Apatech has come second in the Sunday Times Tech Track league table for the fastest growing technology companies in the UK. The synthetic bone-graft materials developed by this Hertfordshire company are used in a range of orthopaedic applications, including spinal fusion and trauma repair. The success of its products Actifuse and Apapore secured £23m in private equity from 3i and the New York hedge fund HealthCor in June 2008. This enabled the company to almost treble its staff, quadruple manufacturing capacity, and develop new products including a next-generation ceramic material that stimulates bones to grow more rapidly. Apatech was spun out of the Department of Materials in 2001. Its sales have grown 180% a year from £1m in 2006 to £22.8m in 2009.