Today, Prolific North can unveil 2026’s Tech Companies to Watch: Scale-up Edition list, which recognises 14 fast-growing tech businesses across the North.
Sponsored by Beyond Echo PR, the exclusive list has been compiled through a combination of industry submissions and extensive editorial and data research.
It shines a light on ambitious companies that are not just building big ideas, but turning them into impact with real-world growth, funding success, and market traction whether that be through customers or subscriptions.
READ MORE: Local tech giants get behind North East-wide TechNExt 2026
The list is not ranked and considers a range of criteria, including the ingenuity of the business model and evidence of scale and ambition.
From shaking up the student rental market to transforming life for manufacturers and tackling cyber crime, the tech businesses on this list may be at different stages of their scaling journeys, but they are all companies that should be on everyone’s radar as they continue to grow.
On 16 June, we’ll be bringing together leaders across the list for an exclusive roundtable event to discuss everything from their scaling successes, biggest challenges, to what’s next.
Check out the full list below…
The Prolific North Tech Scale-ups to Watch list 2026
Please note: this list is not ranked
Optalysys
Location: Leeds | Founded: 2013
This pioneering deep tech company, founded by Dr. Nick New and Robert Todd, has been on a real scaling journey. In January, the business secured £23m in a series A extension round led by Northern Gritstone to advance its photonic computing technology that processes data using light rather than electricity, designed to lower costs and improve data security.
Optalysys also strengthened its advisory board in March, appointing Phil Cheetham and former Intel chief scientist Ro Cammarota to support its expansion to the US and tech commercialisation.
Boxphish
Location: Leeds | Founded: 2018
This Leeds-headquartered cybersecurity firm has been growing rapidly, with its ambitious growth plans gearing up a notch after securing a significant number of customer wins including Aston Martin, the National History Museum, Vanquis and Berkeley Group PLC.
Its cybersecurity awareness training platform equips businesses and their staff with the tools and knowledge needed to reduce the risk of cyber threats through phishing simulations, training content and analytics, all in one place. The business has recently made a number of senior strategic hires, including Laura Davies as VP Commercial, with its headcount rising to nearly 50 people across with sales, marketing, customer success, product, IT and operations.
Kani Payments
Location: Newcastle | Founded: 2018
Founded in 2018 by Aaron Holmes, Kani Payments is a scaling fintech firm on a mission to simplify complex financial data processes faced by banks, payment firms and other fintech businesses, and is now gearing up for international expansion. Kani’s SaaS platform automates and streamlines reporting, helping clients save time and reduce costs while maintaining full compliance with industry and regulatory standards.
Kani’s platform now operates across five continents and is currently used by a number of leading financial services companies such as Cardaq, IDT, Pluxee and TransactPay. After receiving a ‘multi-million’ investment from Maven in early 2025, Maven led a further funding round in March 2026 for an undisclosed amount. The business continues to develop its platform and has made a number of senior hires, including Panos Savvas as Chief Technology Officer (CTO).
Housr
Location: Manchester | Founded: 2021
This growing proptech firm, founded in 2021 by Harry Panter and Ben Clayton while studying at university, has come a long way since being named as one of Prolific North’s Tech Start-ups to Watch in 2022.
Housr now helps students manage everything from searching for their next house with friends, arranging property viewings, chatting to landlords, managing bills and utilities, while also offering perks and exclusive offers.
In March, Housr secured $10m in Series A investment and reported 186% year-on-year growth. There’s no slowing down though as the business recently opened a new US HQ in Chicago to support its scaling US operations.
FourJaw
Location: Sheffield | Founded: 2020
Founded by Chris Iveson and Robin Hartley-Willows as a spinout from the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre in 2020, FourJaw now works with manufacturers of all sizes to help them boost productivity, reduce energy usage and grow more profitably through its machine and production monitoring system.
Since being featured on Prolific North’s inaugural Start-ups to Watch list in 2022, FourJaw has been on a real scaling journey and has launched new products on its platform, including new customisable production dashboards and automated reporting, and moved into a new HQ at Pennine 5 to support its growing team.
Sitehop
Location: Sheffield | Founded: 2022
Following a wave of high-profile cyber attacks last year, the threat of cyber crime is already high on the agenda for business leaders. Those growing threats are what led Melissa Chambers and Ben Harper to launch Sitehop in 2022, with the aim of future-proofing digital networks and helping businesses prepare for a quantum-powered world.
The company’s technology tackles a fundamental cybersecurity weakness: encryption is not always applied everywhere it should be. Instead, its hardware-based system encrypts data at chip level rather than through software, which the founders say makes it faster, more secure and more efficient.
Sitehop raised £7.5m in seed funding led by Northern Gritstone, bringing the company’s total investment to £13.5m. Its products are now live in seven countries and the company is continuing to scale rapidly across commercial and defence markets. Read our interview with the duo here.
Vypr
Location: Manchester | Founded: 2013
Manchester-headquartered Vypr is a product intelligence platform that helps businesses to understand changing consumer behaviour through fast, cost-effective insight, built on data and behavioural science.
Last year, the fast-growing business launched its AI-powered self-serve research platform called Vypr Predict, designed to help global brands, retailers and manufacturers to make faster product decisions. Working with customers including ASDA, Marks & Spencer, Red Bull, and Starbucks, the business has reported significant growth of 40% over the last three years with an annual recurring revenue of £7m. Vypr is also gearing up for staff expansion with plans to boost its headcount to 125 by the end of March 2027.
Vet-AI
Location: Leeds | Founded: 2018
This ambitious Leeds-based pet healthtech scale-up, founded by Paul Hallett alongside veterinary surgeons Dr Robert Dawson and Dr Sarah Warren, was launched to make veterinary care more accessible and affordable for pet owners.
Now, Vet-AI’s Joii platform and veterinary service provides 24/7 on-demand, virtual care for cats and dogs, designed to reduce the cost of care for both pet owners and insurance partners. With 120 staff, the business is ‘on track to be a global market leader’ in digital pet health in the next three years, recently partnered with digital pet insurer ManyPets, and is gearing up for expansion to the US.
Adventoris
Location: Huddersfield | Founded: 2012
Launched in 2012 by James Clarkson and Aman Shergill, Adventoris is a Huddersfield-based SaaS firm focused on transforming how companies make sales and engage with customers, with the business undergoing significant growth in recent years.
The firm’s flagship platform, SwiftCloud, helps businesses to save time, reduce manual order processing and increase monthly sales volumes and average order values. Its 40-strong team now supports more than 220 clients — including the likes of PepsiCo, STAEDTLER and AG BARR — with that client base continuing to grow after the business recently celebrated a record 18 new client wins.
Tribepad
Location: Sheffield | Founded: 2008
Founded by Dean Sadler, TribePad specialises in recruitment and HR software to make hiring fairer, faster and better. Tribepad’s platform combines Application Tracking System technology with recruitment advertising, video interviewing, employee onboarding, data insights and equality, diversity and inclusion tools to help hiring teams and managers improve speed and efficiency in the recruitment process, and remove any potential biases.
Now, Tribepad supports more than 30 million users and works with hundreds of employers including Tesco, Greggs, Surrey County Council and the NHS. After appointing Neil Armstrong as CEO in June 2025, the firm plans to grow its 60-strong team and further scale into the public sector recruitment market.
Aerocloud
Location: Stockport | Founded: 2017
Founded by George Richardson and Ian Forde-Smith in 2017, intelligent airport management platform Aerocloud uses AI to highlight inefficiencies and improve operations in airports, from flight management to passenger predictions and gate management.
The business has scaled rapidly in recent years, raising $12.6m in Series A funding in 2023, expanding its offices across London, Florida and Stockport, with its platform now used at more than 80 airport locations globally.
Propello Cloud
Location: Manchester | Founded: 2020
Propello Cloud was founded by CEO Mark Camp and COO George Charlesworth, after spinning the business out of Preston-based integrated marketing agency Workhouse in 2020.
The customer rewards SaaS platform enables customers to easily build their own rewards and partnership programmes, designed to increase value provided to their own end-customers and reduce churn. With a team of 30, the business currently supports 15 million users, and has had an impressive scaling journey, now serving over 60 clients across eight geographic markets.
Ryft
Location: Manchester | Founded: 2021
Marketplace payment platform Ryft was founded by entrepreneurs Sadra Hosseini, Alex Mackenzie and Richard Kirby, after the trio created, scaled and later sold their marketplace app Butlr in 2021.
Ryft was born after they discovered the limitations of existing payment providers while trying to scale Butlr, leading them to build their own platform to tackle marketplace payment challenges through automated split payments, competitive pricing and dedicated support. They’ve since secured banking partnerships with the likes of American Express, Worldpay and Clearhaus, and secured £5.7m series A investment (which takes total investments to £7.4m) to continue developing the platform and to support Ryft’s international expansion into new markets.
UniHomes
Location: Sheffield | Founded: 2015
Founded in 2015 by Phil Greaves, Bradley Cox and Luca Mori, fast-growing student accommodation advertising platform UniHomes is designed to make student living ‘stress-free’ and now operates in more than 60 locations across the UK.
Private equity investor LDC backed the business in 2023 with a minority investment. Since then, LDC reported the Sheffield-headquartered business has grown its revenue by 75% and the transaction has generated a return of 4.8x.
LDC exited and reinvested in the business alongside new investor Macquarie Capital in October 2025 to steer UniHomes towards its next phase of growth and support its expansion across both organic and acquisition-driven growth, and to accelerate its expansion to other markets, including professional sharers.
