More than three-quarters of Greater Manchester tech businesses seeking growth capital

New data from UK tech sector monitor, Tech Climbers, has found over 75% of Greater Manchester’s tech businesses plan to seek growth capital this year, potentially attracting millions in investment to the city-region and creating hundreds of new jobs.

Launched in 2019 in the Liverpool City Region and with 2023 seeing its inaugural Greater Manchester list, Tech Climbers is an annual showcase of scalable, innovative and product-led technology businesses in the city-region. The list is published by Active Profile, in partnership with Business Cloud and Techblast.

Greater Manchester’s tech ecosystem is outpacing the growth of other regions around the UK, with 66% of entrants to this year’s Greater Manchester Tech Climbers list already in receipt of funding, contributing to the £20.1 million raised by the region’s start-ups this year, according to The Data City. The data also projected that almost 400 jobs would be created by entrants over the next 12 months, as the region continues to become an attractive hub for talent.

19 companies were selected for the inaugural Greater Manchester Tech Climbers list, with seven making the ones to watch list. Stockport is represented on the list by AeroCloud, which announced a move to the town centre earlier this month. The winners were announced at a sold-out event held at the headquarters of one of Greater Manchester’s greatest startup success stories, Peak AI, on the 17^th October.

The list is judged by the project partners and selected experts, and reviews investment, impact, and innovation performance to date. Entrants submit a snapshot of their data which is also used to chart growth and insight into the businesses and their challenges.

Anna Heyes, founder of Tech Climbers and CEO of Active Profile:

“Tech Climbers 2023 in Greater Manchester has revealed exactly why we launched here this year. The ecosystem is developing at pace, and there are challenges that companies are rising to across the board. The region is fast on the road to becoming the UK’s biggest tech hub, driving millions in funding, and creating thousands of jobs, but there’s still loads to be done together as a community.

“From the recent launch of the Turing Innovation Catalyst to Google launching its AI-driven ‘Project Green Light’ in conjunction with Transport for Greater Manchester last week. It’s a fantastic place to be, and we’re privileged to be celebrating some of these incredible businesses as part of our 2023 Tech Climbers list.”

The full Tech Climbers 2023 Greater Manchester report and list is available on the Tech Climbers website.