Deloitte Technology Fast 50 awards highlights growth in mobile commerce

Mobile Interactive Group revealed as UK's fastest-growing tech company

London dominates the awards

Integrated mobile and digital communications business, Mobile Interactive Group has come out top in the Deloitte 2010 Technology Fast 50 awards, an independent ranking of the UK’s fastest-growing technology companies.

To qualify, companies must start with operating revenues of at least £34,000 for the first financial year of a five-year period and have achieved at least £540,000 for the most recent financial year.

Mobile Interactive Group topped the list this year with a growth of 26,885 per cent.

The company recently acquired a Manchester-based mobile CRM software business, as well as launching two subsidiary businesses: mobile advertising agency 4th Screen Advertising and digital technology agency Jigsaw.

Mobile Interactive Group chief executive Barry Houlihan said: “We’re delighted to have come top of this year’s Fast 50. We’re in a high-growth industry, dealing with rapid changes in devices, products, platforms and user expectations.”

The awards table points to certain sectors achieving significant gains despite turbulent markets over the past year.

“In spite of challenging financial market conditions, the 2010 Deloitte Fast 50 shows that tremendous growth rates are still possible, with the mobile technology and software sectors showing particular strength,” said David Halstead, partner leading the Fast 50 awards.

This year’s results confirm London’s dominance as a technology hub, with five of the top 10 firms being based in the capital.

London companies make up 40 per cent of the ranking, with the South East at 18 per cent and Cambridge and the East holding 14 per cent. Scotland and Northern Ireland featured the least with four and two per cent respectively.

The top 50 companies also reflected a few of the main operational challenges in managing growth. Hiring and keeping top quality talent came out on top as the main concern (48 per cent), followed by worries around systems and processes (15 per cent), and increasing consumer demand (7 per cent).