CMR Surgical the top Cambridge Cluster company in Sunday Times 100 Tech rankings

It is one of only three local companies to make the rankings; the other two are both biotechs – Cycle Pharma and Metrion Biosciences.

The rankings are published online today at thetimes.com/100tech and will also be available as a supplement in the print edition of The Sunday Times this Sunday, January 19.

Last year a seven-year-old boy became the first child in the UK to undergo surgery using a robot created by CMR Surgical. First introduced into the NHS in 2019, Versius is controlled by surgeons to perform minimally invasive surgery, with 26,000 procedures conducted globally.

Led by interim chief executive Massimiliano Colella, the Cambridge company has raised around $1 billion from investors such as Japan’s SoftBank, China’s Tencent and Spain’s Escala Capital. It grew sales to £52.9 million in 2023 and last October secured regulatory approval to sell Versius in the US.

CMR Surgical is ranked 17th in the hardware section of the hot 100, pharma business Cycle Pharmaceuticals 24th and drug discovery services company Metrion Biosciences 44th.

Earlier this month, Cycle Pharmaceuticals acquired Banner Life Sciences of North Carolina for an undisclosed sum. Banner’s BAFIERTAM® (monomethyl fumarate) product for the treatment of relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis in adults is approved by the US FDA and will become Cycle’s second branded product to treat MS.

Metrion was founded in 2015 with the aim of becoming the global biopharmaceutical industry’s first-choice CRO for ion channel drug discovery, cardiac safety, and neuroscience services. The company appointed new CEO, Lee Patterson at the end of 2024 to steer Metrion’s growth strategy and expand into further global markets. Outgoing CEO, Dr Andrew Southan had led Metrion since 2019, more than doubling revenues over that time and overseeing the company’s growth in staffing, laboratory facilities and international client base.

To qualify for the Sunday Times 100 Tech, companies must be independent, privately owned, and headquartered in the UK. For the purposes of this ranking, a technology business is defined as one that either sells its own proprietary technology or has developed proprietary technology that is essential to delivering its products or services.

Collectively the 100 companies on the national list generated sales of £3.2 billion, up by £2.6 billion in the last three years.

In total these companies employ 20,700 people, having created 11,200 new jobs in the last three years. Eighty-two companies on the list disclosed that they plan to make additional hires in the next 12 months, with 4,200 jobs planned in total.

Out of the 100 companies featured more than a half (56) are based in London with the rest spread through-out the country. Nearly a fifth are founded or led by women.

Three fifths (61) of the companies were founded in the last decade – in 2015 or after. The majority (90+) have received external investment, raising a combined total of £10 billion, and three-fifths trade internationally.