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‘Don’t overreact to curveballs. Focus is everything’

Kubrick Group was launched to overcome the digital skills shortage by building a data, AI, and cloud technology workforce. It provides staff with training before deploying them as consultants. It has trained over 1,000 professionals and supports more than 100 clients, including BP, Morgan Stanley, and Jaguar Land Rover. The London-based company was co-founded in 2016 by managing partners Tim Smeaton and Simon Walker and is backed by private-equity firm Bowmark Capital, which invested an undisclosed sum last year. Sales have risen by more than 50% a year since 2018, reaching £29.2m in 2021.

Disclaimer: The statements made by our interviewees are an expression of their own views and opinions and in no way reflect FEBE Ventures’ views or opinions, nor are such views or opinions endorsed or supported by us.

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Pizza oven maker Ooni’s year-on-year growth is turbo-charged, but the stat that most exhilarates co- founder and co-ceo Darina Garland is not directly related to revenue at all. The number that makes her happiest is the company’s Employee Net Promoter Score, which is a whopping 74. The global average eNPS – a measure of employee engagement – is 12, with anything above 30 regarded as outstanding. So 74 is an outlier that proves that Ooni’s team absolutely loves working there.

‘I’ve raised millions but money doesn’t make you happy’

In 2010, James Hyde and James Strachan built a cloud based e-commerce fulfilment platform in the corner of a Cambridgeshire warehouse. They now operate fulfilment centres across the UK, the Netherlands and America. Last year, it added 92 recruits and expanded operations with a new 200,000 sq ft fulfilment centre in Northampton. The business continues to build on its proprietary technology platform, enabling retailers a single global view of operations.

I’m an accidental entrepreneur…now turning over £38m

Hamilton Court provides foreign exchange services through its subsidiaries Hamilton Court Foreign Exchange Limited (HCFX), Birchstone Markets, Goldhawk Partners and Italian subsidiaries of HCFX. Clients of the subsidiaries include both public and private entities – ranging from FTSE250 companies to private equity firms, and high-net-worth individuals in the UK, Europe and Canada.

HOW TO GET YOUR CUSTOMERS TO LOVE YOU

When businesses face unexpected threats, the directors usually call emergency board meetings. A leadership team gathers in the boardroom to thrash out a survival strategy and take decisions that they often hide from customers and the wider team. Here’s what women’s clothing company Snag did when facing a crisis during 2020’s first lockdown: founder Brie […]

The man on a mission to make parking forgettable

After experiencing the frustration of poor parking experiences, Dan Hubert launched AppyWay in 2013. His vision was to build a platform that would standardise, and centralise a digital version of the kerb. AppyWay’s platform aims to enable cities and fleets to optimise their operations and transition to net zero.

My teacher told me “you’ll either go to prison or be a millionaire”

Universal Partners is a financial services firm for businesses and high-net-worth individuals. Co-founded by Oliver Carson and Dhaval Patel in 2017, the company specialises in cross-border payments and bespoke risk management services. Universal Partners has earned recognition for its growth, including a nomination for the Scale-Up Business of the Year at the Lloyds British Business […]