The UK government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS), on Tuesday, published new research revealing that Manchester tech companies raised a record £532M (approximately €596M) of funding in 2022, a 50 per cent increase on 2021’s figures.
The data comes as Tech Minister and co-chair of the Digital Skills Council, Paul Scully, is in Manchester for the Digital Skills Festival.
Scully will host top tech executives from Nexer, AutoTrader, and Booking.com to discuss how the government can continue supporting the tech industry across Manchester and the North West.
Scully says “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,” he adds.
1,600 startups in Manchester
In recent years, Manchester has emerged as one of the dominant tech hubs in the UK.
According to Dealroom, Manchester has 1,600 startups and scaleups employing around 60,000 people.
Collectively raised £1.8B
Collectively these companies have raised over £1.8B in venture capital funding in the past five years.
Last year, tech companies ranging from energy to security and transportation to fintech in the city raised more than European capital cities, including Lisbon, Rome, Brussels, and Warsaw.
Some of the funding includes:
- Electric vehicle charging company BE.EV raised a record £110M in October 2022.
- The Modern Milkman, a startup that delivers plastic-free fresh milk and groceries to people’s doors, raised £50M.
- Freedom Fibre raised £84M in May to power its rollout of high-speed broadband.
The research states that Manchester has produced eight futurecorns and six unicorns, including connected car data platform Wejo, fintech Interactive Investor and data centre provider TelecityGroup.
50 firms focusing on edtech and skills
Over 50 startups and scaleups in Manchester focus on edtech and skills training to upskill and reskill the workforce for the expanding sector.
For example, Northcoders was founded in 2015 to train people for careers in software development and data engineering.
Over 1,500 people have graduated from its courses, with companies such as The Co-Op Bank and Footasylum recruiting graduates, claims the report.
Tech and leadership programme Academy focused on giving new graduates the skills they need to succeed in the tech industry.
And, Accelerateme provides support and guidance to future entrepreneurs from the University of Manchester, the University of Salford, Manchester Metropolitan University, and the Royal Northern College of Music.
Digital skills companies, including Arctic Shores, which recently raised £5.75M, provide training in soft tech skills companies of all sizes need.
Corporates vs startups
Corporate giants like Siemens and TalkTalk are competing with startups for talent in Manchester as they look to expand their businesses, claims the report.
According to the smarter job search engine Adzuna, around 25 per cent of all available jobs in the city are in tech, with nearly 6,000 available roles last month. It is an increase of 67 per cent since 2020.
The report also says “it’s not only job roles that are going up but also salary with the average advertised tech salary up 5 per cent since 2021.”
Some of the top hiring companies in Manchester include PwC, Deloitte, Lloyds, Natwest, and Softcat.
According to the report, The main tech roles companies are looking for include:
- Software Developer
- Data Engineer
- Devops Engineer
- Project Manager
- Business Analyst
Katie Gallagher, MD at Manchester Digital, says, “The Manchester tech sector continues to flourish and innovate, and our Digital Skills Audit 2023 finds sentiment broadly positive for the year ahead.”
She adds, “As a not-for-profit independent trade body, we work incredibly closely with the tech sector to support it with skills programmes, such as our Manchester Digital Academy, which offers Level 4 tech apprenticeships, which are developed and taught by tech businesses.”
Paul Lewis, Chief Customer Officer at Adzuna, says, “Manchester is consistently one of the strongest cities when it comes to tech hiring in the UK. It’s become a key part of the city’s commercial engine, making up 25% of all available jobs in the city.”
“Technical roles continue to top the job lists such as software developers and data engineers but more general roles such as project managers and business analysts are also in high demand. This demonstrates that workers with relevant experience from other sectors can find the right opportunities in tech to suit them,” adds Lewis.
01
From port to startup fort: How Lars Crama is ‘Making it Happen’ in Rotterdam