Three North East firms named among future $1bn UK 'unicorns'

Three companies in the North East have been identified in a list of firms poised to become worth more than $1bn in coming years.

Atom Bank joins its County Durham neighbour Pragmatic Semiconductor and Newcastle-based hydrogen innovator Geopura among entrepreneurship research company Hurun's Unicorns and Future Unicorns Index 2024. The report identifies 53 British unicorns, as well as 84 pre-unicorn stage companies, known as gazelles and cheetahs.

Digital challenger bank Atom and chip maker Pragmatic Semiconductor are among Hurun's gazelles - defined as companies that are expected to reach a valuation of $1bn, or "go unicorn" - in the next three years. Last year Atom reported it had hit a key milestone of full, pre and post-tax profitability with operating profit rising to £27m, up from £4m in 2023. A £100m funding round in 2023 valued the bank at about £362mn.

Pragmatic, which is pioneering the production of flexible chips which are thinner than a human hair, attracted £182m of investment in late 2023 - valuing the firm at around £500m. Alongside a Cambridge base, the firm is expanding its County Durham production on the 15-acre Pragmatic Park site which hosts a second production line in addition to an existing facility at NETpark.

Meanwhile, Geopura - which is focused