Apprentify Group CEO Jonathan Fitchew returned to the Northern Tech Awards last night, joining 250 of the North's most ambitious founders, CEOs and business leaders at the Imperial War Museum North in Manchester for the thirteenth annual celebration of the region's fastest-growing technology companies.

Now one of the most prestigious events in the industry calendar, GP Bullhound's NTAs bring together the businesses defining progress in British tech. With 100 shortlisted companies posting a combined £2.4 billion in revenue, the scale of Northern tech ambition has never been clearer.

Recognising exceptional entrepreneurship

Jonathan once again took on judging duties for the Judges' Entrepreneur Award, this year presenting the accolade to Heather Staff, Co-Founder of Street Group. Heather built Street Group alongside her brother Tom, growing up immersed in the estate agency world - both parents ran their own agencies - which gave her a level of industry understanding that most tech founders simply don't have. Where others looked at estate agency and saw a difficult, fragmented market, Heather saw an industry that technology had largely left behind, and a genuine opportunity to change that.

Starting with handwritten letters to agents in the northwest of England and growing from there, Heather helped build Street Group into a platform now supporting over 15,000 agents and 130,000 monthly active users across the UK. The business remained fully bootstrapped for years, with every pound of profit reinvested into the product, including a three-year, multi-million-pound investment to build Street.co.uk, a modern CRM designed from the ground up for the way estate agents actually work.

Named in the LDC Top 50 Most Ambitious Business Leaders and recognised across the proptech sector, Heather brings to Street Group not just entrepreneurial drive but a clear-eyed focus on building something that genuinely improves an industry millions of people interact with every year. For Jonathan, she was a clear and deserving winner.

An evening of celebration

The evening was hosted by technology journalist and broadcaster Georgie Barrat, with a keynote from Scott Fletcher MBE, the entrepreneur behind ANS Group, which he built from scratch in Manchester before selling for over £200 million.

See this year's full list of winners here.

We're incredibly proud to be a Premium Sponsor of the Northern Tech Awards for another year, an event that reflects so much of what we care about at Apprentify. The companies celebrated here are exactly the kind of organisations we work alongside, helping teams build the skills to lead and compete in the AI era, from senior leadership through to entry-level talent.

A huge congratulations to all the winners and finalists and a heartfelt thank you to GP Bullhound for another fantastic evening. The North continues to show the rest of the world what's possible.