These are the 17 business in Leeds that have been named in the NatWest Entrepreneur Accelerator #PowerUp Index

Best in class: Mihaela Gruia, CEO of Research Retold, which was one of 17 Leeds firms named in the NatWest #PowerUp Index of 100 best businesses. Pictures: James Hardisty

NatWest has unveiled its inaugural #PowerUp Index of the 100 best businesses who have successfully emerged from its 2018/2019 NatWest Entrepreneur Accelerator cohort, with 17 of the 100 coming from the bank’s Entrepreneur Accelerator hub in Leeds between April 2018 and March 2019.

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Dating app developer JigTalk, online learning platform Synap and research consultancy Research Retold were three of the Leeds-based businesses named in the index.

The Leeds entries in the 100, with their respective positions, is as follows:

3 - Damson

8 - JigTalk

9 - XR Games

15 - Synap

27 - Mable Therapy

31 - Rocket Horse (KwizzBit)

45 - James Wilcockson Associates

75 - Xerogrid

76 - Signin

77 - GoodSense Training

80 - Trackit Lights

81 - Firehouse Fitness

85 - Ross Barr

86 - Research Retold

90 - Monkey Mill

98 - Free Running Buildings

99 - Performance Leads

Dan Burton, scale up manager at the NatWest Accelerator in Leeds, said: “Since NatWest brought the Entrepreneur Accelerator network in-house last year, we’ve been able to scale the programme rapidly.

“There are 17 businesses from our Leeds hub on this year’s list, and each of these businesses and their founders have really stood out for their impressive growth mindset, job creation, business growth and consistently demonstrating the behaviours and qualities we expect of the country’s future entrepreneurial leaders.

“This is in turn enabling them to have a truly significant impact in their local communities, while supporting the UK economy.”

James Gupta, CEO and founder of Synap, said: “I’m very honoured to be included on this list alongside so many other amazing entrepreneurs.

“What I really like about being part of the Entrepreneur Accelerator hub is that there’s a huge range of companies in there, and entrepreneurs from a wide range of backgrounds.

“Some people, like us, have just graduated and are looking to scale an idea they are were working on at university.

“Other people have switched career paths and some are working on their second or third business idea.

“With that, you get a lot of different perspectives which can be extremely helpful.”

Applications are now open for October’s intake at the NatWest Accelerator in Leeds.

The closing date for applicants is August 26.

To apply for a place visit https://www.business.natwest.com/business/business-banking/services/entrepreneur-accelerator.html.