Manchester tech companies raised a record £532 million of funding in 2022. This is a 50 per cent increase on 2021 and more than many major European cities including Rome, Brussels, Warsaw and Lisbon.
The latest data from DCMS also confirms Manchester as the fastest-growing tech hub in the North of England, and the biggest outside London and the South East. Manchester-based companies have collectively raised over £1.8 billion in venture capital funding in the past five years.
Over these years Manchester has emerged as one of the UK’s dominant tech hubs. There are now over 1,600 startups and scaleups in the city, which are employing an estimated 60,000 people according to tech data specialist Dealroom.
Digital Economy Minister and co-chair of the Digital Skills Council Paul Scully said: “Manchester’s thriving tech start-up scene is packed with innovation, fuelled by record levels of funding from 2022 and is outperforming much larger cities on the continent.
“There are huge opportunities in this city to forge a high-skilled, high-paid career in tech, and my discussions with the region’s business leaders will inform our work to grow the talent pipeline so these industries of the future continue to shine on the global stage.”
The biggest fundraiser of 2022 came from electric vehicle charging company BE.EV, which raised £110m in October 2022 to expand its public EV charging infrastructure across the country and make it easier for people to switch to electric cars and vans.
Other significant wins included The Modern Milkman, which raised £50 million to transform consumer habits and Freedom Fibre which pulled in £84 million in May to power its rollout of high-speed broadband, with an aim to connect two million businesses to affordable full-fibre internet, in partnership with Salford-based TalkTalk.
These are just some of the businesses in Manchester that have been named as futurecorns – fast-growing tech companies that are expected to be worth over $1 billion in the future. Manchester has now produced eight futurecorns and six unicorns (private companies worth over $1 billion) including connected car data platform Wejo, fintech Interactive Investor and data centre provider TelecityGroup.
