The 24th annual Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track 100 awards was held as an interactive virtual event on 19 May 2021. Secretary of State for Business Kwasi Kwarteng, and Josh Bayliss, CEO of Virgin Group, gave welcomes, and Sir Richard Branson took part in a Q&A with guests.

Our 280 guests heard from our keynote speakers about managing rapid growth, responding post-pandemic, and international expansion.

• James Watt MBE, co-founder & captain of BrewDog, the UK’s largest independent brewer, which was valued at £1bn in 2017, and became carbon-negative last year

• Dr Gordon Sanghera, co-founder & chief executive of Oxford Nanopore Technologies, which develops technology for the molecular analysis of living things, and was recently valued at £2.5bn ahead of its planned IPO later this year

John Collingridge, deputy business editor, The Sunday Times, led a Q&A, including questions from our guests.

Guests then took part in small, virtual breakout discussion groups, sharing their thoughts on the opportunities and challenges for their companies post-pandemic.

All companies on the league table received an award certificate, and sponsors presented eight special awards for excellence.

The event was co-hosted by Hamish Stevenson, founder of Fast Track, and by our sponsors, Virgin, BDO, DHL Express, N+1 Singer, Charles Russell Speechlys and The Office Group (TOG); and our media partner The Sunday Times.