New taskforce established to help ambitious start-ups in the North West
- Wired for Growth brings together investors, advisors, trade bodies, banks, governing bodies, universities, founders and business leaders.
- The group has released its first report which includes a playbook to guide founders through the stages of business growth and venture funding, with recommendations for the region’s ecosystem to better support founders.
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 options.
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Patrick Molyneux, Partner – Head of Products and Partnerships at KPMG Acceleris, said:
“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.”
-ENDS-
Notes to Editors:
1 Sequoia-Atlas-Final.pdf (sequoiacap.com)
2 https://yfmep.com/entrepreneur-economy/north
3 https://www.scaleupinstitute.org.uk/scaleup-review-2022/north-west/
4 SME-Impact-Conference-Situational-Report.pdf (mmu.ac.uk)
The full report can be found here from Thursday: https://www.acceleris.com/wiredforgrowth
For media enquiries, please contact:
Heather Gilchrist, KPMG UK Media Relations
Tel: +44 (0) 161 246 4060
KPMG Press Office: +44 (0)207 694 877
Email: heather.gilchrist@kpmg.co.uk
About KPMG Acceleris
KPMG Acceleris is the Venture Capital Advisory joint venture between KPMG UK and Acceleris.
About KPMG UK
KPMG LLP, a UK limited liability partnership, operates from 20 offices across the UK with approximately 17,000 partners and staff. The UK firm recorded a revenue of £2.96 billion in the year ended 30 September 2023.
KPMG is a global organisation of independent professional services firms providing Audit, Legal, Tax and Advisory services. It operates in 143 countries and territories with more than 273,000 partners and employees working in member firms around the world. Each KPMG firm is a legally distinct and separate entity and describes itself as such. KPMG International Limited is a private English company limited by guarantee. KPMG International Limited and its related entities do not provide services to clients.
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About Acceleris
Acceleris Capital is an FCA regulated Venture Capital Advisory house based in Manchester that works with technology-focused SMEs who are improving unmet global needs in healthcare, sustainability, and software. Since its incorporation in 2000, Acceleris has advised and managed fundraisings for over 60 UK businesses and introduced over £150 million investment, with a track record including start-up to IPO’s, trade sale and private equity exits.
Acceleris primarily source funding deal-by-deal from their private angel investor contacts, private family office investors and a curated global network of venture capital institutions. The advisory process ensures companies receive appropriate funding on the correct terms for their growth.
About the report sponsors
Where you find challenge, we’ll help you harness opportunity. With HSBC UK as your partner, doubts about exploring new markets becomes certainties. Obstacles like access to finance become strategic advantages. And ambitions to scale up or expand become reality. With our specialist team, global reach and breadth of innovative solutions, we’re equipped and ready to connect you to the opportunities you need in order to reach your aspirations.
Manchester Digital is the independent trade association for the thriving digital sector in the North West of England. Our vision is simple, that by working together we can make Manchester and the North West an even better place for Digital Business.
North West Business Leadership Team
North West Business Leadership Team (NWBLT) brings together leaders of national and international businesses with substantial commitments and interests in the North West of England. A unique regional entity, funded entirely by our members, we work to exert our collective influence for the long term good of the region, economically, environmentally, culturally, and socially.
YFM seeks to unlock UK businesses’ value and potential by providing them with up to £10m of growth equity. We are dedicated to working alongside management teams to create long-term value for our investors, the companies we invest in and the communities in which we work. We manage over £630m in venture capital trusts and private equity funds.
London Stock Exchange operates at the heart of where ideas meet capital, connecting companies, countries and investors in the real world to make measurable and positive differences across the globe. Customers look to us for broad access to capital markets and liquidity across multiple asset classes. We deliver a broad range of international equity, fixed income, exchange-traded funds, investment vehicles and foreign exchange markets. Customers can choose from our capital formation and execution venues, London Stock Exchange, AIM and Turquoise.