The Sunday Times Virgin Atlantic Fast Track 100 league table ranks Britain’s 100 private companies with the fastest-growing sales over their latest three years. It is compiled by Fast Track and published in The Sunday Times each December, with an awards event the following September, and alumni dinners during the year.
The closing date for nominations for the 2021 league table is 1 October, with publication on 5 December 2021.
Fast Track 100 entry criteria
The closing date for nominations for the 2021 league table is 1 October, with publication on 5 December.
- UK registered, unquoted, and not subsidiaries
- Sales of at least £250,000 in the base year (2017 or 2018)
- Sales of at least £5m in the latest year (2020 or 2021)
- Year-on-year sales growth in the latest year from 2019 to 2020, or 2020 to 2021
- Ten or more employees in the latest year (2020 or 2021)
- Operating profit of at least £500,000 in the latest year (2020 or 2021)
- Trading weeks in the base and latest years have to exceed 25
- Recruitment firms, payroll services providers, energy firms and media agencies are required to have gross profits of at least £5m. Sales for recruitment and payroll firms represent total amount invoiced to clients; media agencies’ sales are net of advertising spend on behalf of clients
- Companies that do not meet all the criteria can still be considered for our 10 Fast Track Ones to Watch programme, particularly if they forecast good sales growth
Exclusions
- Technology companies (which appear on Tech Track 100), LLPs, pure property and financial trading companies, and companies with sales of over £500m
- Companies that are equal joint ventures, or majority-owned by quoted or other companies
- We reserve the right to change the qualification criteria set out above and to make exceptions. This is not a competition; the compiler’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into
.@Immunocore, the biotech firm working on treatments for eye cancer, is planning to raise $100m with an IPO on New York’s @Nasdaq exchange. An alumnus of our #SageTechTrack100, the Oxfordshire firm is led by Bahija Jallal (pictured), formerly at @AstraZeneca.
#entrepreneurs
@JoinMultiverse, co-founded and led by Euan Blair, has raised $44m in the largest round for a UK edtech startup, (and has changed its name from WhiteHat). Founded in 2016, the winner of our 10 Fast Track Ones to Watch in 2019 is now valued at $200m. https://t.co/er6gTJWE3K
@JoinMultiverse, co-founded and led by Euan Blair, has raised $44m in the largest round for a UK edtech startup, (and has changed its name from WhiteHat). Founded in 2016, the winner of our 10 Fast Track Ones to Watch in 2019 is now valued at $200m. https://t.co/er6gTJWE3K
@INEOS has given £100m to @UniofOxford to fight antibiotic-resistant superbugs. The donation from the chemicals manufacturer, which tops our #HSBCTopTrack100 league table of Britain’s biggest private companies, will be used to set up an antibiotics research institute.
.@pastaevangelist, the pasta-kit subscription service, is being acquired by Italy’s @Barilla for about £40m. It featured on our #VirginAtlanticFastTrack100 10 Ones to Watch last month, is led by MD Alessandro Savelli, backed by @PrueLeith @gilescoren @WilliamSitwell @Pembroke_VCT
@Checkout has hit a $15bn valuation, making our #SageTechTrack100 alumnus Europe’s most valuable venture-backed company. Founder and CEO Guillaume Pousaz is speaking at our virtual founders & shareholders roundtable on 16 March, sponsored by @Barclays Private Bank.
Dr Martens announces plans for a £3bn float on the London Stock Exchange. An alumnus of our #BDOProfitTrack100, the iconic boot brand is led by CEO Kenny Wilson, who gave a compelling keynote at our Profit Track virtual awards event in October. @BDOaccountant @santanderuk @ubs
Our #VirginAtlanticFastTrack100 alumnus @moonpig reportedly targeting £1bn+ valuation in one of the first IPOs of the year. The online greeting cards firm made sales of £173m and ebitda of £44m last year. https://t.co/b3tgOYmoHr
Congrats to 16 entrepreneurs, directors + employees of our alumni companies recognised in the New Year’s honours. Irene Hays, chair of #PwCTopTrack250 alumnus @HaysTravel (pictured), and Jo da Silva, structural engineer at #TopTrack100 stalwart @ArupGroup, both become dames.
Tackling the challenges of COVID-19 head on: Luke Benton, Owner and MD of @mnbprecision, number 30 on this years' @ST_FastTrack, told us how they've had to react and diversify to maintain growth: https://t.co/P1OrQgXR0e #fasttrack100 https://t.co/SpqdX8rcCl
Types of company
Total sales
£5m - £100mProfits
up to £10mAverage 3 year sales growth
40% - 200% paStaff
10 - 2,000Over the past 23 years our sponsorship has produced great results introducing Virgin to many inspiring entrepreneurs Sir Richard Branson, Virgin
The best of the best entrepreneurs celebrated, which inspires and powers British business Lord Karan Bilimoria CBE DL, co-founder & chairman, Cobra Beer
Fast Track have given Wattbike a new level of credibility and risen our profile Richard Baker, managing director, Wattbike
Being part of Fast Track turbo charges your business Cecile Reinaud, founder & managing director, Séraphine
Fast Track brought us to the attention of the market and since then we've gone from a private business to private equity-backed and on to a successful float Tom Joule, founder & chief brand officer, Joules
Fast Track celebrates the very best of Britain's entrepreneurial businesses and helps promote and propel them to new levels Matt Isaacs, co-founder, Essence
Fast Track has been instrumental in developing brand kudos for our business Steven Ades, finance director, AerFin
Alumni success stories
Featured in 1997 with sales of £17m; floated in 1998 and is being sold by SoftBank to Nvidia for £31bn
First featured in 1997 with sales of £65m; agreed a £3.8bn merger with Dixons in 2014
First featured on Fast Track 100 in 2011 with sales of £6.7m; floated in 2014 and is now worth £2.8bn
Sponsors
