A gwent firm is among nine Welsh companies have made it onto NatWest’s inaugural #PowerUp Index of the 100 best and brightest businesses to have successfully emerged from the bank’s 2018/19 Entrepreneur Accelerator cohort.

The #PowerUp Index is ranked upon businesses’ financial performance and growth and investment potential, as well as their founders’ growth mind-set. It has been developed in partnership with Beauhurst and Equifax and independently verified by the two organisations.

Each of the 100 businesses on the list was based in one of the bank’s 12 Entrepreneur Accelerator hubs across the UK between April 2018 and March 2019.

The highest ranking company from Gwent to make the list was Newport-based financial sector specialists vatmate. The company that supports businesses trading across country borders, was co-founded by Gareth Davies, and made it to 14 on the list.

Also in the Top 100 from Wales were: Alpacr (11), Brushbox (26), Paperclip (38), Brite Angle (54), F&W Insights (55), Cycle Training Wales (56), Sports Injury Fix (61), and QR Info Pod (72).

Siwan Rees, entrepreneur acceleration manager in Cardiff, said: “We’re really proud that so many businesses from across all parts of Wales have made it onto the inaugural #PowerUp Index. This is such a fantastic achievement and testament to their innovation and hard work.

"We’re blessed in Wales to have so much entrepreneurial talent and we’re really excited about the prospect of supporting more start-up and scale-up businesses when our next intake begins on the accelerator programme in Cardiff in October.”

The NatWest Entrepreneur Accelerator is the bank’s comprehensive programme of fully-funded mentoring, insight and bespoke coaching, specifically designed to meet the needs of entrepreneurs who want to grow and scale their business.

The bank’s accelerator hubs are capable of supporting up to 1,000 entrepreneurs simultaneously across the country, making them the UK’s largest fully-funded business accelerator network. Since the Cardiff accelerator launched in 2016, nearly 700 businesses - from Fintech firms to fashion brands – have been through the programme creating a significant number of jobs and raising millions of pounds in investment and funding through the scheme.

Applications are now open for October’s intake on the programme. For more information search online for NatWest Entrepreneur Accelerator.