AUGUST 2019 BusIness 37
T
he winners of the
Manchester Evening
News Tech Awards,
which celebrate the
fastest growing and
most innovative tech
companies in the
region, have been revealed.
More than 300 people attended the
ceremony held last month at the
Runway Visitor Park.
The event championed key players,
entrepreneurial leaders and business
founders in Greater Manchester’s
thriving tech community.
Corporate sponsors for the inaugural
awards were Praetura, whose dedicated
venture capital arm, Praetura Ventures,
has invested more than £40m in
early-stage tech businesses since 2011.
Category sponsors included Amazon,
Openreach, Godel & Bauhaus.
Eight awards were handed out during
the evening, which was hosted by
presenter Ortis Deley.
Lawrence Jones, CEO of UKFast was
crowned Best Tech Ambassador,
winning over Anish Kapoor, CEO of
AccessPay and Andy Lord, CEO and
co-founder of Code Nation.
Jones was recognised for his
commitment to the tech community
over the past 20 years.
The serial entrepreneur, who founded
the business in 1999, launched Tech
Manchester three years ago to support
the development and raise the profile
of tech businesses as well mentor and
support start-up firms.
Last year, Jones also created a 30,000
sq ft incubator, FastForward, for tech
start-ups at its Manchester campus
providing subsidised space, meeting
areas, free parking, and networking
conference facilities.
UKFast has also grown from a
two-person operation to more than 370
staff at its Hulme campus servicing
5,000 plus clients.
The award for Best Digital Innovation
went to fast-growing online mortgage
broker, Mojo Mortgages. The FinTech
start-up beat Agile Automatons and
Culture Shift.
The Best E-Commerce Business went
to Sorted, the Manchester-based online
delivery platform, which pipped Safety
Buyer and Strawberry.
Sorted received £15m funding in May
to accelerate its ambitious global
product roadmap, following the launch
of its delivery tracking service,
SortedREACT adding to its other
products SortedHERO and SortedPRO.
Anna Dick, CTO of Hiring Hub was
named Best Female In Tech winning
over Hilary Stephenson, MD of Sigma,
and Carla Lowry, junior platform
engineer at BJSS.
Anna has been at the forefront of the
innovation curve since her days as
technical project manager at
Moneysupermarket.com.
She has also held roles at On the
Beach, BBC, and the Co-op before
joining Hiring Hub, a Manchester-
based online recruitment marketplace
used by more than 500 employers.
Since joining the firm, she has helped
to drive better customer experience
and increase user engagement.
Artificial intelligence (AI) analytics
business Peak beat Capita Translation
and Interpreting and CarFinance247 to
win the award for Best Use Of Machine
Learning And AI.
Peak draws on the power of AI and
machine learning to help businesses
leverage their data successfully.
Peak’s investment funding to date
has allowed the company to expand its
operations, taking staff headcount from10 to 60 in the last two years, with plans
to increase this to 100 staff in the next
12 months.
Its clients include Global Radio,
ASOS, Speedy Hire and Footasylum.
The award for Best Global Reach
went to M247, a global provider of
super-fast internet connectivity and
network infrastructures.
The company has more than 15 years
experience and was formed following
the merging of three leading
businesses, Metronet UK, M247 and
Venus Business Communications.
The Manchester-headquartered
business won over Never.no and 27k1
Ltd.
The Best Use Of Technology award
went to Capita Translation and
Interpreting beating Mojo Mortgages
and Sorted.
The company, part of Capita Plc, is a
leading provider of language services to
both public and private organisations
offering a wide range of professional
translation and interpreting services,including website localisation, face-to-
face interpreting, voiceover and
subtitling, and multilingual SEO in over
180 languages.
The Best In The Business award was
handed to IT firm Novosco.
The Daresbury Park-based business
specialises in managed services with
clients including Premier League
football clubs, police forces, NHS trusts
and universities.
Major clients wins means the
company will grow significantly
including through a new £20m
investment that will add an additional
150 jobs.
Shelina Begum, business editor, at
the M.E.N, said: “We have been
delighted with the success of our very
first Tech Awards.
“It is clear to see the strength of the
region’s tech sector here in Greater
Manchester.
“In the last 12 months alone, the
region has attracted global names
including Amazon, Booking.com,
Hewlett Packard and
MoneySupermarket.com.
“But it’s also seeing growth from our
very own homegrown talent.
“You only have look at our Tech
Awards winners to see the calibre of
talent we have in Manchester.”
Mike Fletcher, Group CEO of
Praetura, added: “We were delighted to
be the first ever headline sponsor of
these awards.
“They do a great job of showing how
Manchester is now a truly world-class
centre for technology firms.
“We are excited to play a role in that
success, and look forward to seeing
what the future holds for these
businesses.”
All the winners are profiled on the
following four pagesThe cream of the tech crop
The first ever Manchester Evening News Best In Tech Awards were handed out last month
The winners
Best Tech Ambassador
sponsored by Praetura
Lawrence Jones, Founder & CEO, UKFast
Best Digital Innovation sponsored
by Godel Technologies
Mojo Mortgages
Best E-Commerce Business
sponsored by Business Live
Sorted
Best Female in Tech sponsored by Amazon
Anna Dick, CTO, Hiring Hub
Best use of machine learning and
AI sponsored by Bauhaus
Peak
Best Global Reach sponsored
by Openreach
M247
Best use of Technology
sponsored by Praetura
Capita Translation and Interpreting
Best in the Business sponsored by Praetura
NovoscoAwards host Ortis Deley