The UK tech sector is booming – but the government must do more to support it
This is why the E2Exchange, or E2E, Tech Track 100 for 2025 is so vital, showcasing the domestic firms that have forged ahead and are succeeding. In association with The Independent, E2E, the leading business networking and mentoring organisation, has published the definitive index of the 100 fastest-growing tech-focused private businesses in the UK.
The list is based on their profits over the past three years and is the latest Track 100 to be produced this year. Others in the 2025 series will cover different categories, including job creation, dynamic and profits.
To accompany the unveiling, Shalini Khemka, founder of E2E, assembled an online panel of UK tech stars: Jared Owen of digital shopping partner Redbrain; Mike Walters from payment platform Form3; Peter King, director of business banking for fintech bank OakNorth; data-driven and intelligence supplier Quantexa's Imam Hoque; and Dhaval Patel, CEO of Universal Partners, the foreign currency payments provider that is also sponsoring the Track 100s.
We kicked off with the key question: is Britain doing enough to support tech? Hoque said he felt the government was on the right lines with R&D credits, creating a 'Silicon Valley' between Oxford and Cambridge, 'but what we and they really need to fix is the investment model for scaling-up start-ups,' he said.
'There are plenty of initiatives for start-ups but as companies grow it starts to get trickier.' Hoque believes more could be done as well, since we're longer in the EU, to buy British. He cited structural models in Canada and Australia where public pension funds are encouraged to invest in tech. 'More pressure could be applied in the UK,' he said.
Walters said Britain could 'never move fast enough', since tech is constantly accelerating. Where we can score, he said, is by achieving 'greater clarity and alignment with tech in purpose and regulation and being consistent in their delivery.'
There isn't one solution but a host that can combine to create a healthy outlook, he added. 'Buy it if it's British and a British spend, invest so it's funded from UK pension activities, enable regulators to understand and support tech in the UK – all those things have to happen at the same time and consistently to make a real difference.'
King addressed the challenge of beginning and entering a globally crowded space. He said that his area, fintech, was one where Britain had been, and is, a world leader. That was down to government and regulators being keen to encourage and lend their backing.
He agreed with Hoque that the problems arise higher up, when companies increase in size. Then traditional conservatism and aversion to risk kick in, which is when firms are forced to look outside the UK for their funding.
From Redbrain, Owen was asked if the company is getting the talent it needs? 'Honest answer, probably not,' he said. 'Really exceptional people are often drawn to the global tech giants and it can be hard to compete with that.' They choose to go to them because they are playing safe and that is down to a lack of optimism. They have to be invested in and encouraged, and likewise they have to believe in what they're joining and in the longevity of remaining.
Recruiting from abroad is becoming more difficult, not helped by leaving the EU, but there is a talent pool in the UK – it just needs to be made bigger and its members need to be less easily swayed by inducements from elsewhere, especially from those big global players.
On one issue they and the audience were as one: that we rely on the government too much and that the best assistance tech businesses can receive is from the businesses themselves.
At the end, there was some advice for would-be tech entrepreneurs: 'Dig in. Learn it and dig in,' Walters said. Owen said it was about 'creating positive tech experiences for young people, to attract them to the sector, make them grasp its potential and opportunities.' King said while the education system catches up it was up to tech businesses to foster demand, to become as attractive as possible. Patel echoed that with the final say: 'Be the role model you've always wanted to be to others.'
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