THE LIST THAT PROVES BRITISH DYNAMISM IS THRIVING AMID THE GLOOM

The Telegraph’s Tech Hot 100 is back. Our second annual celebration of the best and brightest in Britain’s start-up scene shows that far from being broken by the pandemic, entrepreneurs in Britain have emerged stronger than ever.

While much of the economy has retreated or been forced to furlough, technology, biotech and big data companies have been at the forefront of the battle against Covid, and many have continued to raise huge sums even as traditional sectors such as airlines and manufacturing have collapsed.

Once again, we set out to find out the most successful individual UK start-up founders of the last decade. There is no perfect measure of success, but our list ranks 100 on estimates of their wealth from company shareholder filings, provided by our data partners Beauhurst, and painstaking original reporting.

Of course, as Beauhurst’s Henry Whorwood explains on page six, this “wealth” remains very much on paper, for now at least. But its importance is real, for it is a yardstick of the growing value investors place in the UK tech scene. And it is also money that founders might one day return to our rapidly growing start-up sector as “angel” investors. In fact, many are already spreading their earnings to the next generation.

So how did we compile the list? We chart companies founded in the last decade – from the 2009/10 financial year onwards. And while this list is produced by our technology team, it shows how digital now affects every sector – from alternative food to shoe design. All the companies on our list are private and pre-market listing, as of August 31.

A note on co-founders. We have, for the most part, only included one founder per company. But if two founders remain high ranking shareholders and both are still involved in the company, we have made an exception. Where there are three or more co-founders we have picked the most senior.

There has not been a lot to cheer about this year. The economy is once again being battered by strict lockdown measures. We have lost tens of thousands of people to coronavirus. Muchloved businesses too, have struggled or failed.

But entrepreneurs are always looking forward. The Government is recognising our nation’s start-up success, launching a landmark Future Fund that will see the taxpayer take stakes in hundreds of new UK companies.

We hope the Tech Hot 100 celebrates the most innovative people in Britain today. Theirs is a fascinating story that shines a bright, optimistic light on so many avenues of potential recovery amid the economic gloom. It is a story of endurance and imagination that many leading lights of the UK’S tech scene, from Ocado to Oaknorth, as well as Sir Tim Berners-lee and Google’s Europe chief, will be telling for themselves at the Telegraph Technology Intelligence Live event on November 1 0- 1 1 . Subscribers can tune in for free by registering at telegraph.co.uk/events