Revenues: £47.7m
Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Salesforce partner CloudReach ranked 23rd in the table courtesy of average growth of 112 per cent over the past three years (co-founder Pontus Noren is pictured, right). One of its claims to fame is working with the Met Office to develop the infrastructure for its Weather Cloud platform. Manchester-based Cloud Technology Solutions, which claims to have moved 12,000 companies to Google Apps, was another born-in-the-cloud outfit to feature in the table, ranking 52nd after growing sales by an average of 72 per cent to £8.6m.
Digitavia
Founded: 2012
Revenues £7.3m
This fast-growing audiovisual integrator doubled...
Meet the UK's fastest-growing channel firms
The latest Sunday Times Tech Track report features a host of MSPs, cybersecurity consultancies, IT services firms and born-in-the-cloud providers that have gone from zero to revenues of £10m or more in just a few years
Digitavia
Founded: 2012
Revenues £7.3m
This fast-growing audiovisual integrator doubled sales in its year to August 2015 to £7.3m. The youthful Surrey-based outfit, which ranked 31st in the league table, counts eBay and PayPal among its customers.
Ideal Networks
Founded: 2009
Revenues: £9.3m
Cisco, Palo Alto and NetApp partner Ideal Networks ranked 47th in the league table on the back of 78 per cent growth over the past three years. The Brighton-based firm provides IT infrastructure services to enterprises including P&O Ferries and Ikea.
Managed 24/7
Founded: 2009
Revenues: £6.3m
Having sold his previous Cisco reseller, Minx, to Insight Enterprises, John Pepper (pictured, left) founded managed services provider Managed 24/7 in 2009. The Milton Keynes-based outfit, which has grown sales by an average of 77 per cent over the three years, placing it 48th in the rankings, is one of a number of MSPs to appear in the league table.
Littlefish IT, a Nottingham-based MSP with sales of £5.2m, ranked 97th on the back of 45 per cent average growth over the last three years. Meanwhile, London-based IT support provider IT Lab placed 80th after growing sales by an average of 49 per cent to £31.1m.
Cloud Distribution
Founded: 2009
Revenues: £13.2m
Founded seven years ago by Scott Dobson and Greg Harris, Cloud Distribution appears to be the only distributor to make the list on the back of 49 per cent average growth over the past three years. It cut its teeth as a Meraki distributor but now counts Check Point and Aerohive among its main franchises.