Competition: Could your business be one of our Southern Tech 100 Future Stars?

The sponsors and judges of the Southern Tech 100 – the annual tech listing run by The Business Magazine – are looking for the stars of tomorrow – the fast-rising companies that are destined to enter a future top 100 listing.

If you own or work for a technology company that is growing, and is gaining a strong reputation in the sector, you should enter the Tech 100 Future Stars competition.

Not only will you have the opportunity to gain valuable promotion, and free mentoring and advisory services that will help turbo-boost your growth, your company will be featured in The Business Magazine and on social media.

Sponsored by Moore Stephens, Barclays and Marks & Clerk, The Southern Tech 100 is The Business Magazine’s annual listing of the top 100 private, independent technology companies in an area stretching from Banbury to the Isle of Wight.

Future Stars criteria

• Entrants must be businesses with turnover of between £1 million and £8m
• Eligible businesses must have filed at least one year’s annual accounts
• Companies that are unquoted and UK-owned – and based in our Tech 100 area (see map below) – are eligible
• Fast-growth pre-revenue companies will also be considered

Entry deadlines

• The competition will be launched in the May issue of The Business Magazine, online and on social media
• Entrants should submit their nomination by closing date August 31, 2016
• Shortlisted nominations will be invited to ‘pitch’ their business to a panel of judges in September 2016
• Winners will be announced October 1, 2016

How to enter

• Companies can submit either a 500-word narrative or a one-minute video clip, or both
• The clip gives scope for the company to be creative in its nomination
• Finalists chosen to ‘pitch’ to judges will be have the option to ‘professionalise’ their video if required
• The videos will then be posted on a site – so that our readers and the tech community can vote for the best

Judging panel

We are finalising a distinguished judging panel that will consider the submissions. Joe Solari, non-executive director of Ultima Business Solutions, and Alex Tatham, managing director of Westcoast, have agreed to join the panel.

Ultima provides business IT services that make ‘technology a positive asset’ for organisations. Westcoast is a £1.6 billion-turnover IT distributor ranked 10th in a list of the fastest-growing private companies in Europe. Both are Reading-headquartered success stories.

Further judges will be announced in due course.

Prizes

The winner will receive:

• Trophy for reception or boardroom
• Free mentoring and support from Moore Stephens, Barclays and Marks & Clerk
• Free mentoring session with a successful Tech 100 company working in the same field as the winner
• Full-page feature in The Business Magazine
• Promotion on www.businessmag.co.uk and in social media