Developing the next slate of UK-based, globally-facing professional service firms

The UK's professional services industry is a key engine of the economy.  Outside of the Big 4 and large international networks are a swathe of entrepreneurial, flat-structured SMEs - increasingly led by executives from blue-chip service firms - with ambitions to grow, employ more high-skill British talent, make a return on invested capital and build enduring firms.

The SME segment of the professional services market is home to thousands of accounting, finance, law, and consulting service firms. Recent influxes of PE activity have bolstered the growth trajectories of firms operating across enterprise, mid-market, and small business segments. Specialist and more generalist B2B investors recognise the quality of the UK's professional services market - and are betting on that compounding.

Amid this activity, at Applio Ventures, we believe that the professional services market contains a huge number of under-invested SMEs and talent pools that, if coordinated well enough (with government support, access, and networks), can transform SMEs into market leaders and global firms.

It’s time to stop thinking about the Big Four professional service firms, and start thinking about the next 6 UK firms that will lead the world in professional services.

Our policy research and associated events exist to bridge the thought leadership and physical gaps between policymakers, Parliamentarians, and SME executives. Our advocacy centres on how UK firms can be supported with a set of (fundamentally) unfair competitive advantages compared to rivals abroad: how AI can facilitate more resilient operating models across UK SMEs; how the government can support SMEs in carving out market shares in international service markets; and how to develop the ecosystem that drives more investment into UK services more broadly.

We're here to facilitate and expedite the Big Ten.

Explore our Policy Work

Explore our Policy Work