New Taskforce Established To Help Ambitious Start-Ups In The North West

A new taskforce that brings together investors, advisors, trade bodies, banks, governing bodies, universities, founders and business leaders to help start-ups in the North West, named Wired for Growth, has been formed. Led by KPMG Acceleris, the group will focus on helping the region’s founders to navigate barriers and identify the opportunities that exist for start-ups.

The potential that exists within the North West region alone is huge – with Manchester being home to the 7th largest concentration of tech talent in Europe1, 531 active high growth companies across Manchester and Liverpool2 and 3,415 scale-ups across the North West3. However, companies are failing, with just over 38 per cent of companies set up in the North West in 2015 still being active five years later4. It’s here where Wired for Growth is focusing, on raising awareness and removing barriers to drive venture scale growth in the North West, so the region can become a model of success for the rest of the UK. Venture scale businesses drive technological innovation, create employment, expand globally and deliver outsized investment returns that can be recycled back into innovation.

To mark the launch of the taskforce, the group have today released a report and playbook to guide founders through the stages of business growth and venture funding. The report also includes recommendations for how the region’s ecosystem can better support founders. It was designed by a taskforce at a ‘Think Tank’ strategy day hosted at KPMG’s new Ignition Centre in central Manchester.

KPMG Acceleris led the report, with sponsorship from HSBC UK, Manchester Digital, North West Business Leadership Team, YFM Equity Partners and London Stock Exchange.

The playbook takes founders through the three phases of venture scale growth and financing: starting up, raising first equity, and scaling your business, with key steps highlighted in each phase and top tips. It also includes a five-point delivery plan that the taskforce will drive forward to support the region’s founders. This was addressed as the group’s first action due to a lack of awareness amongst founders and educational materials about venture scale growth and financing option

Wired for Growth is the North West’s call to arms to scale the innovative companies of the future. Our region has long had all of the ingredients needed to help our start-ups truly stand out on the world stage and thrive. This taskforce brings together key players in the start-up ecosystem to improve the experience of founders in the region and help them to achieve their full potential.

Our aims and recommendations have been informed by speaking to founders who have experienced challenges, and want to improve the experience for future innovative companies forming in the North West.

Wired for Growth presents a unique opportunity to take a holistic view of the ecosystem to help close the funding gap for founders. Listening to real experiences and taking that onboard with the expertise of business, academia, investors, governing bodies and advisors offers a proposition in the North West that has not yet been seen, and it sets an example for other regions to follow.

This is just the beginning and I am looking forward to working with the taskforce to help start-ups in the North West turn into venture scale businesses.