The Smarta 100, together with O2, was selected by an all-star panel of entrepreneurs, including Theo Paphitis from Ryman and star of Dragons’ Den; Rowan Gormley, founder of Naked Wines and winner of the Smarta 100 in 2011; Mike Soutar, founder of Shortlist Media and Thea Green MBE, founder of Nails Inc.

With over 1,200 entries from across the UK, the Smarta 100 celebrates the top 100 companies that are on track to becoming the fast-growth superstars of the future. The finalists include UK tech trailblazers, socially-responsible pioneers and crowd-funded success stories.

The 2012 Smarta 100 includes:

·       65 businesses that employ 10 people or less

·       1,104 people employed in total by all finalists

·       £200,000,000+ of total turnover

·       26 female entrepreneurs

·       66 businesses where founders invested their own money

With an overall cash prize of £10,000 from leading sponsor O2, the 100 finalists are now competing for the top spot, as voted for by the public.

Discover more business stories and view the full 100 below and here: www.smarta.com/smarta100

DEBORAH MEADEN, Dragons’ Den investor and Smarta board member, said: “This year’s Smarta 100 showcase the fantastic breadth of small businesses making waves in the UK business scene. Some demonstrate managerial magnificence, overseeing teams of dozens to grow their businesses quickly and creatively. And it’s not just all about cutting-edge tech companies either - this year’s Smarta 100 go to show that any sector, however traditional, can be given an exciting injection of innovation when a great entrepreneurial mind takes it on.”

THEO PAPHITIS, Dragons’ Den investor and Ryman chairman, said: “The Smarta 100 has proven yet again how many exciting, innovative and successful smallbusinesses and start-ups there are in the UK today, and I really find them inspiring. Some of the 100 are disrupting established industries, some are creating completely new markets, and others are simply doing an exceptional job in age-old marketplaces but knocking the socks off their competition.”

SHÁÁ WASMUND, Smarta founder, said: “This year we had more entries for the Smarta 100 than ever before. There were hundreds of fantastic businesses in the running, but the final 100 are truly game-changing start-ups and small businesses, and I’m enormously proud of all of them. We’ve got everyone from entrepreneurs in their early 20s through to knitting grannies; people who started with only a few hundred pounds through to companies that received millions in VC funding.”

Voting is now under way to find the overall O2 Smarta 100 Business of the Year, winning £10,000 courtesy of O2.

·       The winner will be presented with their £10,000 prize - courtesy of O2 – at The Smarta 100 Awards final on Thursday 8 November at London’s Proud2 in Greenwich.

·       The evening will also see six special awards presented for the Smarta 100 companies deemed by the judges to be the best, in the categories of:

o   Innovation

o   Technology

o   Social Impact

o   Resources

o   Marketing

o   People

o   Social Impact

HERE IS THE FULL LIST OF WINNERS

·       3Space

·       4D Data Centres

·       5 point plus Anti Escape System

·       99p Wholesaler

·       Adzuna

·       Albartross Design

·       Alyssa Smith Jewellery

·       Articulate

·       Aspect.co.uk

·       Bardowl

·       BBOXX

·       Belu Water

·       BoginaBag

·       Brainient

·       Captify Media

·       Charity Engine

·       Corporate Risk Systems

·       Cyclehoop

·       DCM Capital

·       DeVono

·       Direct Sitters

·       Duedil

·       Ecoegg

·       Elephant Branded

·       Enterprise Labs

·       Folded Wing Productions

·       Footfall123

·       Formedix

·       Funding Circle

·       Geckoboard

·       Gilliangladrag

·       Gloople

·       Grannies Inc

·       Green Energy UK

·       Green Tomato Cars

·       GRITIT

·       Hatstand Nelly

·       Hello Fresh

·       Honeytree Publishing

·       Housebites

·       Hubbub

·       Huddle Buy

·       Iwoca

·       Jacquie Cole, Bakewell Travel

·       Joe & Seph's Popcorn

·       Kashflow

·       Kigu

·       Knomo

·       Laundry Republic

·       Lick Me I'm Delicious

·       Lily Vanilli

·       Living the Dream

·       Livity

·       Longcroft Cat Hotel

·       Love Da Pop

·       LUX FIX

·       Magaluf Takeover

·       Magic Whiteboard

·       MarketInvoice

·       Marmalade

·       Mask-arade

·       Media Devil

·       Mobile Onboard

·       Naturally Cool Kids

·       Net Natives

·       Neul

·       Night Zoo Keeper

·       notgoingtouni

·       Nutmeg.com

·       Oil and Gas People

·       Perfect Flow

·       Plantabox

·       PleaseCycle

·       Present.me

·       RedDog Design

·       Return on Digital

·       Seedrs.com

·       Shopa

·       Shutl

·       Simon Beattie

·       The *Teashed

·       The Bicycle Academy

·       The Currency Cloud

·       The Giving Card

·       The Glam Collective

·       The Grand Old Duke of Pork

·       The Less Packaging Company

·       The London Studio

·       Tummy With Mummy

·       Unbeelievable Health

·       Unique Home Stays

·       Uscreates

·       Wazoku

·       WebExpenses

·       Whipcar

·       WhosOff.com

·       Wikijob.co.uk

·       Y-cam Solutions

·       Young Rewired State

·       Zaini