Find support and useful resources, make new contacts and discover events in your local community
Our Entrepreneur Engagement Managers (EEMs) are helping to build a national network of ambitious tech entrepreneurs.
I’m Mo Aldalou, your EEM on the ground in the North West.
I want to do everything I can to shine a light on the North West’s most ambitious tech startups. As a former journalist I understand that every entrepreneur has a story worth telling.
This page is your directory to help you find the best resources available in the region. Contact me for help with plugging into our UK-wide entrepreneur network, applying for Tech Nation’s growth programmes, and everything inbetween.
Also check out: Scotland | North East | North West | Northern Ireland | Midlands | Wales | East of England | South West | South East | London
Hear from ecosystem leaders
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Opportunities in Manchester?
Manchester has an amazing network of people who are prepared to help and support startups. We genuinely want our city to be a place where you can start and scale a business – and there really is so much support to back this up. Our universities are innovative and active within the community and our culture of mentoring is growing.
Challenges?
There is still the question of when will we produce our next new tech giant. Can this be done in Manchester? Are we selling ourselves as a city for innovation and entrepreneurial prowess to the outside world well? We also need to extract the all too familiar habit of some who, rather than proving their substance as a business, feel the need to use smoke and mirrors, which is then facilitated by poor journalism and lack of due diligence when it comes to awards. Let’s be honest and proven before we shout from the rooftops.
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Opportunities in Liverpool?
Liverpool is a hive of creativity. It’s full to the brim of passionate people, who both love their city and produce amazing work – which naturally transpires to a supportive community with a huge ‘can-do’ attitude. You can see that demonstrated in the city’s recent success stories – the Baltic Triangle and Paddington Village to name a few, along with home-grown businesses who are trading internationally.
Challenges?
As is the case with most cities, continuing to bridge the gap between public and private sector remains a challenge. We’re really great at investing in buildings, but what we need now is a shift in focus towards people and building communities. Ultimately, it’s vital that we equip entrepreneurs and leaders with the skills, training and resources they need – both now, and in the future.
It’s also important that we look at existing projects that are successful at grassroots level, and help them to scale, rather than always looking to create something new. We need to continue to celebrate and champion the fabulous opportunities that exist here in Liverpool, outside of the city. If we can look to pool our resources and reduce any silo mentality, it will enable the city to scale as one, as it certainly has no issues with thinking or dreaming big.
These companies are championing the region
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The Link App is an easy to use Professional to Client communication platform replacing email as a secure and feature-filled alternative.
Why Manchester?
As a Northerner originally based in London, it made perfect sense to relocate the business back to the North when we were looking to expand and set up our head office. In recent years Manchester has seen some developments and investments being made within the technology sector, and I am passionate about it being seen as one of the most progressive cities in the UK in which to run a tech start up.
National and international focus
Outside of our Manchester HQ, we have a team of remote workers based in London and internationally. Our clients are predominantly UK based at the moment, but we do have clients in South Africa and we will look to expand our International sales over the next few years.
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PPC Protect is a fully-automated advertising fraud and click fraud prevention platform that helps to ensure advertiser spend is not being lost to fraudulent activity.
Why Manchester?
Two of our founders met while studying at the University of Manchester and we have made this our home ever since. The access to tech talent in the area is incredible, alongside the world-class transport links to Europe and beyond. Plus, the growing number of tech startups in the region makes it the perfect place to find like-minded founders or advisors.
National and international focus
Outside of our HQ in Bolton we also have offices in Nashville (USA), Tel Aviv (Israel) and Antwerp (Belgium), allowing us to pool talent from many different regions and offer a truly global service.
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AccessPay is a cloud-based payments and cash management automation provider. It was conceived as a response to a payments landscape that was manual, costly and error-prone.
Why Manchester?
Manchester is leading the way for digital in the UK, both through its burgeoning startup community, its investment in the next generation of developers and also the role of the city’s universities. We have been working closely with the academic community to deliver strides in AI across payments. We find their insight is valuable to the research and development work we are undertaking as we look to develop our services further.
National and international focus
We are very much part of a global community and at the forefront of real-time and cross border payment technology, actively working to develop a number of innovative products.
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Tickr is an impact investment app built for the next generation of investors.
Why Liverpool?
Liverpool has an established financial services industry and a growing tech community which is the perfect combination for us. Being based in the Baltic Triangle puts us in the heart of the city’s digital and tech community. Liverpool is a thriving city and a great place to live and work. We are proud to be a northern fintech business and to continue the city’s long tradition of being a leader in the investment management industry.
National and international focus
Tickr has thousands of users across the UK and is seeing strong growth in all areas of the UK. We plan to expand internationally in 2020 and have already started exploring opportunities to partner with international banks in the Nordics and the EU.
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InnovateHer’s vision is to get girls ready for the tech industry, and the industry ready for girls. We equip girls aged 12-16 with the self-belief, confidence and skills to pursue a career in technology through our educational programme, while working with digital and tech companies to create inclusive workplaces for them to work within.
Why Liverpool?
Liverpool is home to a multicultural, diverse community who are passionate, collaborative and supportive of everything we’ve done since we started Liverpool Girl Geeks six years ago. The Baltic Creative is thriving with digital and tech companies who we call friends; we couldn’t have started anywhere else.
National and international focus
InnovateHer has big ambitions to scale internationally over the next couple of years alongside partners such as Sony, Shop Direct, LFC and more. Starting with Manchester and London, we’re introducing our schools programmes and company consultancy services to those wanting to start their tech education and diversity journey.
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IQBlade is a market intelligence platform for the technology channel. It allows vendors, distributors and resellers of all sizes to identify prospects or other partners of interest based on specific criteria. By collecting and analysing data from hundreds of different sources, the platform identifies highly relevant companies in a way that others cannot.
Why Liverpool?
Liverpool City Region is rapidly evolving, especially in the tech space. It is a vibrant city with a wealth of creative talent available. It is also a good commute, office space is reasonably priced and local businesses collaborate rather than compete.
National and international focus
Today, IQBlade mainly services the UK tech sector. However, the platform has been developed with global expansion in mind, so we are now looking for the right opportunity to expand our reach overseas.
Research shows that collaborative tech ecosystems with thriving meetup scenes are more likely to succeed.
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Coworking is a more flexible alternative to working out of traditional office space and brings the benefits of being part of a community.
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Helping your team brush up on its digital and soft skills can be financially rewarding while reducing reliance on others.
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Securing finance and raising investment can be vital when it comes to taking your startup to the next level.
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Whatever your stage of growth, we’ve got a programme for you >
