SmartSearch named in The FT 1000 annual list of Europe’s fastest-growing companies

Leeds Anti-Money Laundering (AML) firm SmartSearch is officially one of the fastest-growing companies in Europe after being named in the FT 1000.

FT 1000: Europe’s Fastest Growing Companies is a list of the top 1000 companies in Europe that have achieved the highest percentage growth in revenues between 2014 and 2017.

SmartSearch is 917th in the third annual FT 1000 following revenue of €6.5m (£5.5m) in 2017, marking absolute revenue growth of 180% between 2014 and 2017.

SmartSearch is one of just 131 companies from the UK in the list and one of 10 in the FinTech industry; a huge achievement for the Leeds-based firm.

To be included in the list, companies had to have revenue of at least €100,000 generated in 2014 and at least €1.5m generated in 2017. Companies had to be independent, headquartered in Europe and revenue growth had to be primarily organic.

According to the FT, it was harder to secure a place on the list this year, as the bottom-ranked company achieved a growth rate of 37.7 per cent, compared with 34.6 per cent last year.

James Dobson, marketing director at SmartSearch said: "We knew that the company had grown significantly, but to see that we are 917th in Europe, amongst big names like Deliveroo and Perkbox, is quite staggering.

“Based on the 2014-2017 figures, we are 124 out of 131 UK companies, but we have seen much faster growth in the past year; revenue in 2018 was £7.9m and the longer-term aim is for turnover to hit £20m by 2020.

“We currently have more than 3,100 customers with around 50 new clients joining every month. And with the 5th anti Money laundering directive stipulating that identity checks should electronic wherever possible, the demand for our services only going to increase.”