After an exquisite three-course dinner, the highly commended businesses and winners for the 14 categories were announced. Qkine, finalists in the ‘Scale-up of the year’ category, faced some very impressive competition. Particularly, Coracle, who was highly commended in this category, a leading company that provides prisoners with secure laptops for e-learning, and IQGeo who went on to win the Medium Business of the Year award.
“It was a lovely evening in great company. It was wonderful to see such an inspiring mix of commercial and social enterprise companies shortlisted for the awards.” says Catherine Elton, Qkine CEO.
Catherine and Luana were delighted to accept the award on behalf of Qkine.
Dr Catherine Elton co-founded Qkine in 2016 while completing a Daphne Jackson fellowship at the Wellcome Sanger Institute. It was particularly poignant that she was joined in accepting the award by Dr Luana Ferrara, Qkine’s first employee. Luana joined Qkine in 2017 as a Senior Protein Scientist after 10 years in academic research and has progressed within Qkine to Head of R&D and collaborations.
“We are truly honored to have received the Scale-Up of the Year award! This recognition is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our incredible team. Each member has been instrumental in Qkine’s journey, and their passion and commitment inspire us all. A heartfelt thank you to everyone who has supported us along the way!” Luana Ferrara, Head of R&D and collaborations.”
“We were so surprised and delighted to have won! My huge thanks to everyone on the Qkine team who have shown such dedication and commitment over the last 8 years. And everyone who has helped and supported us on our journey, far too many to name, you know who you are! A genuine thank you all!” says Catherine Elton, Qkine CEO.
The category was judged and sponsored by BDO UK, which provides tax, audit and assurance, advisory and business outsourcing services to companies across all sectors of the economy.
“Our interactions with BDO during the judging process were brilliant, we’d like to thank them for their due diligence and conversations during the judging process.” added Catherine Elton, Qkine CEO.
