Clinical technology organisation ClinPhone has added two more awards to its trophy cabinet, this time in the Europe 500 and Inner City 100 initiatives
ClinPhone, which is headquartered in Nottingham and has central European offices in Heidelberg and Brussels, was listed 47th in the coveted Europe 500 ranking, and won the 3i investment company's special award for the best use of venture capital after demonstrating that it was one of the fastest growing job-creating companies in Europe.
In the same week the company was also ranked as the 21st fastest growing inner city company in the UK in the Inner City 100 Index and won the regional award sponsored by the East Midlands Development Agency for achieving a growth rate of 698% between 1998 and 2002.
The Europe 500 initiative recognises and rewards Europe's best performing 500 companies, with the spotlight on those who have sustained growth and created employment.
Companies from the 15 EU member states, plus Iceland, Norway and Switzerland were able to nominate themselves for the 2003 listing and the major awards, which are collectively endorsed by 3i, Microsoft, Boston Consulting and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Every company listed had to fulfil exacting criteria.
They had to demonstrate increases of at least 50% in turnover and 30% in employment between 1997 and 2002, and demonstrate evidence of sustained growth during 2003. ClinPhone's figures were particularly impressive and secured the 3i award from the judging panel.
"Despite difficult times, this year's Europe 500 listing has once again confirmed that dynamic entrepreneurial businesses like ClinPhone can successfully drive employment and growth.
"The listing confirms that fast growing small and medium sized companies can effectively create jobs," said Chris Rowlands, head of growth capital at 3i.
Managing director Neil Rotherham commented: "This is an amazing period for ClinPhone.
"To be recognised as one of the companies leading the revitalisation of the UK's inner city areas is a great honour. "We've always tried to recruit locally and put something back into the community, and we can't praise our staff enough.
"All of our success has been down to them." ClinPhone's workforce has grown from just a handful in the company's early days to more than 380 today and its system handles an astonishing 90,000 automated processes on behalf of trial sponsors every month.
It has consistently produced improved quarterly sales figures since it began trading more than ten years ago.
