Friends Daniel Yuen and Kieran Riddell-Austin co-founded the business
Liverpool sportswear brand Montirex has been named as one of the fastest-growing private companies in 2025 by The Sunday Times. It was back in 2019 that friends Daniel Yuen and Kieran Riddell-Austin launched their popular clothing business, which has quickly become one of the biggest brands to come from our city.
Designs from the technical outdoor and sportswear brand have become a staple in many men’s wardrobes across Merseyside and beyond, and in the last three years, they have made millions with no outside funding. Earlier this year, Daniel and Kieran’s success saw them reach an extraordinary new level as they were both named in the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in the Europe Retail & Ecommerce category.
And today, June 27, Montirex has hit another incredible milestone – being named in The Sunday Times 100 – Britain’s fastest-growing private businesses list, spotlighting the fastest-growing private companies in the UK. The annual ranking identifies and celebrates Britain’s 100 leading entrepreneurial businesses, showcasing the people behind these most dynamic private companies.
This year, The Sunday Times 100 excludes companies that sell their own technology, which now features in the sister table, The Sunday Times 100 Tech, which was launched in January 2025. In the list, Montirex was ranked as the second fastest-growing company in the north west, and 18th overall in the UK.
Montirex made £76.7 million of sales in the year to this January, a staggering 144.03% average annual growth in the last three years. Jon Yeomans, business editor of The Sunday Times, said: “The Sunday Times 100 is the definitive annual ranking of Britain’s fastest-growing private companies and demonstrates the remarkable entrepreneurial spirit thriving across Britain.
“DFYNE’s meteoric rise is a testament to the power of innovation and resilience in the private sector. It’s inspiring to see how these businesses are not only achieving phenomenal growth, but also creating thousands of new jobs and opportunities.”
Last year, Montirex launched their first physical store in Liverpool ONE. At the store, Daniel told the ECHO: “Before Montirex, I was an engineer and Kieran used to work in IT, but we’ve been best mates since we were about 10.
“We always knew we wanted to do something more and we didn’t always want to do the nine to fives. We’ve always had a passion for sportswear and it’s been something we’ve always worn – we’ve always shopped in JD and places.
“We got together, played around with a few ideas and came up with Montirex. It was apparent that there was nothing in the market doing sportswear on a more local level.
“So we came together, came up with the idea and came up with the name. We started off with three t-shirts – it was quite slow at first – and then we carried on restocking.”
The friends previously said that things started to take off when they were approached by Footasylum. Kieran previously told the ECHO: “We saw a massive uplift when we went into Footasylum and it was a great learning curve.
“We’d been spotted by them and they’d seen our designs everywhere. They approached us and asked if we wanted to go in the store.
“It massively helped us.” Regarding plans for the future, Daniel also said the pair have aspirations to become “one of the biggest sports brands in the world.”
He previously said: “We want to be competing with the likes of Nike, Under Armour – not only at a national level, which we are already – but at an international level.” Last October, Montirex also came to the aid of the Zoe’s Place fundraiser by donating a massive £105,596 which was raised by just 20 supporters.
The rapid growth of Montirex has seen the business switch headquarters more than four times, moving from an initial 300 square foot unit to its current 52,000 square foot office and warehouse in Speke. In May this year, Montirex revealed it is also preparing for an ambitious expansion into Europe within three years, and has its sights set on breaking into the North American market by 2030.
CAPO, a fashion brand based in Accrington, Lancashire, was named the northwest’s fastest-growing private company. Clinical trial site management business FutureMeds, from Liverpool also made the Sunday Times list.
FutureMeds ranked tenth in the region and 44th overall in the UK, with 27 million of sales in the year to this January and a 96.73% average annual growth in the last three years. The research for The Sunday Times 100 found on average the top 100 fastest-growing companies have increased their sales by 111% a year over the last three years to a combined £3.4 billion in sales.
This figure is up by £500 million year-on-year, with the 2024 top 100 fastest growing companies achieving £2.9 billion in sales. Out of the 100 companies featured in the ranking, more than a third (36) are based in London, with the rest spread through-out the country.
This includes 18 in the northwest, 12 in the southeast, eight in the southwest, seven in Wales and six in the west Midlands. And 28 of the businesses have female founders or co-founders: they include Aimee Smale of fashion brand Odd Muse (No 4) and Olivia Jenkins of jewellery brand D. Louise (No 9).
Mo Syed, Head of Barclays Private Bank and Wealth Management UK and Crown Dependencies, said: “We are proud to be the lead sponsor of The Sunday Times 100 Fastest Growing Companies once again. This prestigious ranking celebrates the innovation, ambition and resilience of Britain’s entrepreneurs – qualities that we at Barclays Private Bank are privileged to support.
“As these dynamic businesses scale and evolve, we’re committed to being the trusted partner for their strategic wealth, investment and succession planning, supporting them at every stage of their personal and business journey.” The research for the Sunday Times 100 was conducted by their business reporters, in partnership with Beauhurst, a source of private company data.
To be included on the list companies have to be registered in the UK and be independent, unquoted and ultimate holding companies. Sales growth is measured by compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the latest three financial years.
Annualised sales have to exceed £250,000 in the base year and not show a drop from the penultimate to the latest year, in which total sales must exceed £5 million.
