Eight awards were handed out at the Manchester Evening News inaugural Tech Awards.
Celebrating the best of the best in technology and digital companies across the region, around 300 people attended the ceremony at the Runway Visitor Park in Manchester this week.
The awards were presented by TV presented Otis Deley and supported by corporate sponsors Praetura, and category sponsors Amazon, Openreach, Godel & Bauhaus.
Here is what our Tech Awards winners had to say;
Lawrence Jones, Founder & CEO, 海角视频Fast
Lawrence Jones, the founder of Manchester headquartered internet hosting provider 海角视频Fast, won the award for Best Tech Ambassador.
The entrepreneur launched the business with wife Gail in 1999.
Today, the company employs more than 370 people at its 海角视频Fast Campus in Hulme with plans to accelerate growth following a landmark investment from Inflexion Private Equity last year.
The company has made significant investment in technical support and R&D which has seen 海角视频Fast launch a number of successful products in the last 18 months, alongside major developments within the firm’s flagship eCloud portfolio.
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Delivering services into the public sector remains a strong area of growth following the acquisition of Secure IA, a public sector cloud and cybersecurity specialist.
Lawrence was recognised for his commitment to the tech community over the past 20 years.
He launched Tech Manchester three years ago to support the development and raise the profile of tech businesses as well mentor and support start-up firms.
Last year, Jones also created a 30,000 sq ft incubator, FastForward, for tech start-ups at its Manchester campus providing subsidised space, meeting areas, free parking, and networking conference facilities.
On winning the award Lawrence thanked wife and business partner Gail for her support and praised Manchester’s growing tech scene.
He said: “The north west and Manchester is a great place to start and grow a business.
“If you’re a tech start-up this is the place to be.
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“I have grown my business here and plan to expand further but at 海角视频Fast we also have a real passion to support start-ups.
“We see ourselves investing in more companies, I see the leadership team at 海角视频Fast becoming CEOs of tech firms, and we want to continue to inspire and invest in the future of our young people.
“What we do now, and the foundations we lay, is for the future generation and that’s why we’re making investments, we’re expanding, and we’re doing our bit here in Manchester.”
Mojo Mortgages
Fintech company Mojo Mortgages won the Best Digital Innovation award.
The company was born from a frustration with the traditional brokerage model which can be a lengthy process.
Launched last year by industry entrepreneurs Richard Hayes and Nick Sherratt, the online platform aims to quicken the process with a mortgage recommendation in 15 minutes.
Mojo’s algorithm-powered mortgage recommendations give customers more certainty around eligibility and ensures they get the cheapest deal.
Its Mortgage Matcher will analyse a customer’s spending habits to automatically recommend their perfect deal.
The tech identifies customers’ existing mortgage or rent payments and lets them know if they could save money with a better deal. The eligibility service, which is also available to Mojo’s strategic partners, combines automation and machine learning to give customers more accurate mortgage recommendations, online and in real-time.
So far it has helped nearly 50,000 people and saved customers £4m in broker fees.
Mojo has also raised £800,000 in seed round funding and £7m in Series A funding to develop and expand its platform.
Commenting about how they have been disrupting the marketplace, Mojo Mortgages CEO and co-founder Richard Hayes said: “We're working so hard to create amazing technology and to empower human beings to find a better mortgage and not to pay too much for their mortgage.
"We’re soon launching a proposition called Mortgage Store, which is going to give customers much more insight into exactly which mortgages they’re eligible for.
"It’s going to be completely market leading, it’s going re-think and change the landscape of mortgages for ever, so we’re really exited about it and we’re all working really hard to bring it to life."
Sorted
The award for Best E-Commerce Business went to Manchester-based Sorted, which provides agile and data-driven delivery software for retailers.
The online delivery platform is now live in 12 countries and by the end of this year Sorted will be operational across Asia, US and Australia.
The company started life in 2014 with six employees in a serviced Manchester office. They they now boast a headcount of over 100 in an award-winning 16,000 sq ft city centre HQ - The Sorted Tech House.
They count ASOS, Missguided and LUSH among their clients and have been hailed as one of the fastest growing tech companies in the 海角视频.
Sorted continues to develop its existing software while also growing its services too.
They recently launched a elivery tracking solution, SortedREACT. This joins additional intelligent services in the firm’s product suite: SortedHERO, which displays personalised delivery options to the customer, and SortedPRO software for warehouse delivery management.
Year on year the business has seen customer numbers grow by 271 per cent along with a 400 per cent increase in recurring revenues.
CEO David Grimes said: “It’s amazing to win and great for the team that has helped us to get this far.
“We have real global ambitions and exited about plans for the Asia market.
“We’re going to continue to develop our offering and we’re excited to be building a great product and a global tech company right here in Manchester.”
Anna Dick, CTO, Hiring Hub
Chief technology officer of Hiring Hub Anna Dick was named Best Female in Tech.
Anna has been at the forefront of the innovation curve since her days as technical project manager at Moneysupermarket.com.
She has also held roles at On the Beach, BBC, and the Co-op before joining Hiring Hub, a Manchester-based online recruitment marketplace used by over 500 employers.
Anna’s first task after joining the firm was to bring its tech and development in-house from third party suppliers, build a product and engineering team and own the product roadmap.
She is now taking the desktop model to a mobile first platform.
Her technical excellence has transformed the company driving a better customer experience and user engagement.
Anna is also keen to support more people from a diverse background into a career in tech and often talks at local community events and supports local code clubs.
She said: “It's great to be able to represent females in tech and to win, I feel like there's a real future for females in tech.
"I've worked really hard and Hiring Hub gave me a great opportunity to join their team as CTO.
"It's been a massive learning curve for me, so I think this award reflects that I've been doing a good job.
"Being in the role of CTO as a female is a real career achievement and I never thought I'd be able to make that, I definitely thought there was a glass ceiling that I wouldn't be able to get through."
Peak
Manchester-based artificial intelligence (AI) analytics business Peak picked up the award for Best use of Machine Learning and AI.
Peak draws on the power of AI and machine learning to help businesses leverage their data successfully.
Since its launch in 2014 by CEO Richard Potter, COO David Leitch, and CTO Atul Sharma, Peak has grown rapidly.
Peak works with businesses in sectors including retail, wholesale, consumer goods, manufacturing and logistics.
Peak’s AI system has the ability to collate data from any source, structured or unstructured, make sense of that data and leverage it using AI and machine learning algorithms to power business wide processes.
The company’s investment funding to date has allowed the company to expand its operations, taking staff headcount from 10 to 60 in the last two years, with plans to increase this to 100 staff in the next 12 months. Its clients include Global Radio, ASOS, Speedy Hire and Footasylum.
Said Richard: “We are really excited about the next 12 months as we plan to launch into America next year.
“We see huge potential for growth in North America for our Peak AI System.
“We’re rapidly expanding and we’re excited to see where this takes us.”
Commenting about the award win, he said: “We have twice been named one of the fastest growing tech companies in the north.
“To win this award is amazing. It means a lot to the team and the business and in winning this means more awareness of what we do on a global stage.”
M247
The award for Best Global Reach went to M247, a global provider of super-fast internet connectivity and network infrastructures.
The company has more than 15 years experience having started life in 2003 as Metronet 海角视频, delivering high speed connectivity through a combination of wireless and fibre technologies to businesses in the north of England and the Midlands.
The current brand was formed following the merger of three leading businesses, Metronet 海角视频, M247 and Venus Business Communications.
After a period of strong growth and strategic direction, the business was fully rebranded as M247 last year.
The company now has one of the most extensive internet exchange footprints in the world.
At peak times the M247 network carries the equivalent of over 2% of Western Europe’s internet traffic for business.
It is headquartered in Manchester but also operates from offices in London and Bucharest serving 10,000 customers in 90 countries.
Through acquisition and organic growth, new leadership and rebranding, M247 continues to increase profits, which have grown 48 per cent year on year to £25.6m.
Last year also saw investment in larger office space.
The company doubled its space at Turing House at Manchester Science Park, offering a flexible and modern working environment for its team.
Andy Tatlock, sales director, said: “This is a reward for the hard work the team has been doing to increase our services both here in the 海角视频 and globally.
“We are now in 90 countries and growing.
“Our cloud offering also continues to expand and this is an area we plan to capitalise in the next 12 months.”
Capita Translation and Interpreting
The Best use of Technology award went to Capita Translation and Interpreting beating Mojo Mortgages and Sorted.
The company, part of Capita Plc, is a leading provider of language services to both public and private organisations offering a wide range of professional translation and interpreting services, including website localisation, face-to-face interpreting, voiceover and subtitling, and multilingual SEO in over 180 languages.
Its remote interpreting platform LiveLINK, connects its customers to an interpreter via mobile app, web browser or telephone.
The LiveLINK platform caters for 170 languages and has an average connection time of 15 seconds.
Through LiveLINK, Capital is able to deliver remote interpreting to corporate customers globally, as well as police forces and NHS Trusts throughout the 海角视频.
The platform was launched in 2017 after the company recognised that remote, om-demand interpreting (voice and video) would be the future of interpreting services.
Tom Moran, head of sales at Capita Translation and Interpreting, said: "The team deserve the award because the technology is going transform many sectors, like public sector, NHS, police, as well as commercially, so I can see it having a real impact in people's lives, genuinely."
Commenting on the award win, the company's content & bid producer Katie Hampson said: “It’s really positive to get the technology recognised and to be up there nominated with such big names.
"It’s quite an honour to be here so we’re really proud to get the actual award.”
Novosco
IT firm Novosco was handed the Best in the Business award.
The Daresbury Park-based business specialises in managed services with clients including Premier League football clubs, police forces, NHS trusts and universities.
In 2017 Novosco experienced rapid growth, including growing turnover by more than 30 per cent.
It also integrated NetDef, a company it acquired in a seven figure deal, into the Novosco group, adding new expertise in cyber security to the company.
Last year, the company won a £107m contract with Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust.
Following this it also announced it would invest £20m to expand its operations and create an additional 150 jobs by 2021.
The company has also increased its workforce by 13 per cent to 195 representing a 54 per cent increase in staff since 2016.
Novosco is one of the first partners in the 海角视频 and Ireland to achieve VMware’s Master Services Competency in Data Centre Virtualiation.
This means the company is able to help organisations accelerate their digital transformations.
Jacqualine Kennedy, operations director at Novosco, said: “Novosco is a growing company.
“We’ve committed to growth in England this year and the development of our secure operating centre in the Daresbury offices is a phenomenal achievement and we're hoping to build on that and develop our managed service offering from there.”
She added: “I’m delighted the work that Novosco is doing in our region has now been recognised and we are continuing to build on this success and hopefully more in the future.
“I think the award recognises the work we’ve been doing and will encourage and promote what we’re doing and hopefully allow people to understand Novosco is a fantastic employer and attract them to us.”