A Scottish activewear business has topped an annual ranking of the fastest-growing private companies.
Glasgow-based Dfyne is owned by Oscar Ryndziewicz whose parents came to Britain from Poland.
After a few false starts, the 35-year-old now leads a highly profitable business that employs 120 staff and hit revenues of £66.8 million this year, a 517% average annual growth in the last three years.
Mr Ryndziewicz admits that luck plays its part in success. “There is always a bit of luck involved and anyone who has done well who says otherwise is not really telling the truth. But if you don’t try you are never going to get lucky.”
His girlfriend Eilidh, an NHS orthoptist, maxed out her credit card to help him get Dfyne off the ground. The pair married this month.
The 100 small firms that feature on this year’s Sunday Times 100 ranking, compiled from data supplied by Beauhurst, have created 10,500 jobs in the past three years and are planning 5,300 more over the next 12 months. Among the firms listed, 28 are led by female founders or co-founders.
Notably, ten firms are in Scotland and Wales, which had none in last year’s list. London has slipped, down from 43 to 36 companies, while the northwest of England has 18, up from just 10 last year.
On average the companies grew their revenues by 111% a year for the past three years to a combined £3.4 billion, an increase of £2.8bn. They all say they make a profit, a key criteria to qualify. Another is that they cannot have more than £250 million in annual sales.
The majority of companies are self-funded. Only 39 of the companies on the list have raised external equity funding since 2011.
This year the fastest growing technology companies have been excluded and will appear in a sister ranking.
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