Growth Builder, a sector agnostic business growth programme hand-picked 48 businesses to participate in its year-long programme, working with the Government, universities, entrepreneurs and business leaders across industries.

A third of the cohort are digital and technology businesses, owing to the sector’s meteoric rise. On average the businesses taking part are hitting £4.5 million revenue a year and are looking to take on the next growth challenge.

The programme has been designed by UCL, Natwest, UKTI, BT, PIE Mapping, Fast Growth Forum, the UK Business Angels Association and Loughborough University, and in line with its collaborative roots, is the first time the public sector, entrepreneurs, universities and private sector have joined forces to help growth businesses bridge the gap between start-ups and mid-market companies

“In my 2014 Scale-Up Report we identified a need to support rapidly expanding ‘scale-up’ companies to create a significant proportion of the UK’s economic growth; RBS analysis suggested an additional 238,000 jobs and £38 billion additional turnover is possible if we reverse the ‘scale up gap’,” Sherry Coutu CBE, serial entrepreneur and investor, commented.

“In this report I called for Government, entrepreneurs, educators, investors and large corporates to work together to support these businesses,” she added.

Coutu, the brains behind Founders4Schools, will be working alongside other business icons, including Brent Hoberman (lastminute.com, made.com, Founders Forum & Founders Factory), Sarah Wood (Unruly), Ed Wray (Betfair), Dale Murray CBE (Sussex Place Ventures), Simon Devonshire OBE (Entrepreneur in residence at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills), Glen Calvert (Affectv), Brynne Herbert (MOVE Guides) and Neill Ricketts (Versarien plc).

Ben Fletcher, chairman of Growth Builder, commented: “This programme was built because we believed there was a need to help already established businesses achieve their next level of growth – be that launching into a new sector, geography or attracting big contracts.”