70th Jubilee - 70 amazing businesses from 70 years of Queen Elizabeth II
Queen Elizabeth II has now reigned as monarch of the United Kingdom for 70 years and has seen it all.
During this time, many great British businesses have risen, and while some have fallen by the wayside, many more have thrived.
Being around for so long, some of them have grown, changed hands, even metamorphosed into something different to their original objectives - nevertheless, they are still here and still doing brilliantly.
Here then, is a celebration of 70 years of Great British Business - one company founded from each year of her reign. Some you will perhaps not have heard of, whereas others are well-known favourites and quintessentially British.
So sit back, and enjoy our journey through 70 years of UK corporate history.
Check out all out greetings cards, gifts and corporate gifting and marketing at boomf.com.
1952 – Airfix
(now part of Hornby Hobbies, see below)
The founder: Nicholas Kove
The HQ: London
The letterbox: customerservices.uk@airfix.com
The lowdown:
OK – we’ll admit - a slight cheat here, as Airfix actually began life in 1939, but we’ve allowed ourselves this small slight-of-hand for two reasons. First, Airfix - the oldest UK manufacturer of scale plastic model kits - has been producing kits for the mass market since 1952, and that is what they are known for. Second – we couldn’t think or a more British firm with which to begin this list! Come and visit us in Reading if you want to debate us on this.
1953 – John Fowler Holidays
The founder: John Fowler
The HQ: Barnstaple, Devon
The letterbox: https://www.facebook.com/johnfowlerholidayparks
The lowdown:
A long-standing holiday park company who offer a range of award-winning holiday locations across Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and Wales. Beginning in 1953 with a single caravan in a farmer’s field, John Fowler built an amazing holiday empire that stands to this day. A real rags-to-riches story, his business ethos has always been to offer high standards and real value for money. It clearly works!
1954 – ITV Studios
The CEO: Brent Montgomery
The HQ: London
The letterbox: https://www.itvstudios.com/contact
The lowdown:
Having no doubt filmed hundreds (if not thousands) of hours of footage of the Queen herself across the decades, ITV Studios is a creator, producer and distributor of world-leading programmes connecting millions of people every day, shaping and reflecting the world they live in. ITV Studios are, in their own words, More Than TV. They are now a global brand, spanning 13 countries including the UK, US, Australia, France, Germany, The Nordics, Italy and the Netherlands.
1955 – Cynergy Bank
The CEO: Nick Fahy
The HQ: London
The letterbox: customerservice@cynergybank.co.uk
The lowdown:
Cynergy Bank are a specialist bank that offers services to business owners, property entrepreneurs and family businesses. They are a preferred partner of the Institute for Family Businesses, having started life in London back in 1955, with the aim of supporting Cypriot business owners and savers in the UK. Since then the bank has grown into a business focused on the retail and SME sectors.
1956 – New Scientist
The founders: Max Raison, Nicholas Harrison, Tom Margerison
The HQ : London
The letterbox: customerhelp@newscientist.com
The lowdown:
Now owned by DMG Media, New Scientist is an online and print magazine that provides information related to science, including technology, space, physics, health, earth, humans, life, and more. It was launched in 1956.
1957 – Which?
The HQ: London
The Letterbox: consumeraction@which.co.uk
The Lowdown:
Which? is a non-profit publishing platform that offers reviews of consumer products and services. It promotes informed consumer choice in the purchase of goods and services by testing products, highlighting inferior products or services, raising awareness of consumer rights, and offering independent advice.
1958 – NutreeLife
The founders: Adam Hodgkinson, Patrick Mroczak (CEO)
The HQ: Burscough, Lancashire
The bottom line: $250k capital raised
The letterbox: enquiries@nutreelife.co.uk
The lowdown:
A leading manufacturer in developing innovative plant-based nutrition bard and snacks, NutreeLife are a family-run business based in Lancashire who pride themselves on being an innovative vegan health nutrition brand, created through years of experience, passion and dedication to the food, nutrition and beverage industry.
1959 – Oxford Instruments
The founder: Lady Audrey Wood, Sir Martin
The HQ: Abingdon, Oxfordshire
The letterbox: info.oiplc@oxinst.com
The lowdown:
Oxford Instruments plc engages in the research, development, manufacture, and sale of high technology instruments, operating in two segments: Analytical and Superconductivity. It is a leading provider of high technology products and services to the world's leading industrial companies and scientific research communities, with a core purpose to support their customers in addressing some of the world's most pressing challenges, enabling a greener economy, increased connectivity, improved health and leaps in scientific understanding.
1960 – Reed Exhibitions
The CEO: Hugh Jones
The HQ: Richmond
The letterbox: rxinfo@reedexpo.co.uk
The lowdown:
Reed Exhibitions have been organising events for over 50 years, bringing together millions of participants every year, by organising 400+ events across 22 countries. Their stated vision is to deliver contacts, content and communities with the power to transform your business. They are the world’s premier exhibition organiser, with a network of 34 offices worldwide.
1961 – Air Partner
The CEO: Mark Briffa
The HQ: Gatwick, Surrey
The bottom line: £7.5m capital raised
The letterbox: info@airpartner.com
The lowdown:
Air Partner is an aviation services group that focuses on aircraft transportation, aviation safety, and security solutions. Founded in 1961, Air Partner is an international aviation services group providing aircraft charter, aviation safety and security solutions, and managed services to industry, commerce, governments, and private individuals, across civil and military organizations. They have recently bee acquired by Wheels Up.
1962 – Moneycorp
The CEO: Mark Horgan
The founder: David Leslie
The HQ: London
The letterbox: enquiries@moneycorp.com
The lowdown:
Moneycorp is the second-largest foreign exchange broker in the UK. It serves 2.4 million customers and trades more than £11 billion in currencies per year. Moneycorp is a world-leading payments FinTech, helping customers navigate the complex global payments market. They focus on the foreign exchange industry to assist individuals and businesses in their international payments.
1963 - Peters' Cleaners
The Owner/MD: Vicky Whiter
The founder: Peter Grist
The HQ: Peterborough
The bottom line: £253.2k capital raised
The letterbox: enquiries@peterscleaners.co.uk
The lowdown:
Peters' Cleaners are not the largest corporation on this list – quite the opposite – but get a well-deserved mention, as they represent the best of British bulldog business spirit. Despite a great reputation, sales were declining and the company was facing closure, until it was taken over by Vicky Whiter. She updated the business model to fit today’s modern lifestyle and, in 2019, opened the first fully automated dry cleaning pod – a staff-free location for dropping off and collecting your clothes 24/7. A second pod followed in May 2021. After putting everything on the line, for customers who hate laundry – it’s a load off their mind! (Pun apology is in the post).
1964 - The Swift Group
The HQ: Cottingham, East Yorkshire
The letterbox: enquiry@swiftgroup.co.uk
The lowdown:
The Swift Group is a manufacturing firm that produces a wide range of leisure vehicles, such as motorhomes, touring caravans and holiday homes. Their designs are built on the principles of attention to detail in design, quality and value for money. They are the only UK company to operate in all three sectors of caravans, motor homes and holiday homes.
1965 – Everest
The CEO: Paula Chambers
The founder: David Kingsley
The HQ: Cuffley, Hertford
The letterbox: customer.service@everest.co.uk
The lowdown:
There is probably not one person alive in the 1970s who does not recall Ted Moult and a feather, at the Tan Hill Inn. Everest have nearly 50 years’ experience of delivering the highest quality workmanship in windows, doors and conservatories, combined with personal service to their customers, and turning your house into a home.
1966 – Barclaycard
The CEO: Ian Buchanan
The founder: Barclays Bank
The HQ: Northampton
The letterbox: https://home.barclaycard/contact-us/
The lowdown:
Perhaps the most recognisable credit card company, Barclaycard are a company of firsts. Barclaycard introduced the world to the credit card in 1966. Since then, they have introduced the first company credit card, online credit card banking, the first contactless payment card, the first wearable payment device and the first Android mobile contactless payment (amongst many others).
1967 – Mondi Group
The CEO: Andrew King
The HQ: Addlestone, Surrey
The letterbox: https://www.mondigroup.com/en/home/
The lowdown:
Mondi contribute to a better world by making sustainable and innovative packaging and paper solutions. Mondi is an international packaging and paper Group, employing around 25,000 people across more than 30 countries. Their key operations are located in central Europe, Russia, North America and South Africa, fully integrated across the packaging and paper value chain - from managing forests and producing pulp, paper and compound plastics, to developing effective and innovative industrial and consumer packaging solutions.
1968 – Natwest Bank
The CEO: Alison Rose
The HQ: London
The letterbox: https://www.natwest.com/support-centre.html
The lowdown:
NatWest Bank offers a range of commercial and retail banking services to its clients.
One of the major UK high street banks, and one of the ‘big four’ clearing banks, Natwest’s private product portfolio consists of bank accounts, overdrafts, savings accounts, credit cards, loans, mortgages, insurance, and investments. As with most UK banks, its historical roots are much older, but the National Westminster Bank in its current form was created in 1968.
1969 – Go Outdoors
The founder/CEO: John Graham
The HQ: Sheffield
The bottom line: £63m capital raised
The letterbox: enquiries@gooutdoors.co.uk
The lowdown:
Go Outdoors is a company that set out on a big adventure more than 40 years ago. Sheffield's 'Camping & Caravanning Centre' first opened its doors in 1969, and soon became known simply as 'CCC' to locals. CCC quickly earned a strong reputation for excellent customer service and became a landmark within Yorkshire's outdoor community. Recently acquired by JD Sports, the company continues to offer a wide range of outdoor activity clothing and products.
1970 – Serpentine Gallery
The founder/CEO: Bettina Korek
The HQ: London
The bottom line: £1.9m
The letterbox: information@serpentinegalleries.org
The lowdown:
The Serpentine Galleries are one of London’s best-loved galleries for modern and contemporary art - championing new ideas in contemporary art since 1970 across two London locations, the Serpentine has presented pioneering exhibitions for half a century from a wide range of emerging practitioners to the most internationally recognised artists of our time.
1971 – Travelport International
The CEO: Greg Webb
The HQ: Slough, Buckinghamshire
The bottom line: $1.5b
The letterbox: https://www.travelport.com/contact
The lowdown:
Travelport is a technology company making the experience of buying and managing travel continually better. It operates a travel commerce platform providing distribution, technology, payment and other solutions for the global travel and tourism industry. The company facilitates travel commerce by connecting the world's leading travel providers with online and offline travel buyers in a proprietary business-to-business (B2B) travel platform. It has a leading position in airline merchandising, hotel content and distribution, car rental, mobile commerce and B2B payment solutions.
1972 – Maplin Electronics
The MD: Ollie Marshall
The founders: Doug Simmons, Roger Allen, Sandra Allen
The HQ: Rotherham
The bottom line: £5m capital raised
The letterbox: customer.service@maplin.co.uk
The lowdown:
Maplin Electronics is an online retailer of consumer electronics, with over 200 stores across the UK and a 30,000+ product line. It also retails online. The brand is synonymous with tech and electronic hobbying and much, much more. Maplin’s mission is to strive to empower, inspire and provide solutions with tech. Tech can be a tool, a hobby, a creative process, an artform… uniting these forms of tech, popping them in a box, wrapping it with a bow, and calling it Maplin!
1973 – Argos
The founder: Chris Alexandre
The HQ: Milton Keynes
The letterbox: https://www.argos.co.uk/help/contact-us
The lowdown:
Argos is a leading UK general merchandise retailer offering more than 60,000 products through its website, apps, stores and convenient Click & Collect points inside Sainsbury’s supermarkets. It has the third most visited retail website in the UK and is the UK’s number one toy retailer as well as being a market leader in furniture, homewares and electricals.
Argos is a technology-led retailer; its website receives more than a billion visits a year and 90% of sales originate online.
1974 – Faith in Nature
The MD: John Allaway
The founder: Rivka Rose
The HQ: Manchester
The bottom line: £2.5m capital raised
The letterbox: support@faithinnature.co.uk
The lowdown:
Faith in Nature manufactures products that are naturally derived, cruelty-free ingredients and 100% natural scent. As they explain on their website “Our founder, Rivka, grew up in NYC. Not best known for its wide, open, green spaces! But from an early age, she had a fascination with growing avocado seeds from her local grocery store. One thing led to another. Rivka moved to the UK. And in 1974, she started Faith In Nature. And here we are today. Just goes to show what even the smallest connection to nature can inspire.”
1975 – Stewart Milne Group
The CEO: Glenn Allison
The founder: Stewart Milne
The HQ: Aberdeen
The bottom line: £11.5m capital raised
The letterbox: enquiries@stewartmilne.com
The lowdown:
Stewart Milne Group is a residential real estate developer and homebuilder in the United Kingdom. They have just been awarded the Innovation of the Year – Transition to Net Zero award 2022 at the Homes for Scotland Awards. They are one of the UK’s leading independent homebuilders and operate over 35 housing developments across the UK.
1976 – Bruntwood
The CEO: Ciara Keeling
The founder: Michael Oglesby
The HQ: Manchester
The bottom line: £97m capital raised
The letterbox: https://bruntwood.co.uk/get-in-touch/
The lowdown:
Bruntwood is a family-owned and run commercial real estate company, whose goal is to create the right places for people to succeed. They focus on creating the right environments for businesses to thrive, no matter what sector they operate in. Bruntwood develop, let and manage all their own buildings, combining an innovative approach to property development with a single-minded focus on the needs of our customers.
1977 – Auto Trader
The CEO: Trevor Mather
The founder: John Madejski
The HQ: Manchester
The letterbox: https://www.autotrader.co.uk/contact-us
The lowdown:
Auto Trader is the first place most people in the UK think of when wanting to buy or sell a used car. They are the UK’s largest digital automotive marketplace – and with over 10 million transactions each year, Auto Trader are driving change in how people buy card online. Their platform offers consumers an unparalleled selection of new and used car listings, enabling them to search from a marketplace of 485,000 cars, including 47,000 new cars each month.
1978 – B&M
The CEO: Simon Arora
The founder: Malcolm Billington
The HQ: Liverpool
The letterbox: https://www.bmstores.co.uk/contact
The lowdown:
From its first store in Blackpool, Lancashire, B&M has grown to over 700+ stores and employs over 35,000+ staff. B&M believes in selling top branded products at sensational prices. They attract over 4 million happy customers through their doors each week.
1979 – Homebase
The MD: Damian McGloughlin
The HQ: Milton Keynes
The bottom line: £95m capital raised
The letterbox: homebasehelp@homebase.co.uk
The lowdown:
HomeBase is a home improvement and garden retailer that offers products for painting and decorating, plants, garden tools and accessories. Since opening their freshly painted doors in 1979, Homebase, have been making people's lives that little bit brighter. With over 150 stores and 5,600 team members across the UK and Ireland, they help bring homes and gardens to life. From gardening, decorating, repairing and home furnishing, to kitchens, bathrooms and fitted bedrooms, they stock an amazing range of brands, including Bathstore, Dulux, Farrow and Ball, Karcher, Powerbase and exclusive ranges from Country Living and House Beautiful.
1980 – Hornby Hobbies
The founder: Frank Hornby
The HQ: Margate, Kent
The bottom line: £12m capital raised
The letterbox: marketing@hornby.com
The lowdown:
After officially starting life back in 1901 with Frank Hornby, the company went through an acquisition along with Meccano in 1964, before becoming independent again in 1980. Hornby is a household name and is famous as the UK brand leader in the model railway hobby market. Over the years, the company has acquired a variety of famous brands, including Airfix (see above), Scalextric, Humbrol and Corgi (most fitting for the Jubilee, we think). Today, Hornby Hobbies is home to 15 collectible and scale model brands.
1981 – Schuh
The CMO: Alice Cleary
The founder: Sandy Alexander
The HQ: Livingstone, West Lothian
The bottom line: £19m capital raised
The letterbox: help@schuh.co.uk
The lowdown:
The Schuh Group owns and operates retail stores for casual and athletic footwear, through its subsidiaries. The company is also a large online retailer with a popular platform for several major shoe brands. Schuh has a policy of community projects and sustainability.
1982 – Vodafone
The founder: Ernest Harrison, Gerry Whent
The HQ: Newbury, West Berkshire
The bottom line: $4.4b capital raised
The letterbox: info@vodafone.com
The lowdown:
Vodafone is a mobile telecommunications company that offers voice, messaging, and data services across mobile and fixed networks; fixed broadband and TV services; cloud and hosting as well as internet protocol-virtual private network services; roaming services; and unified communications services. As well as a large online presence, Vodafone sells its products through approximately 16,000 branded stores, distribution partners, and third-party retailers.
1983 – Sofology
The CEO: Sally Hopson
The HQ: Golborne, Lancashire
The bottom line: £10m capital raised
The hotline: 0800 140 4040
The lowdown:
Shop retail or online for sofas in the UK. Although now acquired by DFS, Sofology offer a wide range of sofas for home delivery in the UK. Their online platform covers a wide range of designs, styles, colours and materials and has something for just about everyone. They also have a large number of physical stores around the UK.
1984 – Virgin Atlantic Airways
The CEO: Shai Weiss
The founder: Richard Branson
The HQ: Crawley, West Sussex
The bottom line: $1.6b capital raised
The letterbox: https://help.virginatlantic.com/gb/en.html
The lowdown:
Virgin Atlantic has always been about customer choice. As a small fish in a big pond (to begin with, at least), their ‘cheeky and over the top personality’ (their words) helped put the company on the map. Branson’s philosophy of ‘Screw it, let’s do it’ vibrated through the brand and got it noticed. The rest, as they say, is history, although we firmly believe that the best is yet to come from Virgin.
1985 – Superdry
The CMO: Justin Lodge
The founder: Julian Dunkerton
The HQ: Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
The bottom line: $91.5m capital raised
The letterbox: https://www.superdry.com/help-centre/
The lowdown:
Superdry is a British international branded clothing company, and owner of the Superdry label. Superdry is built on style. They celebrate unique and independent style through their various brands: Original & Vintage, Studios, CODE, Superdry X and Performance Sport; always inspired by the spirit of adventure and crafting premium products sustainably.
1986 – BC Partners
The founder: John Burgess, Otto van der Wyck
The HQ: London
The bottom line: $759.8m capital raised
The letterbox: london@bcpartners.com
The lowdown:
BC Partners is an international alternative investment firm focused private equity, credit, real estate, and investment strategies. It is an international alternative investment firm with over €23 billion in assets under management. Founded in 1986, BC Partners is a pioneer in European private equity with a longstanding presence in North America. Since its founding, the Firm has evolved with the private equity market, including expanding its strategic offering by establishing both credit and real estate platforms in 2017 and 2018, respectively. BC Partners Private Equity seeks to invest in marketing leading businesses that are downside protected, have strong barriers to entry, and which offer multiple compelling growth and value creation opportunities.
1987 – Butchers Pet Care
The CEO: Tim Watsham
The founder: Graham Baker
The HQ: Northampton
The bottom line: £55.5m capital raised
The letterbox: info@butcherspetcare
The lowdown:
Butchers Pet Care is a cat and dog wet feeding producer in the UK, and is the no. 2 brand of wet dog food in the country. Butcher’s Pet Care prides itself in making natural dog food and cat food, which is delicious and 100% complete and balanced. They can do this because it’s all they do - make great-tasting pet foods that cats and dogs love and thrive on; it’s their passion!
1988 – Ted Baker
The CEO: Rachel Osborne
The founder: Ray Kelvin
The HQ: London
The bottom line: £105m capital raised
The letterbox: ask.ted@tedbaker.com
The lowdown:
Ted Baker is a British luxury clothing retail company. From the beginning Ted has had a very clear, unswerving, focus on quality, attention to detail and a quirky sense of humour. Everything produced under the Ted Baker name has his personality woven into its very heart. Ted Baker is one of the fastest-growing leading lifestyle brands in the UK. The collections have expanded rapidly since its beginnings as a menswear brand in Glasgow in 1987, and today the compmany offers a wide range of collections including: Menswear, Womenswear, Global, Endurance, Pashion, Langley, Accessories, Fragrance, Skinwear, Footwear, Eyewear and Watches.
1989 – RSK Group
The COO: Nigel Board
The founder: Alan Ryder
The HQ: Helsby, Cheshire
The bottom line: $12.7m capital raised
The letterbox: communications@rsk.co.uk
The lowdown:
RSK Group is the UK’s largest privately-owned multi-disciplinary environmental consultancy and one of the fastest growing companies. It is a global leader in the delivery of sustainable solutions. Their family of over 130 environmental, engineering and technical services businesses works together to provide practical solutions to some of the greatest challenges societies have ever faced.
1990 – Team17 Software
The CEO: Michael Pattison
The founder: Debbie Bestwick
The HQ: Nottingham
The bottom line: $21.8m capital raised
The letterbox: https://www.team17.com/contact/
The lowdown:
Team 17 develops and publishes entertainment software for a wide range of digital download platforms that include Steam (PC & Mac), Xbox LIVE (Xbox One, Xbox360), Sony PlayStation Network (PS4,PS3, PS Vita PSP), Apple's App-Store (iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad) and social media platforms such as Facebook.
1991 – Cinesite
The COO: Graham Peddie
The founder: Ed Jones
The HQ: London
The bottom line: $182m capital raised
The letterbox: https://www.cinesite.com/contacts/
The lowdown:
Cinesite is one of the largest and most creative visual effects companies in the world. Established in 1991 and headquartered in London, their visual effects team has the capacity and creativity to produce all manner of digital effects for feature films and TV shows of all scales. Their award-winning team of highly talented visual effects artists take filmmakers' ideas and turn them into spectacular cinematic reality.
1992 – Cobra Biologics
The CEO: Peter Coleman
The founder: Thomas Eldered
The HQ: Keele, Stoke-on-Trent
The bottom line: $7m capital raised
The letterbox: https://www.criver.com/contact-us
The lowdown:
Cobra Biologics is a leading international contract manufacturing organisation (CMO) providing biologics and pharmaceuticals for pre-clinical, clinical and commercial supply.
Cobra has three GMP approved facilities in Sweden and the UK, each with expertise tailored to serving our customers around the world. We offer a broad range of integrated
and stand-alone contract development and manufacturing services for clinical trials and the commercial market. Cobra was recently acquired by Charles River.
1993 - Ideagen
The CEO: Ben Dorks
The HQ: Ruddington, Nottinghamshire
The bottom line: $343.6m capital raised
The letterbox: info@ideagen.com
The lowdown:
Ideagen is a provider of compliance-based information management software. It is a UK-headquartered, global technology. The Group provides software and services to organisations operating within highly regulated industries such as aviation, banking and finance and life science, healthcare and manufacturing with its main operational premises spread throughout the UK, EU, US, Middle East and SE Asia.
1994 – Eurostar International
The CEO: Jacques Damas
The founder: Antonio Brites
The HQ: London
The bottom line: £250m capital raised
The letterbox: traveller.care@eurostar.com
The lowdown:
Probably needing no introduction, Eurostar is the only high speed train that directly links the UK to France and Belgium via the Channel Tunnel, taking travellers from city centre to city centre, since 1994. Their trains have carried over 150 million passengers, transporting thousands of people every day to Paris, Brussels, Lille, Calais, and Disneyland Paris.
1995 – M&C Saatchi
The CEO: Moray MacLennan
The founders: David Kershaw, Joanna Yarrow
The HQ: London
The bottom line: £47m capital raised
The letterbox: london@mcsaatchi.com
M&C Saatchi Group is a creative company that connects specialist expertise, fuelled by data and technology. M&C Saatchi was founded on the principle of Brutal Simplicity in founded in 1995, and describes itself as the “biggest independent creative agency network in the World”. As of May 2022, they were acquired by Next Fifteen Communication Group for £310,000,000.
1996 – CloudPay
The founders: Karen Patterson, Paul Bartlett (CEO)
The HQ: Andover, Hampshire
The bottom line: $205.5m capital raised
The letterbox: www.cloudpay.com
The lowdown:
CloudPay provides managed global payroll services to multinational organizations through a single, unified SaaS solution. By delivering end-to-end managed payroll services through an innovative platform, CloudPay ensures consistent and compliant payroll around the globe while reducing operating costs and minimizing manual processes. CloudPay’s
services and technology standardize the payroll function across geographies, helping organizations increase efficiency, streamline compliance, and achieve greater visibility into payroll performance and costs.
1997 – Cook
The founders: Dale Penfold, Edward Perry
The HQ: Sittingbourne, Kent
The bottom line: £16m capital raised
The letterbox: https://www.cookfood.net/contact
The lowdown:
COOK is a manufacturer and retailer of frozen ready meals. Operating both online and through a number of storefronts, they retail and direct deliver a wide range of freshly prepared meals and cakes. As they say “when you don’t have the time, inclination or, dare we say, talent, we COOK so you don’t have to”. They now operate 90 cook shops thoughout the UK, the delivery business, a network of concessions, 2 kitchens plus a pudding kitchen as well.
1998 – Global Switch
The CEO: John Corcoran
The founder: Andy Ruhan
The HQ: London
The bottom line: £4.9b capital raised
The letterbox: info@globalswitch.com
The lowdown:
Established in 1998, Global Switch has built a reputation for creating data centres that set new standards in scale, resilience and connectivity. Their portfolio consists of thirteen data centres located across Europe and the Asia-Pacific, offering a total of 428,000 sq m of world class technical space. Their network is home to some of the most forward-thinking public and private organisations of all sizes, housing their mission critical IT infrastructure and connecting them seamlessly to a diverse choice of telecoms, internet and cloud providers.
1999 – Demica
The CEO: Matt Wreford
The founder: Tim Nicolle
The HQ: London
The bottom line: $70m capital raised
The letterbox: info@demica.com
The lowdown:
Demica provides innovative working capital solutions to major corporations and financial institutions. A rapidly growing Fintech, Demica provides working capital solutions to large corporates and banks with a broad range of receivables, inventory and payables finance products. The company focuses on multinational clients all over the world, across industries and sectors, requiring facilities of US$50mn to US$750mn+.
2000 – Ocado Group
The CEO: Tim Steiner
The founders: Jason Gissing, Jonathan Faiman, Tim Steiner
The HQ: Hatfield, Hertford
The bottom line: $1.5b capital raised
The letterbox: ocado@ocado.com
The lowdown:
Ocado Group operates as an online grocery retailer. The company offers fruits and nuts, wine, vegetables, grocery and household items, milk, eggs, and fish and seafood. It also provides meals, desserts, drinks, cupboards, gifts, household products, flowers, toiletries, pet care products, and child and baby products.
2001 – Upstream
The CEO: Dimitris Maniatis
The founders: Alex Vratskides, Marco Veremis, Nikos Iatropoulos
The HQ: London
The bottom line: $41.8m capital raised
The letterbox: info-uk@upstreamsystems.com
The lowdown:
Upstream is leading the mobile internet revolution in high growth markets. Their software and infrastructure platform already enable 1.2 billion people to effortlessly receive and pay for the most relevant and affordable digital subscription services on their mobile devices and reaching more than one billion consumers in high growth markets, through their marketing and billing integration with more than 50 mobile operators in 43 markets across Latin America, Africa, Middle East, CIS and South East Asia.
2002 – Onecom
The CEO: Martin Flick
The founder: Darren Ridge
The HQ: Fareham, Hampshire
The bottom line: £100m capital raised
The letterbox: care@onecom.co.uk
The lowdown:
Onecom is the UK’s largest independent business telecommunications provider delivering fixed line, mobile, unified communications and connectivity solutions. It has achieved meteoric growth through substantial investment in its people and processes – its priority being to deliver unparalleled customer service at every level. Based in Hampshire, Onecom operates twelve regional offices and employs over four hundred staff.
2003 – Yotel
The CEO: Hubert Viriot
The founders: Gerard Greene, Simon Woodroffe
The HQ: London
The bottom line: $250m capital raised
The letterbox: customer@yotel.com
The lowdown:
Yotel takes the essential elements of luxury hotels and fits them into smaller, smart spaces, currently located in over 20 cities and airports. But compact does not mean cramped, or the need to miss out on the little luxuries of hotel stay. For short stopovers, they are ideal, and perfectly located. Check one out next time you are travelling!
2004 – THG
The founder/CEO: Matthew Moulding
The HQ: Manchester
The bottom line: $5b capital raised
The letterbox: reception@thg.com
The lowdown:
THG (The Hut Group) specialise in taking brands direct to consumers across the globe, taking some of the world’s most distinguished names in beauty and nutrition to the next level. It is an online retailing platform focused on fast moving consumer goods, specifically focused on health and beauty. Built on a foundation of industry-leading technology, a world-class team and a scientific approach to building global brands, THG are fast becoming the world’s most influential online retail organisation, operating over 100 high-profit websites that sell premium, non-perishables direct to consumers in the fast growing, global Health and Beauty markets.
2005 – Zopa
The CEO: Jaidev Janardana
The founders: Dave Nicholson, Giles Andrews, James Alexander, Richard Duvall, Tim Parlett
The HQ: London
The bottom line: $792.3m capital raised
The letterbox: contactus@zopa.com
The lowdown:
Zopa have been a pioneering force in finance since their inception. To begin, they built the first ever peer-to-peer lending company, giving customers access to loans built for real-life and intelligent investments backed by cutting-edge tech. Then, in 2020, they launched Zopa Bank (winding down the P2P side), offering fixed term savings and a credit card with real, practical controls for their customers. Zopa have lent out over £6 billion and have over half a million customers across the UK.
2006 – Infobip
The founders: Izabel Jelenic, Roberto Kutic, Silvio Kutic (CEO)
The HQ: London
The bottom line: $300m capital raised
The letterbox: info@infobip.com
The lowdown:
Infobip specializes in omnichannel engagement powering a range of messaging channels, tools, and solutions for advanced customer engagement, authentication, and security. The company helps its clients and partners overcome the complexity of consumer communications, grow their business, and enhance the customer experience in a fast, secure and reliable way.
2007 – Brightpearl
The CEO: Derek O'Carroll
The founders: Andrew Mulvenna, Chris Tanner
The HQ: Bristol
The bottom line: $88.3m capital raised
The letterbox: hello@brightpearl.com
The lowdown:
Brightpearl is an industry-leading operating system for retailers – helping their customers streamline, simplify and automate their whole business, including inventory management, order management, warehousing, fulfillment, shipping, purchasing, accounting, retail BI and more. 100% focussed on the retail sector, Brightpearl’s purpose built ERP platform delivers real time accounting and order management, automating the back office for today’s omnichannel brands, retailers and wholesalers whether in store, online, or in the warehouse.
2008 – ProofID
The founder/CEO: Tom Eggleston
The HQ: Manchester
The bottom line: £18m capital raised
The letterbox: info@proofid.co.uk
The lowdown:
ProofID is a specialist Identity as a Managed Service provider helping its clients in securing enterprise data, manage hybrid cloud environments, secure mobile apps, and provide access to services by partners and customers. All successfully delivered through methodology-driven managed service. Daily, the company manages 750,000 identities and delivers services to 73 countries.
2009 - Seedrs
The CEO: Jeff Kelisky
The founders: Carlos Solva, Jeff Lynn
The HQ: London
The bottom line: £28.2m capital raised
The letterbox: support@seedrs.com
The lowdown:
Seedrs is a leading online platform for investing in the equity of startups and other growth companies in Europe. It has been named the most active investor in private companies in the UK. Seedrs enables all types of investors to invest in businesses they believe in, and share in their success, allowing all types of growth-focused businesses to raise capital.
2010 – BBOXX
The founders: Christopher Baker-Brian, Laurent Van Houcke, Mansoor Hamayun (CEO)
The HQ: London
The bottom line: $198m capital raised
The letterBboxx: info@bboxx.co.uk
The lowdown:
BBOXX was created to tackle energy poverty. It designs, manufactures, and distributes plug and play solar systems to enhance access to energy throughout Africa. It aims to expand on this mission by creating innovative methods of distributing renewable energy to the bottom of the pyramid in developing countries. Consumers will have the ability to have a western energy experience off-the-grid and in rural areas. The company focuses on providing access to the fundamental need of access to electricity combined with superior customer service.
2011 – Bitstamp
The founders: Damijan Merlak, Nejc Kodric (CEO)
The HQ: London
The bottom line: $12.4m capital raised
The letterbox: info@bitstamp.net
The lowdown:
One of the oldest crypto exchanges, Bitstamp is a digital currency marketplace that enables companies and individuals from all around the world to buy and sell a variety of crypto currencies. Recognised as one of the most trusted crypto platforms, they focus on reliability and trust – both much needed in the global drive to bring crypto to a world market.
2012 – Paddle
The founders: Christian Owens (CEO), Harrison Rose
The HQ: London
The bottom line: $293.3m capital raised
The letterbox: help@paddle.com
The lowdown:
Being a complete payment, tax and subscription solution for SaaS, Paddle offers SaaS companies a completely different approach to their payments infrastructure. They are a Merchant of Record for their customers, taking away the pain of payments fragmentation, which in turn translates into a faster, safer, cheaper and, overall, better option. We have over 230+ talented employees serving over 3,000 software sellers in 245 territories globally. Backed by investors including FTV Capital, Kindred, Notion, and 83North, Paddle aims to define the next wave of B2B SaaS leaders.
2013 – Boomf
The founders: Andy Bell, James William Middleton
The A-Team: Roman Grigoriev (CEO), Stepan Galaev
The HQ: Reading
The bottom line: $856k capital raised
The letterbox: eat@boomf.com
The lowdown:
Boomf (that’s us, by the way) is BIG in greetings cards and gifts - with our unique personalised marshmallows and mallowpops, as well as a wide range of other gifts and gift boxes, including our famous exploding cards (the Boomf Bomb). Our printed marshmallow products are the first of their kind, and a very tasty way to say ‘thank you’, ‘you’re appreciated’ or any other message you want to share! Our exploding cards are not only memorable, but also extremely viral when posted on Social Media.
Boomf takes personal to a whole new level.
2014 – Pollen
The founders: Callum Negus-Fancey (CEO), Liam Negus-Fancey
The HQ: London
The bottom line: $238.5m capital raised
The letterbox: support@pollen.co
The lowdown:
Pollen is a range of vacation and travel experiences that connect you to the things you love and a community who share your passions. They offer a unique range of experiences that are not available elsewhere –include access to performances, events and other occasions. They take the pain out of group bookings so their customers can get on with the important thing – enjoying themselves!
2015 – Splento
The founder/CEO: Roman Grigoriev
The HQ: London
The bottom line: $1.3m capital raised
The letterbox: splento@splento.com
The lowdown:
Splento provides professional photography and videography, on demand and around the world. No binding contracts, no minimum spends, with fixed, affordable rates and first-class service. They have recently launched the A.I. driven Splento Food App – enabling anyone in the food/restaurant/delivery industry to take professional quality food photos and save 90% of their photo costs! Event organisers, venue marketplaces, holiday rental and food delivery startups that need thousands of sessions on a regular basis, fast and to an exacting standard, are just a few of their very happy customers.
2016 – Previse
The founders: Andre de Cavaignac, David Brown, Giulio Rossi, Paul Christensen (CEO), Philipp Schoenbucher
The HQ: London
The bottom line: $37.8m capital raised
The letterbox: help@previ.se
The lowdown:
Previse uses A.I. to enable corporate buyers to safely ensure they pay all their suppliers instantly. Paying all suppliers instantly eliminates their need to rely on expensive short term credit, lowering costs for buyers and giving SMEs the confidence to reinvest in growing their businesses, boosting the economy. Suppliers simply click to agree to instant payments, and Previse then uses hundreds of millions of data points to provide a score of a corporate buyer’s likelihood to pay the invoice, allowing funders to instantly release funds to the supplier to meet the invoice. Previse sits alongside funders’ existing payment technology - its frictionless adoption requires no changes to either buyers’ or funders’ existing payment infrastructure or on-boarding of new processes or technologies.
2017 – Celsius Network
The founders: Alex Mashinsky (CEO), Nuke Goldstein, S. Daniel Leon
The HQ: London
The bottom line: $864.3m capital raised
The letterbox: hello@celcius.network
The lowdown:
Celsius is a blockchain-based marketplace platform where membership provides access to curated financial services that are not available through traditional financial institutions. Celsius specialises in consumer lending, FinTech and financial services. They offer military-grade security, next-level transparency, and a do-it-all app designed to help customers reach their financial goals – whether that is long-term investing or swapping daily.
2018 – BritishVolt
The founder/CEO: Orral Nadjari
The HQ: London
The bottom line: $2.4b capital raised
The letterbox: power@britishvolt.com
The lowdown:
BritishVolt are on a mission - to accelerate the electrification of society. They will deliver sustainable, low-carbon batteries as part of the roadmap to decarbonise the country. Proudly British, passionately global. Batteries are core to a successful energy transition, and the BritishVolt ambition is to create some of the planet’s most responsibly manufactured battery cells, primarily to power electric vehicles.
2019 – Rooser
The founders: Joel Watt, Nicolas Desormeaux
The HQ: Edinburgh
The bottom line: $41.6m capital raised
The letterbox: https://rooser.eu
The lowdown:
Rooser connects seafood buyers and suppliers across Europe, providing them with the tools they need to trade efficiently, negotiate prices, and process deliveries. It is an online trading platform for the seafood industry,, providing seafood trading tools designed to get the most out of their clients’ experience and network. Rooser enables them to optimise their existing relationships for free, find new partners, and cut down paperwork across their simple, streamlined platform.
2020 – Zapp
The founders: Joe Falter, Navid Hadzaad Javaherian
The HQ: Kent
The bottom line: $300m capital raised
The letterbox: https://zappsupport.zendesk.com/hc/en-gb/requests/new
The lowdown:
Zapp is one of Europe’s fastest growing tech companies, delivering groceries and essentials from shelves to doorsteps in minutes, 24/7. They are on a mission to build the most convenient and sustainable on-demand rapid delivery service, by bringing together talented people from diverse backgrounds with the passion to solve problems and make things happen. Zapp uses a fully electric fleet, recyclable paper bags & anti-food waste partnerships to reduce their carbon footprint.
2021 – 5ire
The founders: Prateek Dwivedi, Pratik Gauri (CEO), Vilma Mattila
The HQ: London
The bottom line: $121m capital raised
The letterbox: contact@5ire.org
The lowdown:
5ire is a blockchain network that brings together sustainability, technology, and innovation to build the 5th industrial revolution (5IR). Their mission is to embed the for-benefit paradigm at the heart of the blockchain with highly incentivised practices that align with the UN’s SDGs, facilitating the transition from 4IR to 5IR, and accelerating the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The company's primary offering is 5ireChain, a first layer, sustainability-driven 5th generation blockchain that ensures adherence to the philosophy of 5IR, creating a net positive impact on the planet and serving humanity.
2022 – Ravio
The founders: Raymond Siems, Roy Blanga
The HQ: London
The bottom line: $10m capital raised
The letterbox: info@ravio.com
The lowdown:
Ravio are building Europe’s biggest real-time compensation dataset focused on venture-backed tech companies, so clients can stay competitive and make decisions with confidence. Understand compensation in your market with their real-time platform. Make smarter salary, equity and benefits decisions - all without touching a spreadsheet. Ravio connects directly to your HR software, saving you time filling out spreadsheets, and enables you to track changes in the market as they happen.
So there you have it - 70 companies in 70 years!
Who do you think will be the shakers and movers in the next 70...or even 7?
Source: crunchbase.com
Correct at time of posting.
