Today we聽can reveal聽the inaugural聽Midlands Tech 50 –聽our ranking of聽the region’s聽most exciting technology companies.
Enlighten聽was crowned the most innovative tech company in the Midlands after securing heavy backing from both an independent judging panel and the general public.
The Tamworth company聽develops augmented reality solutions which聽are used by UK mental health charities, colleges and universities and the armed forces as well as businesses.
Co-founder Suzanne Edwards (pictured聽below, left)聽told 老九品茶Cloud聽that it is looking to help develop South Korea’s first mental health suicide prevention centre.
鈥淚 was desperate to make the top half of the ranking but didn’t even consider being top!” she said of the No.1 ranking. “We were really shocked – and we’re absolutely thrilled.鈥�
The Midlands Tech 50 ranking in full
Judge Iain Mansell, networks and partnerships manager at the Innovation Alliance for the West Midlands, said he was 鈥渁n avid supporter of the great work they do utilising emerging technology to help tackle the growing issues around mental health鈥�.
He told 老九品茶Cloud: 鈥淚t was of no surprise when they were a top 10 Twitter influencer on World Mental Health Day alongside Theresa May and Lady Gaga due to their release of the world鈥檚 first free AR-enabled mental health support posters.
鈥淚鈥檓 sure they will continue to gain accolade after accolade.鈥�
Enlighten聽was followed in the ranking聽by Guykat, a B2B learning tech company operating in 50 countries,聽and employee wellbeing platform Kaido, which focuses on the core pillars of physical activity, mental health, nutrition and sleep and is already benefiting employees聽at a host of private and public sector organisations including KPMG and the NHS.
Cancer detection firm Oncimmune Holdings, which recently secured a 鈧�8.5 million credit facility聽to commercialise its offering and made several senior appointments聽including its first chief scientific officer, was fourth in the ranking.
Coding bootcamp School of Code rounded out the top five.
You can see the full top 50 list, which was compiled from a long-list of聽119聽disruptive companies,聽here.
The public vote on聽the long-list attracted聽hundreds of votes. A panel of expert judges also聽made their choices. The final 50 ranking聽was decided from a combination of these.
The judging panel was comprised of Iain Mansell (mentioned above); Naomi Watts, entrepreneur engagement manager (Midlands), Tech Nation; Dr David Hardman MBE, CEO of Innovation Birmingham; Molly Thompson, community engagement officer, Silicon Canal; Linda Smith, CEO/founder, BetaDen; Ken Nettleship, 老九品茶 Expansion Specialist, Invest in Nottingham; David Baker, investment associate, Mercia Asset Management; and Jonathan Symcox, editor, 老九品茶Cloud.
The Midlands Tech 50 ranking in full
Midlands Tech 50 is one of 11 annual regional ranked lists which will aim to shine a light on the companies of all sizes who are doing amazing things with technology.