Double Eleven
Teesside computer games firm won an unprecedented four North East Business Awards this year, including the top Company of the Year prize.
The company has worked on a number of bestselling games, including Minecraft, Crackdown 3, Prison Architect, Lego Harry Potter and Goat Simulator.
Recent growth has seen headcount top 200 and it has announced plans to invest around £1m in a new base in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to give it room for further growth. It is also looking for a second base in the North East.
That journey saw founder Lee Hutchinson being named Entrepreneur of the Year at the North East Entrepreneurial Awards in September.
Alexander Technologies Europe
The Peterlee firm can call itself the region’s fastest growing company after topping the Ward Hadaway Fastest 50 list for 2021.
The firm, which employs more than 100 people, manufactures and distributes batteries from its County Durham base. Its history goes back more than 40 years and it was acquired in an equity-backed MBO two years ago.
Most Read
In the last three years, bolstered by investment of £9.2m, revenue has increased by 400% to £46m per year, production capacity has increased by more than 350% and the company has boosted its export of manufactured products to the US by 78%.
Managing director Mark Rutherford points to “innovative product solutions” and a “customer-centric philosophy” as reasons for its success.
Skill Mill
Not many firms wins Queen’s Awards for Enterprise, but the Gateshead-based Skill Mill won two on the same day.
The social enterprise, which provides employment opportunities for young people coming out of the criminal justice system, won awards in both the sustainable development and promoting opportunities categories.
Skill Mill was launched in 2013 and has worked with almost 200 former offenders who have a re-offending rate of 9% compared to 72% for a similar group nationally. This year it celebrated zero re-offending among the people it worked with.
Managing director David Parks aims to turn offenders into “employees with legitimate income, self-respect and a desire to change their behaviour.”
Don’t miss
Bottlepay
Set up by Partnerize co-founder Pete Cheyne, Bottlepay aims to revolutionise payment systems by helping people to make small digital payments to businesses in an economic way.
In February the firm, based at Hoults’ Yard in Newcastle’s east end, gained a £50m valuation after raising £11m in a seed funding round. (It had earlier been tipped as one of The Journal’s ‘Ones to Watch in 2021).
But that valuation proved to be very much conservative in November when it was acquired by US bitcoin company NYDIG in a shares deal reported to be worth up to $300m.
END
The other eyecatching deal that took place this year saw American investment house Carlyle Group take a majority stake in Tyneside fashion retailer END Clothing in a transaction that reportedly values the firm at around $1bn.
The company - known for the long queues outside its Newcastle city centre store for the arrival of limited edition trainers - has been one of the region’s most hotly tipped companies for a number of years, having won inclusion on a number of national league tables for fast growing businesses in recent years.
Founders Christiaan Ashworth and John Parker have retained a stake in the firm and remain to run it.
In the last few weeks the company has opened a second store in Newcastle, taking over the much-loved former Mawson, Swan and Morgan store at the top of Grey Street.
Everflow Group
Wynard-based utilities firm Everflow Group was named as one of the fastest-growing companies in the whole of Europe after revenues rose from around £300,000 in 2016 to £47m three years later.
The performance put it third on the Financial Times’ annual list of Europe’s top 1,000 businesses on the rise.
The company later announced plans to double its workforce after securing investment of £750,000 from the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund.
Founder Josh Gill won a number of awards during the year.
Crafter’s Companion
The Newton Aycliffe firm was well on its way to being an international success even before Sara Davies gained the added exposure of joining the panel for BBC business show Dragon’s Den.
That exposure was rocketed further by Ms Davies’ appearances on this year’s Strictly Come Dancing, leaving the busy entrepreneur to run the company in the early hours when she wasn’t training for upcoming shows.
Crafter’s Companion celebrated its 16th birthday during 2021 and Ms Davies won awards from the Association For Creative Industries’ Industry and Northern Power Women.
The firm also got to belatedly collect the Queen’s Award for Enterprise it had won in 2020.
Vertu
In what was a difficult year for the automotive sector, Gateshead-based motor retailer Vertu has twice had to raise profits forecasts after countering a lack of available new cars with a surge in sales of used vehicles.
The company also celebrated its 15th anniversary, with founder and CEO Robert Forrester saying: “Out of challenging times come better times.”
Vertu’s ‘buy and build’ strategy - which went on hold during the worst times of the pandemic - has resumed in the last few weeks with a £9.2m deal for a car dealership chain in Leicestershire.
And Mr Forrester found fame - sort of - when he appeared in disguise on the ITV show Undercover Big Boss.
Ryder Architecture
The changing face of Newcastle over the last few years - and the years to come - will be down in part to this city architectural practice.
The designers of The Lumen, at Helix, and the NUCastle development for Newcastle United Foundation, has also drawn up the plans for Pilgrim’s Quarter, which will become the city’s largest single office development when HMRC relocates there from its current Longbenton base.
In November, Ryder acquired interior design company Ward Robinson Designs to add to the services it offers and it was named national Architectural Practice of the Year at the Building Awards 2021.
Fujifilm Diosynth
The company will become the largest multi-modal biopharmaceutical manufacturing site in the 海角视频 after announcing a £400m investment into its Teesside facility.
The investment will double the size of the Billingham plant, and create up to 350 new jobs.
Fujifilm is using its North East facility to produce millions of doses of the Novavax coronavirus vaccine and was boosted by approval in Europe and the 海角视频 for the vaccine.
You can join the BusinessLive North East conversation on and