Zuto identified in London Stock Exchange Group’s ‘1000 Companies to Inspire Britain’ report

• Zuto recognised in fourth edition of London Stock Exchange Group’s 1000 Companies to Inspire Britain report

• Identifies fastest-growing and most dynamic small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) across the UK

• Zuto also secure further investment from Scottish Equity Partners

Car finance specialist, Zuto, has been identified as one of London Stock Exchange Group’s 1000 Companies to Inspire Britain. The report is a celebration of the UK’s fastest-growing and most dynamic small and medium sized businesses across the UK.

To be included in the list, companies needed to show consistent revenue growth over a minimum of three years, significantly outperforming their industry peers. More detail on the methodology can be found in the report online at www.1000companies.com.

Zuto offers a broker service to UK car buyers but differentiates itself from the rest of the market, by getting rid of the many pain points of the process, by offering buying support in both sourcing and checking the vehicle. In the last three years, it has grown its turnover to over £23 million and now employs over 350 staff across sites in Macclesfield and Manchester.

The news of being named in the 1000 Companies list comes at the same time the company secured further investment from Scottish Equity Partners to support future growth and development.

James Wilkinson CEO and Founder of Zuto said: “Life at Zuto is fast paced but we have a first class and passionate team of Zutonites, alongside invaluable support from leaders in the investment community.

“Our ambition is huge and we firmly believe that if we continue to focus on a customer’s experience, we can improve the car buying process and continue to build our market share.”

Xavier Rolet, Chief Executive, London Stock Exchange Group said: “Four years on, LSEG’s ‘1000 Companies to Inspire Britain’ report continues to highlight the dynamic, entrepreneurial and ambitious businesses across the country that are boosting UK productivity, driving economic growth and creating jobs. The strength and diversity of these companies is readily apparent with a broad mix of UK regions and sectors represented. These companies are the very heart of an ‘anti-fragile’ economy: more robust; more flexible and less prone to boom and bust. We must ensure we continue doing all we can to support high growth potential businesses like these.

“London Stock Exchange Group is fully committed to supporting and implementing initiatives which improve access to and cut the cost of finance for growing companies. We welcome the Government’s focus on supporting SMEs as part of its Industrial Strategy and await the outcome of its review into long-term patient capital.”

The Rt Hon Greg Clark, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: “I want to congratulate the 1000 companies from across the UK featured in London Stock Exchange Group’s pioneering 1000 Companies to Inspire Britain report. Championing high growth innovative SMEs is crucial for the continued success of the UK economy and a country that works for everyone. We are committed to ensuring that companies of all sizes can access finance to grow, scale-up and create high quality well-paid jobs across the country.”

A full searchable database of all of the companies along with a downloadable pdf of the publication can be found online at www.1000companies.com

• Ends -

About Zuto

In 2006, James Wilkinson and Ryan Dignan were working in classified ad sales and had a realisation. Getting finance after you've chosen a car doesn't give you much choice or control. Customers weren't getting the best rates, and a lot had bad experiences waiting on forecourts to find out if they could buy the car. They decided that customers deserve better, so they set up Car Loan 4U to change the way people finance their cars and give the power back to the car buyer.

Several years later, Car Loan 4U has now rebranded as Zuto, and as a team of over 350 partners, all of whom share that original vision. The company has secured £12.3 million investment from Scottish Equity Partners and has won a host of awards for the changes they have made to the car finance industry and currently hold the title of Credit Strategy’s Car Finance Provider of the Year: Broker Category and are listed in the Hiscox Sunday Times Tech Track 100, Northern Tech Awards Top 50 League Table and the Sunday Times Best Companies to Work For (mid-sized categories).

About Scottish Equity Partners

Scottish Equity Partners (SEP) backs the best high growth technology businesses across the UK & Ireland and beyond. It has €1 billion under management and one of the longest and strongest venture capital track records in Europe having invested in over 150 companies over the last 20 years.

Operating from offices in London, Glasgow and Edinburgh, SEP makes equity investments of up to £20 million across a range of sectors, with a particular interest in enterprise software, consumer internet and tech-enabled service businesses.

SEP builds value by playing an active and supportive role in the growth and development of its portfolio companies. Global travel search business Skyscanner is one of three SEP investments to have secured an exit of over $1bn in recent years and its current portfolio contains some of Europe’s most exciting and innovative companies including luxury fashion retailer Matchesfashion.com, data centre business Pulsant, language learning business Babbel, car finance provider Zuto and insurance technology specialist SSP.