Third fastest-growing manufacturing business in Europe
Fractory, the Manchester-headquartered manufacturing business, is placed 32nd in the latest Financial Times ranking of Europe’s 1,000 fastest-growing companies.
This is the FT’s seventh annual league table of Europe’s fastest-growing companies, recognising businesses with fast, organic and sustainable growth. It is compiled in collaboration with Statista, the market data experts.
In the manufacturing sector, Fractory is the third-fastest growing company in Europe, the fastest growing in the UK. Additionally, Fractory is the highest-placed business on the list which operates out of the North West.
Fractory is one of Estonia’s famed high-growth startup businesses. It was founded in 2017, in Estonia, where it still operates from the country’s two major cities, Tallinn and Tartu. It also has offices in Turku, Finland. Its Manchester HQ opened in 2019 at the Bonded Warehouse, in Enterprise City, where a team of 20 British engineers work, overseeing large projects, quality control and logistics for the many businesses who use Fractory for their manufacturing procurement needs.
“Fractory is growing fast and it’s great to see that recognised,” says Martin Vares, co-founder and CEO of Fractory. “Our success is in no small part thanks to our Manchester base. It’s a remarkable hub for manufacturing and entrepreneurship, the ideal home for a growing business in our sector.
“The time frame considered for this year’s FT ranking, 2018-2021, includes the Covid crisis, when Fractory took off. The hard times exposed the vulnerabilities of existing supply chains, and we had a solution to that, being able to use our large, established network of suppliers,” explains Martin, who is an industry advisory board member at Manchester Metropolitan University. “Crucially, post-pandemic, Fractory continues to grow,” he adds.
Fractory is an online platform connecting engineers with production capacity. It has automated the manufacturing procurement process so that engineers simply upload design files to get instant quotes and delivery times, with Fractory taking responsibility for every aspect of the order. Customers use Fractory for series manufacturing, project manufacturing and prototyping too.
The rankings are based on fully audited accounts and consider revenue growth in the three years to 2021 which saw Fractory’s income go from less than quarter of a million euros to more than six and a half million euros. The same time period shows a compound annual growth rate of 209.4%.
In the FT/Statista ranking, London has held its place as the city with the largest number of fast-growing companies, for the seventh consecutive year, with 83 businesses listed, followed by Paris (34) and Milan (33).
