365 Response has been crowned Yorkshire & Humberside’s most innovative technology company for 2020.

Led by founder and CEO Sarah Fatchett, former Operations Director for Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust, the Wakefield business provides cloud-based transport management and procurement solutions for the public sector and the NHS.

By supporting the buying, booking and delivery of vital patient and home-to-school transport services, the 365 Smart Platform is helping to support the mobility needs of some of the most vulnerable members of society.

The firm recently secured £3 million backing from notable investor BGF.

“When we started the business there were clear gaps in how special needs schools and hospitals were managing transport services,” said Fatchett. “Our business is based on getting care to people who need it as quickly and efficiently as possible.”

Yorkshire & Humberside Tech 50

365 Response was a new entry for 2020 in BusinessCloud’s regional ranking, which compares companies of all sizes creating innovative technology.

Second in the ranking was Synap, which is transforming the way students around the world prepare for and take their exams.

The Leeds start-up uses quizzes as a fun, bite-sized way to learn and helps clients to deliver highly secure online assessments.

Built upon microlearning principles, Synap breaks down learning into short and impactful sessions that can be practiced for just a few minutes each day. Its proprietary ‘Spaced Learning’ algorithms then find the areas which the learner is weakest in to create personalised quizzes and study schedules to support development.

This studying method supports long-term knowledge retention of knowledge.

Bimsense, which provides Building Information Modelling tech services, and rradar, which creates tech-powered legal education, tools and support – and topped the ranking in 2019 – were in third and fourth spot respectively. They were two of four Hull-based firms to make the top 10, with four coming from Leeds and SleepCogni Sheffield’s highest-placed firm in seventh.

Leeds-based Force24, the UK’s fastest-growing marketing automation platform, was among those to crack the top 50 for the first time.

Force24 competes head to head with the likes of HubSpot and Mailchimp, supporting more than 4,500 marketers and global clients including JML, Worldpay, Hitachi, BBC Children in Need, Aviva, Michelin and Npower alongside smaller, emerging brands.

Leeds contributed almost half of the top 50 companies, with 21, followed by Sheffield (11), Hull and Kingston-Upon-Hull (6), Barnsley (4) and York and Wakefield (2 apiece).

Yorkshire & Humberside Tech 50

BusinessCloud called on its readers to vote for companies from a 124-strong shortlist and saw almost 2,000 votes pour in.

A combination of these votes and choices from an expert judging panel determined the top 50.

The judging panel was comprised of:

  • Jem Henderson, entrepreneur engagement manager (Yorkshire), Tech Nation
  • Stuart Clarke, director, Leeds Digital Festival
  • Antonio Tombanane, founder, Tech Expo Humber
  • Laura Harper, partner, Irwin Mitchell
  • Jonathan Symcox, editor, BusinessCloud

Yorkshire & Humberside Tech 50 is one of 11 regional tech innovation rankings from BusinessCloud which shine a light on the companies of all sizes doing amazing things with technology.