Member Article

Winners revealed at Startups Awards 2015

The winners of the prestigious Startups Awards 2015 were revealed on 27 November in a ceremony at the underground vaults of Vinopolis, London, with Appear Here crowned as the Simply Business Startups Business of the Year.

More than two hundred of the nation’s most talented businesspeople and spectators alike, gathered to celebrate the UK’s start-up scene’s ‘ones to watch’, with 16 awards presented by nationally renowned and award winning comedian Alun Cochrane.

The top prize of the evening – the coveted title of Simply Business Startups Business of the Year went to Appear Here. The winner of this award was chosen by the judges from the successful companies in all other categories.

Appear Here is an online marketplace for short-term retail space. It enables landlords and start-ups to lease and rent flexible space in key retail locations around the country. More than 1,000 spaces are currently listed on the site and, having recently bagged $7.5m equity investment, international expansion is on the cards. The company also scooped the Venture Funded Business of the Year award.

Other prizes on the night included the People’s Champion, an award voted for by the general public. This year Cornerstone, a service delivering men’s grooming products, took home the accolade.

Online estate agency Purplebricks was named as Tech Business of the Year, while former Apprentice contestant Susan Ma’s vegan skincare business Tropic Skincare collected the Product Business of the Year award.

Mini-cab and taxi booking app Minicabit won The App of the Year award – a new award for 2015 and the co-founders of guilt-free popcorn business PROPERCORN were recognised in the Young Entrepreneur of the Year category.

Sponsored by the UK’s favourite business insurance broker Simply Business and organised by Startups.co.uk, the number one website for start-ups and small businesses, the awards are now in their 12th year and continue to shine a spotlight on the country’s finest up-and-coming businesses, naming a total of 16 winners this year.

With a record number of entries, the judging panel, which included Dragons’ Den star Touker Suleyman, much-loved British designer Cath Kidston MBE and co-founder of Innocent Drinks Jon Wright, faced a tough task in selecting businesses with the potential to follow in the footsteps of successful predecessors including Secret Escapes, Notonthehighstreet.com and The Cambridge Satchel Company.

David Lester, founder of Startups.co.uk, commented: “This year we’ve seen a stellar line-up of judges uncover the cream of the crop in business.

“In 2015 we also welcomed more entries than ever before, so this year’s finalists truly are the best in their fields. Huge congratulations to all of our participants, particularly our 16 outstanding winners.

“This evening has shown what the UK has to offer in terms of high-quality and innovative start-ups, which are shaping the way for future talent. I predict bright futures for all of our shortlisted and winning companies – watch this space..!”

The full list of Startups Awards 2015 winners is:

Simply Business Startups Business of the Year: Appear Here

People’s Champion: Cornerstone

App of the Year: minicabit

Crowdfunded Business of the Year: Berrywhite

Export Business of the Year: Frog Bikes

Franchisee of the Year: Schmidt Palmers Green

Innovative Business of the Year: Purplebricks

Lean Start-up of the Year: Nutriment

Product Business of the Year: Tropic Skincare

Retail Business of the Year: Gousto

Service Business of the Year: ForrestBrown

Tech Business of the Year: Purplebricks

Venture Funded Business of the Year: Appear Here

Women in Business Award: Swoon Editions

Young Entrepreneur of the Year: PROPERCORN

Visit www.startupsawards.co.uk for more information.

-ENDS-

NOTES TO EDITORS

For more information please contact the press office on 01273 666200 or email startups@midnight.co.uk.

When referring to the awards please refer to it as Startups Awards and when to the organisers, Startups.co.uk.

To be eligible to enter businesses must have been trading no earlier than August 1 2011, must be privately owned and based in the UK.

ABOUT STARTUPS.CO.UK

Startups.co.uk is the number one website for start-ups and small businesses. Established in 2000, it is specifically designed to answer any start-up business questions a user may have, as well as boasting an extremely active forum where readers can exchange ideas. Startups’ popularity continues to increase with small business owners and new businesses consistently rating Startups.co.uk as the UK’s leading source of information for entrepreneurs.

http://startups.co.uk/about-us/

ABOUT OUR SPONSORS

Simply Business

Simply Business are the headline sponsor of the Startups Awards 2015 and the UK’s largest online business insurance broker. Right at the heart of the start-up community, they work with customers to enable progress and drive success, while providing a hub for specialist knowledge, support and on the pulse news reports.

www.simplybusiness.co.uk

Experian

Experian is a credit reference agency which works with SMEs to help protect and grow their businesses. Winning new clients and working with different suppliers is exciting for expanding companies, but too often due diligence can be forgotten. Experian’s insight offers an easy and affordable way of finding new businesses to trade with, making you better informed when choosing reliable suppliers or making credit decisions on customers both at home and overseas

www.experian.co.uk/99for99

haysmacintyre

haysmacintyre are a successful firm of Chartered Accountants and tax advisers based in Central London, providing quality accountancy, tax, corporate finance and business advice to entrepreneurs and fast growing businesses. The 25 partners lead a team of 170 staff advising start-ups, fast growing and entrepreneurial businesses, listed companies and social enterprises on a range of commercial and financial challenges. Their professionals work in specific sectors which include creative, media & technology, hospitality, real estate, financial services and social enterprises.

www.haysmacintyre.com

Big Red Cloud

Big Red Cloud is a leading supplier of online account’s software to the small and mid-sized business market. For a low monthly fee of just £10 a month you can join the 35,000 companies using their award winning suite of products.

They believe in giving exceptional value by including, multiple users, telephone, email, live chat support and free access for your accountant.

www.bigredcloud.co.uk

Nominet

Nominet is the internet registry services provider for all UK domain names including .co.uk, .org.uk, .me.uk and the newly launched .uk. They operate the national infrastructure, and run the technology behind, the UK internet with millions of businesses and consumers depending on Nominet’s services every day.

Domain names are one of the key building blocks of the internet – the new .uk domain is shorter and sharper and signifies people and businesses based in the UK with a global outlook – the ideal platform and online address for a new, digitally-savvy generation.

www.nominet.org.uk

MadeSimple Group

MadeSimple Group offers business products and services to start-up companies and small businesses. Founded in 2002, they now run more than 8 websites providing services such as Company Formations, Virtual Offices, Mail Forwarding, Business Training, Tax Returns, Company Credit Reports and Business and Legal Documents. As the name suggests they believe in keeping things simple, which is how they have successfully formed over 350,000 companies.

www.companiesmadesimple.com

RBS

Founded in Edinburgh in 1727, RBS provides financial products and services to personal, commercial, corporate and institutional customers. RBS understands that small businesses play an integral part to the country’s economy and believes it’s important to support the growth of start-up businesses. The “Innovative Business of the Year” is an exciting category and it’s important to support British innovation wherever possible.

http://www.business.rbs.co.uk

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Startups Awards .