Technology company founded by British entrepreneur one of fastest growing in Europe
Increasing demand for business resilience behind Spyrosoft’s growth
The British co-founder of a technology company named today as one of the fastest growing in Europe has predicted an even more rapid move towards machine learning and the use of artificial intelligence across all business sectors seeking greater resilience as a result of the global pandemic.
Andrew Radcliffe, a former government advisor on technology and Head of Development at Ordnance Survey, says businesses across Europe are more urgently looking for ways that technology can be used in the delivery of key aspects of their service post-Covid.
Despite being based in Dorset, Mr Radcliffe co-founded Spyrosoft in Wroclaw in Poland in 2016, shortly after leaving his role at Ordnance Survey. He started the company with just 15 people and two projects.
Five years later the company now employs more than 600 people and has offices in five countries. A year ago it was successfully floated on the Polish NewConnect Stock Exchange. Its UK base is in Ferndown in Dorset.
Today Spyrosoft was listed as fifth in the Financial Times 1000 list of Europe’s companies that achieved the highest annual growth rate in revenue over four consecutive years.
Despite the pandemic and lockdowns across Europe in 2020 the Spyrosoft group’s net revenue grew by 58 per cent to 113m PLN (£21.6m) from 71.5m PLN (£13.7m) in 2019. Gross profits increased by 95 per cent in 2020 to 43m PLN (£8.2m).
Mr Radcliffe said: “The Covid pandemic has seen an even more rapid acceleration towards automation, machine learning and the use of artificial intelligence in all sectors. Businesses have realised they need to be more pandemic-proof and they are looking for technology partners to help them achieve that.
“Whether an increasing switch to e-commerce, robotics or simply having technology solutions perform a wider range of business tasks, companies are looking to us to develop software that ensures they can maintain operations in the midst of a pandemic.
“There’s a difficult balance for companies to strike in looking after their workforce, relying more and more on technology and managing the threat from cyber criminals that follows that growing reliance.
“We are working with some of the biggest names across Europe developing new technology that can help them perform routine tasks or adapt to a post-Covid customer base with its new priorities and habits and do so protected from cyber criminals.”
Since launching Spyrosoft in 2016 the company has worked with 150 clients across the world and that number is increasing rapidly in all territories, and especially in the UK.
Andrew Radcliffe added: “We spotted a growing gap in the market between technology providers and business and decided that we could fill it by providing strong technological competence allied with many years of business experience.
“That enables our software engineering teams to create innovative solutions for our customers across a wide range of sectors.
“We are working at the cutting edge, bringing numerous global clients’ ideas to life by recognising their problems and formulating effective and thorough technology solutions in a range of sectors.
“Being recognised in the FT1000 list alongside some other great companies across Europe is a fantastic achievement for everyone associated with Spyrosoft, including the clients that have hired us, given that we started just under five years ago.
“I am proud of so many things about the continued development and growth of Spyrosoft – the difference we have made for our clients, the professionalism of our teams and their ability to think the unthinkable and make it happen. The very first person we hired five years ago still works for us – and that is another thing that makes me proud to be running a business like Spyrosoft.”
Notes for Editors:
The FT1000 has been published online today by the Financial Times and can be seen at https://www.ft.com/content/8b37a92b-15e6-4b9c-8427-315a8b5f4332
Andrew Radcliffe is available for interview and is happy to be considered for expert panel or speaker opportunities on entrepreneurship, technology and business.
All media and speaker enquiries to Kevin Briscoe on kevin@briscoepr.co.uk or 01489 232030.
After being founded in 2016 in Wroclaw in Poland, some of Spyrosoft’s highlights have included:
- Employed 600 people – 300th person recruited in December 2018 and 400th in October 2019
- Acquired 150+ customers worldwide
- Opened offices in 4 locations in Poland: Krakow, Wroclaw, Warsaw and Bialystok
- Set up a joint venture with GOD GmbH in 2017
- Established a subsidiary in Detroit and in Zagreb in 2019; Munich in 2020
- Launched Unravel in 2020
- Debuted on the NewConnect stock market in Poland in 2020.