Nine of the 62 companies represented in the Belfast based accelerator work in software, IT or digital platforms. Businesses assessed by the ScaleUp Institute also recorded 26% average annual employment growth.
Simple Scaling is approaching its first 100 individual business leaders through the ScaleX Accelerator, with companies from across Northern Ireland represented in the programme.
Nine of the 62 companies on the programme’s company list, or 14.5%, work in software, IT or digital platforms. They span areas including assistive technology, health technology, business software and online marketplaces.
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Eighty-four individual leaders have graduated from ScaleX since it began in 2021. The current cohort is expected to take that total beyond 100 by January.
Simple Scaling estimates that businesses represented by graduates to date, excluding this year’s cohort, have combined revenue of more than £400 million. This is an unaudited estimate for those businesses as a whole, not a revenue figure for the nine technology companies.
Among businesses assessed by the ScaleUp Institute, average annual turnover growth was 29% and average annual employment growth was 26%, with the employment growth sustained across the three years after the programme. These figures relate to the assessed businesses overall, rather than specifically to the technology companies. The Institute has also named ScaleX one of its Ones to Watch.
The ScaleX Accelerator works with leaders on the foundations needed to grow their businesses. These include the leader’s mindset, a clear purpose and vision, a plan to achieve it, and the leadership and systems needed as the company grows. For technology businesses, that means building a company capable of scaling alongside its product.
Brendan McGurgan, cofounder of Simple Scaling, said:
“When we founded Simple Scaling, we had a very clear ambition: to help as many ambitious leaders as possible scale their businesses, and to do it the right way. There were certainly some who questioned whether there was an appetite in Northern Ireland and across Ireland for a programme focused specifically on scaling. We always believed there was.
As we approach our first 100 leaders through the ScaleX Accelerator, I think that belief has been well and truly validated. The growth these businesses have achieved is important, but for me the real impact goes much deeper. It’s seeing leaders think
bigger, lead themselves and their teams better and build stronger businesses, and the positive ripple effect that creates for their people, their families and the communities around them.
Bringing as many of that pioneering 100 together as possible is really about celebrating them: what they’ve achieved, the businesses they’re continuing to build, and the impact they’re capable of creating from here.”
Simple Scaling will bring as many of its ScaleX leaders together as possible at TETTO Rooftop Bar in Belfast on Thursday 8 October for its Pioneering 100 gathering, held in partnership with BGF.
As businesses in Simple Scaling’s wider community have grown and recruited, its Talent Solutions team has directly placed more than 500 people into roles.
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