TEES TECH AWARDS 2022
COMPANY OF THE YEAR
SPONSORED BY DIGITALCITY AND MIDDLESBROUGH DIGITAL
Ambitious – EnAppSys director Phil Hewitt received the Company of the Year award from David Dixon and Daniel Watson of DigitalCity and Middlesbrough Digital .
WINNER
EnAppSys
Energy data specialist EnAppSys ’ directors revealed they have plans to enter lots more countries as the Stockton-based business continues to grow .
The firm – which provides vital data services to power markets in the UK and abroad – was the unanimous choice of the judges for the Best Company title .
And “ shocked ” directors Phil Hewitt and Paul Verrill were delighted with their win – especially as they have kept their company ’ s “ light under a bushel ” since it was founded in 2003 .
The firm , which supplies detailed market insight to some of the biggest wholesale energy market participants in Europe , has 35 staff – including 25 in Stockton plus a Dutch office in Terneuzen – and an expected turnover of £ 4.5m for 2021-22 , with a profit of £ 1.5m .
But if all goes well , there ’ s much more to come , with director Phil Hewitt saying European expansion is on the cards .
He said : “ We ’ re continuing to grow by accessing more markets . We ’ re already well known in this corner of Europe – Ireland , Britain , the Netherlands , Belgium , France – so this year we ’ re entering Italy , Spain and Portugal . We ’ re on a Trade North-East mission to Portugal in a couple of weeks ’ time .
“ We ’ re basically doing one market by one market – we ’ ve got 32 markets to do and we ’ ve done five .” And fellow director Paul agreed the future ’ s looking positive . He said : “ We ’ ve just done probably our most ambitious business plan going forward , which sees us on a trajectory to 110 people and five-fold growth , so the world ’ s next for us !”
SPONSOR ’ S MESSAGE
Daniel Watson , of Middlesbrough Digital , said : “ We were delighted to be involved in the Tees Tech Awards again this year , and to see such a different makeup of businesses from the previous two years was fantastic ! We ’ ve always wanted the Tees Tech Awards to be something that not only acknowledges successes , but also acts as a vehicle that shines a light on the fantastic achievements of our sector in order to inspire the next generation . I genuinely believe we have achieved that , and I would like to thank everyone involved in making it a reality .”
FINALIST
SOCKMONKEY STUDIOS
A video game development studio founded in 2013 , SockMonkey ’ s mix of industry veterans and fresh faces has ensured rapid growth for the Middlesbrough-based business .
Predominantly a work-for-hire studio , it works on everything from partial to full-scale game development for clients such as SEGA , TinyBuild , Sumo and Disney .
With an estimated £ 3.2m turnover in the next financial year and a new 5,000-sq ft base in Sixteen-26 Albert Road , these are exciting times for a company that ’ s team now features more than 40 world-class games developers – as well as Minnie the Pug ! And by the end of 2023 , the studio aims to have around 70 people in play – plus Minnie , of course .
FINALIST
VIANET
With more than 160 employees , Stocktonbased Vianet ’ s software platforms and solutions specialise in delivering data insight , remote asset management and contactless payment for the hospitality , vending machine , unattended retail , food service and fuel sectors .
Vianet has more than 300 customers across its technology estate , including global blue-chip clients such as Lavazza , Greene King , Compass Group , Atalian Servest and Coca-Cola .
It continues to invest in support and training for its employees , including a new SmartAcademy e-learning portal for employees and customers .
And with more than 250,000 devices connected to Vianet ’ s platform , along with years of experience and knowledge , it offers a powerful technology and insight capability few can match .
The voice of business in the Tees region | 51