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Kigen recognised in The Sunday Times 100 Tech 2026

January 16, 2026

Kigen has earned a place among UK’s top hardware businesses in the coveted 2026 edition of The Sunday Times 100 Tech, Britain’s fastest-growing private technology companies.

Press Release

CAMBRIDGE, UK, January 16, 2025 – The Sunday Times 100 Tech spotlights Britain’s fastest-growing private tech companies and ranks them on sustained growth in annual revenues, measured over a three-year period. Kigen earned a spot, ranking 37 among the hardware category, with an average annual sales growth of 47% over the past three years—highlighting the UK’s momentum in scaling “real-world” technology that touches energy, infrastructure, industrial systems, lifestyle, and AI.

What this recognition signals

In the past year, the companies featured have collectively generated £3.7 Billion in revenue. The companies collectively experienced an annual growth rate of 187%. A sister league table to The Sunday Times 100, a ranking of Britain’s fastest-growing private companies, as this listing expands (following its first annual publication in January 2025), Kigen’s recognition reflects a clear signal: the market is rewarding companies that can translate deep engineering into global adoption, especially where security and reliability are non-negotiable. This recognition comes against a backdrop of Kigen’s successful Series B fundraise with Softbank Vision Fund 2, Arm, and SBI Group, and exceptional scale and ambition across the wider list: last year’s cohort was reported as having raised more than £100bn in investment, with 12 unicorns identified among those featured.

eSIM security and trusted connectivity

Kigen stands out as the only recognised company operating at the intersection of security and eSIM technology—delivering the embedded trust layer that modern products and critical services rely on, from the first activation event to secure lifecycle management in the field. As intelligence scales, connectivity becomes invisible, always-on, and increasingly autonomous; making it essential that trust is engineered into devices from day one. Kigen’s mission is to make secure connectivity simple to adopt, universal to deploy, and reliable at scale, so manufacturers and enterprises can innovate faster without compromizing on security.

“Kigen’s growth is a testimony to how UK companies can become a global powerhouse—shaping the future of the devices, and data we all rely on. The pace of growth required to secure a place on the league table is impressive, and the Kigen team should be proud of this achievement in what have remained challenging trading conditions.”
Richard Tyler, Founding Editor, The Sunday Times 100 Tech

“This recognition is a testament to our business growth—driven by our team’s fearless innovation and our partnership in delivering our customers’ success. As AI scales and edge silicon innovation accelerates, people and companies deserve their device data to stay secure. It’s an honor to feature alongside other businesses contributing to the UK’s $1 trillion tech industry, a key driver of economic growth and career opportunities nationwide. We’re proud to be a leading eSIM security company on this list, and our ambitious plans promise even greater advancements.”
Vincent Korstanje, CEO, Kigen

2025 milestones and global growth

In 2025, Kigen’s eSIM and iSIM technology products gained adoption from global innovation behemoths and underpinned secure connectivity for products central to the energy transition, smarter cities, and AI-enabled operations—at scale and with security by design. The business is experiencing growth across the US, Europe, and Japan, capitalising on the shift toward industrial manufacturers and enterprises embracing data and AI innovation. Kigen’s latest leading-edge compact MFF4 form factor eSIM products were natively built into a wide range of devices, including the top five smart-metering manufacturers and leading satellite- and cellular-connected, smart watches and smartphone brands in the US.

Kigen achieved a world-first with a GSMA SAS-certified IoT eSIM management (eIM) solution for the latest IoT eSIMs at its secure server facility, demonstrably addressing the leading-edge requirements for enhanced security. As a result, Kigen’s eSIMs and server solutions saw adoption from large regional utilities in North America (such as LCRA and Evergy) for the provision of private network rollouts, and multiple nationwide smart-meter rollouts across Europe supporting clean-energy and net-zero targets.

This achievement follows other prestigious recognitions, including the IoT Breakthrough Awards’ IoT Solution of the Year 2025 and the Juniper Research IoT Smart City Innovation Gold award. As we move forward into 2026, we’re committed to ensuring that as more devices and data feed into distributed intelligence,

Devices benefit from factory-first connectivity globally,
Devices can be secured and updated at any time,
Achieving global connectivity remains simple for manufacturers and users.

See more about our latest eSIMs

Thank you

Thank you to our team, customers, partners, and investors for being part of this journey. Together, we’re shaping the future of scaled intelligence—where trust is not an add-on, but the foundation that makes progress possible.

About the Sunday Times 100 Tech

The ranking is published online on January 16, 2026 at thetimes.com/100tech and will also be available as a supplement in the print edition of The Sunday Times this Sunday, January 18.

To qualify, companies must be independent, privately owned, and headquartered in the UK.

For the purposes of this ranking, a technology business is defined as one that either sells its own proprietary technology or has developed proprietary technology that is essential to delivering its products or services.

The list is split into two categories: Software and Hardware & other technology, including life sciences.

About Kigen

Kigen is the forerunner in eSIM and iSIM security solutions, enabling manufacturers to adopt and scale cellular IoT with ease. Our technology delivers freedom to choose from 200+ terrestrial and satellite networks, with proven interoperability on leading chipsets and modules. Backed by Arm, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, and SBI Group, Kigen is recognized across the industry for innovation, and trusted by leading global brands in consumer electronics, energy, automotive, logistics, and industrial automation. Find out more at Kigen or join our #FutureofSIM feed on LinkedIn.