From left: James Toomey and Andrea Reynolds at the awards ceremony. Image: Jason Clarke
With 100 employees globally, Swoop has expanded its fintech platform for SMEs across the UK, South Africa, Ireland, Australia, Canada and US markets.
Irish fintech Swoop has been declared the fastest-growing tech company in Ireland in the Deloitte Fast 50 annual ranking for 2023, making it the first start-up founded by a woman to win the accolade.
Founded by Andrea Reynolds and Ciaran Burke in 2018, Swoop has developed a platform aimed at SMEs that helps them source financing by finding the right funding across loans, equity and grants. Headquartered in London, the start-up has its Irish base in Dogpatch Labs.
The annual awards by Deloitte rank the 50 fastest-growing technology companies on the island of Ireland based on revenue growth over the last four years. Last year’s winner was Buymie, the Dublin start-up specialising in same-day grocery delivery.
“This is a great endorsement of the work we do, our approach to innovation and our use of technology; but mostly of the fantastic team we have at Swoop, which is now active across four continents,” said CEO Reynolds.
“Core to our operation is our sustainable and efficient approach, which will drive the future growth of the business, with capital efficiency at the centre of all our decisions.”
Swoop has 25 employees in Ireland and 100 globally. As well as the UK and Irish offices, Swoop has a presence in Canada, Australia, South Africa and the US, a market it expanded into in June last year after raising €6.3m in a round backed by Enterprise Ireland.
“This year’s Deloitte Fast 50 includes some remarkable Irish businesses and it is a fantastic achievement for Swoop to be singled out amongst a range of such incredible entrepreneurial talent,” Reynolds added.
Some of the other awards included the Growing New Technology Award (Brightflag), Impact Award (Xocean), Scale-up Award (Siren), Rising Star Award (Green Rebel), Financial Services Innovation Award (ID-Pal) and the Alumni Award (Fenergo).
SciLeads co-founder Laura Haldane was recognised with an Advocate for Women in Technology award for her role in increasing the promotion and participation of women in the tech sector.
“The Fast 50 awards are an important and exciting moment for Ireland’s indigenous tech industry to reflect on the growth and challenges they have experienced over the past year,” said James Toomey, partner and Fast 50 lead at Deloitte.
“Even though this has been a difficult year for tech companies, there are encouraging indicators in these rankings that show the strength of Ireland’s indigenous sector and that our homegrown talent continues to play an important role in building the future of technology.”
10 things you need to know direct to your inbox every weekday. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic’s digest of essential sci-tech news.
