The billion-pound founders club redefining British business

Zenobe

In August 2024, English band Massive Attack put on a one-day festival with a difference. The concert in Bristol was designed to be net zero, from how it was powered to the transport to get there and the food available. One of the companies helping to power the gig was Zenobe. It provided 19 battery units, as well as eight fully electric double-decker buses to shuttle people between Bristol Temple Meads station and the venue.

This is, on a smaller scale, what Zenobe is hoping to do to the UK – and global – economy. The company is developing electric batteries that can store energy generated by renewable power. These are not the batteries you might find in a remote control or watch; they are more like small power stations. And they will be key to the energy transition.

“I really think it’s up to our generation to address some of the challenges that have been set up by previous generations through the use of fossil fuels,” says co-founder James Basden. “We have a unique opportunity to set up a carbon-free electricity power network and transport system that our children and grandchildren will benefit from.”

That unique opportunity is helping to power its success. Revenues are up 253 per cent over the past three years, hitting £54.6m in its most recent results. And its valuation has passed £1bn, suggesting there is far more growth still to come.

Revolut

Revolut's rise has been dramatic. Founded just 10 years ago, it is now worth more than $45bn, according to a secondary share sale last year – cementing its position as the most valuable private technology company in Europe and the UK’s most valuable fintech firm. It is also the most profitable company on the list, bringing in more than £1bn in its most recent results.

Revolut is the brainchild of founder Nikolay Storonsky, who was born in Russia but came to the UK when he was 20. He worked as a trader for Lehman Brothers, losing around £500,000 when the firm collapsed in 2008.

The service, which he founded with now chief technology officer Vlad Yatsenko, offers app-based payments, undercutting mainstream banks with services such as fee-free foreign exchange. It has since pushed into other areas, including equity, commodity and cryptocurrency trading, helping to spur its growth. It was granted a UK banking licence last year, after a three-year wait, and has just announced plans to invest more than €1bn in France, where it will build its western Europe headquarters as it targets yet more growth.

Storonsky is bullish on the company’s prospects. In 2018, he told The Times that “if we do what we do for another few years, we’ll be five times bigger than any bank”. It still has some way to go for that to be true, but with revenues growing by more than 230 per cent over the past three years, you wouldn’t bet against it.

CMR Surgical

CMR Surgical is one of the most exciting businesses in the UK. One of its founders is Mark Slack, a South African doctor who came here after losing hope that apartheid would ever end. Having studied medicine, he worked in an academic hospital in Cambridge where he would treat patients and work on innovations.

In particular, he was interested in how much keyhole surgery was being done versus how much could be done. Keyhole surgery reduces the risk of complications compared to open surgery, with the added benefit that patients also recover faster. However, less surgery is done as keyhole than could be because it takes a high level of skill and it is difficult to train surgeons.

Slack thought robots could help, so he teamed up with robotics expert Luke Hares, as well as Keith Marshall, Paul Roberts and Martin Frost, to develop its technology. The story of CMR Surgical highlights the value of ecosystems such as Cambridge, where people can meet and skills come together. “The ecosystem that existed around us contributed hugely to the success of building the robot and getting it out there,” Slack says.

Its surgical robot system, Versius, is now in 186 locations across Europe, the Asia-Pacific, Middle East, Africa and Latin America. Revenues have more than doubled in the past three years, up by 122.6 per cent to £52.8m. And that growth looks set to continue. CMR Surgical recently won regulatory approval for the US – a significant step in its expansion plans and it continues to innovate, recently obtaining approval for a new service that uses ultrasonic energy.