Cardaq, a London card issuing and payments firm, won Fastest Growing Financial Services Firm at the UK Fast Growth Awards 2026, held at ICC Wales in Newport on 22 October 2026, after its turnover rose 1,353.1% between 2023 and 2025.
The company was also named London's Fastest Growing Profit-Led Firm. On the UK Fast Growth Index 2026 it ranks 10th in the UK Top 200 and fifth in the London regional list, with turnover of £57.8 million in 2025, according to the index. Cardaq announced the awards in a press release on 28 October 2026.
What Cardaq does
Cardaq provides card issuing and merchant acquiring services to businesses. Its issuing programmes support branded cards on Visa, Mastercard and UnionPay, and its acquiring services let eligible merchants take card payments. Cardaq Limited is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority as an Electronic Money Institution (FRN 900088).
The company says it was founded in London in 2011. In an email to Small Cap News, its chief marketing officer, Alisa Remi, said Hugo Remi took control of the business in 2018 and began rebuilding it. Cardaq says it has two projects in development: Teido, a payments technology platform, and Pridepay, a consumer financial app and card programme for LGBTQIA+ people and their allies.
About the index
The UK Fast Growth Index is run by Ideas Community in partnership with UBS. It ranks independent UK businesses by percentage growth in turnover between 2022/23 and 2024/25. To qualify, firms need at least £250,000 of turnover in 2022/23 and £1 million in 2024/25, and the figures are checked against Companies House data or by the firms' accountants. The index lists the top 50 firms in each of seven UK nations and regions, plus a UK Top 200.
Combined turnover of the firms on the 2026 index rose from £4.3 billion in 2023 to £10.2 billion in 2025, an increase of 137%, according to the release.
Professor Dylan Jones-Evans OBE, founder of the UK Fast Growth Index, said: "Cardaq is a great example of the extraordinary talent and ambition we see in businesses across every part of the UK."
Other 2026 UK category winners include Lucky Egg, named UK Fastest Growing Company of the Year, and Applied Nutrition, the UK winner of Fastest Growing Profit-Led Firm. Neither the release nor the index gives Cardaq's profit.
Key facts
- Award: Fastest Growing Financial Services Firm (UK), UK Fast Growth Awards 2026, 22 October 2026
- Also: London's Fastest Growing Profit-Led Firm
- Turnover growth: 1,353.1% between 2023 and 2025
- Ranking: 10th in the UK Top 200, fifth in the London list
- Turnover in 2025: £57.8 million (UK Fast Growth Index)
Source: Cardaq press release, 28 October 2026; UK Fast Growth Index 2026, UK Top 200 and Awards 2026 winners. See also: Awards, London and how to send us your news.