Tech Nation’s Future Fifty growth acceleration programme welcomes 3 of the North West’s rapidly growing tech scaleups into its latest cohort

PRESS RELEASE:

Tech Nation, the leading growth platform for UK tech companies, in celebration of UK Fintech Week, today announces the latest 22 companies joining the Future Fifty programme, including 3 high-growth scaleups founded and based in the North West; AI scaleup Peak, retail tech company Sorted and healthtech company Push Doctor.

Future Fifty is Europe’s leading late-stage growth programme, designed to bring together, empower and accelerate the growth of the most successful tech companies in the UK. Programme alumni include Monzo, Starling Bank, Darktrace, among others. 131 companies have taken part in the programme since its inception, collectively raising $11bn, with 9 companies going on to IPO.

The acceptance of 3 Manchester-based scaleups into the exclusive programme reflects findings from the Tech Nation Report 2021, the UK’s leading annual report on the state of tech, around the exponential growth of tech in the UK’s North West. According to the report, Manchester is currently the UK’s seventh biggest tech hub, raising £58mn in VC investment last year. The North West region as a whole is currently home to 5 unicorns (companies with a valuation of over £1bn), with 6 futurecorns (high-growth companies valued between $250m and $800m) created last year.

Notably, Peak, Sorted and Push Doctor are three companies who have been innovating and helping people and businesses throughout the pandemic.

• Push Doctor has worked to support the NHS with its private video consultation service, which allows patients to have video calls with their GPs, rather than attending in-person appointments, and makes doctors’ notes available to the patient’s local GP surgery.

• As shops across the UK closed down under lockdown restrictions, the UK also saw a surge in online retail and distribution. To help businesses keep up, logistics platform Sorted helped companies such as Mindful Chef and Mountain Warehouse to meet new customer demands. During the last quarter of 2020, Sorted saw a 1715.65% increase in shipment volume through the platform, compared to the same quarter in 2019.

• Peak’s Decision Intelligence software powers great commercial decision making by embedding AI across sales, marketing, planning and supply chains to accelerate revenues and profits. Peak’s customer base includes PrettyLittleThing, KFC, PepsiCo, Marshalls and Speedy Hire.   Peak has seen rapid growth over the last 12 months, with revenue doubling and new customer wins in Europe, the USA, Middle East and India. In February 2021, Peak closed its $21M Series B funding round led by London-based venture capital firm Oxx.

About the 3 North West companies joining this year’s Future Fifty cohort:

Peak

Decision Intelligence and Artificial Intelligence | Founded in Manchester in 2014 | Series B | 180 employees

Peak is helping the world’s smartest companies put the power of AI at the centre of all commercial decision making. With Decision Intelligence, a brand new category of AI-driven software and services, they’re helping their clients unlock the value of their data and start bringing certainty to their decision making, powered by AI.

Sorted

Retail tech | Founded in Manchester in 2014 | Series B | 114 employees 

Sorted is a global SaaS company, giving retailers full control of delivery management – whether that’s optimising checkout delivery options, enhancing carrier management in the warehouse or providing market-leading post-purchase CX. Their software is live in 19 countries around the world, and offers access to a carrier library of 1000+ services.

Push Doctor

Healthtech | Founded in Manchester in 2013 | Series C | 75 employees 

Empowering people to engage with their health on their terms, Push Doctor works in partnership with NHS practices, PCNs and CCGs across the country. It provides the platform and technology to allow safe and secure video consultations with NHS GPs, empowers patients and clinicians to leverage the benefits of a digital solution, and fully integrates with NHS clinical systems to ensure continuity of patient safety and care.

David Grimes, Founder & CEO of Sorted, commented: “I’m so excited to get started with the Tech Nation Future Fifty programme to support our plans for growth. We’ve built something that we’re incredibly proud of, and the recognition as one of the UK’s most successful digital businesses is a huge achievement and testament to our platform. It’s come at a great time in our journey – as we’re supporting global retailers to keep up with online demand and improve the delivery experience for their customers, which is especially important during pandemic and Brexit uncertainty.” Said Grimes: “The programme gives us an amazing opportunity to join forces with other tech leaders, and be part of a network of experts to develop our team with the Future Fifty community. It’s never been more important to pool knowledge from peers and validate the challenges we’re facing, to support other exciting UK tech businesses and pave the way forward for Sorted.”

Eren Ozagir, Co-founder of Push Doctor, said: “We are proud and excited to be joining the Future Fifty 9.0 cohort. We’ve seen huge changes in the digital health landscape over the last year in response to Covid-19, as well as significant challenges in our sector. Joining the programme will give us access to valuable expertise and guidance as we continue to scale Push Doctor’s digital services and provide better support and outcomes for clinicians and patients. This will help us reach our overall goal of making health systems more sustainable and joined up for the long-term. We can’t wait to start our journey with Tech Nation and hope to go from strength to strength, as a partner of the NHS.”