Bradford Tech Founder Named ‘One to Watch’ in National LDC/The Times List
November 19, 2025A Bradford-based business leader has been named as ‘One to Watch’ in this year’s LDC/The Times Top 50 Most Ambitious Business Leaders.
Pete Mills, chief executive of Crysp Ltd, has been recognised in the national programme, which highlights entrepreneurs and leaders from across the UK who are seen as having significant potential for future growth.
Crysp, founded in 2020 and based on Victoria Road in Saltaire, provides safety and compliance management software alongside health and safety auditing services for organisations in both the public and private sectors. The company employs a team of auditors, safety and operations specialists and an in-house technology team, and reports year-on-year revenue growth of more than 50 per cent.
Help Support Positive Local News:
Support the work we do and get your business in front of potential clients by joining the Bradford Business Directory.
The LDC Top 50, now in its eighth year, is run by mid-market private equity investor LDC, part of Lloyds Banking Group, in partnership with The Times. The ‘Ones to Watch’ category highlights leaders who are rapidly scaling their businesses and are considered to have strong prospects for further expansion.
Pete, who attended the awards ceremony at BAFTA in London, described the recognition as a tribute to the wider Crysp team, partners and customers, and highlighted the role of external advisers in the company’s development. He singled out Azets, the international advisory group whose Yorkshire offices include a base in Bradford, as a key strategic partner supporting Crysp’s financial planning and growth, including its expansion plans in the United States.
Speaking about their success, Pete said:
“Building Crysp has been an incredible journey so far. To be named among the LDC/Times Top 50 Ambitious Business Leaders and named as One to Watch is a huge honour. This recognition is really a testament to the amazing team we have at Crysp, partners and customers who believe in our mission to make safety and compliance management simpler, smarter and more effective.”
“However, key to this success is surrounding yourself with the right advisors in terms of mentorship, financial growth and legal frameworks. Two of those advisors are Victoria Wainwright and Simon Roberts of Azets Bradford whom I am grateful to have met early on in the journey. They have looked after our needs and pushed us to really think about proper financial processes alongside taxation implications as we scale the business. As a wider team, Azets are genuinely passionate about supporting owner managers and care about the small details that can have a big impact on a business – or indeed personally. They are also going to help us with our plans for the US and really help us put a solid capital growth plan in place.”
Crysp’s platform is used by clients including EDF Energy, Showcase Cinemas, schools and healthcare providers across the UK. In 2023 the business secured investment from Twinkl Hive, the accelerator hub founded by Jon and Susie Seaton, which has further supported its growth. More recently, Crysp has begun work on a major contract with the Catawba Nation, a Native American tribe in the US, providing support on large-scale real estate data projects.
LDC said it received nearly 700 nominations for the 2025 Top 50. Managing partner John Garner described this year’s ‘Ones to Watch’ as leaders who have already achieved significant success and are expected to continue to grow their organisations in the coming years.
Azets, which employs 335 people across its Leeds, Bradford and York offices, said the recognition for Crysp was a strong independent endorsement of the company’s progress and international ambitions.
Victoria Wainwright, office managing partner at Azets in Bradford, said:
“Warmest congratulations go to Pete and all of the team at Crysp for this prestigious and richly deserved recognition. It is a powerful, independent endorsement of the vision, ambition and commitment which has led to the company’s successful growth in Yorkshire, the UK and worldwide. We consider it a privilege to have been able to join Pete and Crysp on their inspirational journey and look forward to the next exciting phase of the company’s development.”
