Salford tops ranking for UK startup growth
BETWEEN JANUARY AND MARCH THIS YEAR, 1,393 NEW COMPANIES LAUNCHED IN THE CITY
SALFORD has outranked both London and Manchester to become the UK’s top city for startup growth.
Between January and March this year, 1,393 new companies launched in the city – that’s up an impressive 85 per cent compared to the same period last year.
According to a study by DueDil, the business information company, if Salford maintains its startup growth rate, the Greater Manchester city could be on course to produce 5,286 new businesses this year alone, a huge increase of 2,436 from the previous year.
The news was welcomed by Stephen Wild, managing director of MediaCityUK, which is home to a number of business clusters such as The Landing and The Greenhouse, which is helping to create an environment for startups.
Stephen said: “We have long recognised the innovation which happens here in Salford and it’s really great to see this being shown to a wider audience.
“At MediaCityUK, we have been working with a whole host of startups. Since we opened The Pie Factory in 2007, and as other spaces such as The Landing, The Greenhouse and more recently Tomorrow have opened, we have seen this go from strength to strength.
“What’s really exciting is the spread we are seeing – naturally we attract startups in TV and media, because of the strong opportunities to collaborate with companies such as dock10, BBC and ITV, and this is a real bonus. But we also work with startups across a range of other sectors; recent examples include the medical technology sector, where we launched a digital health initiative with PwC. “We are also seeing an increase in gaming companies, people working in virtual and augmented reality, and fashion startups. This plethora of creatives makes MediaCityUK and Salford a really exciting place to be.” Coming in second in DueDil’s study was Leicester, which experienced a healthy startup growth rate of 34pc year on year. Salford and Leicester were joined by Norwich, Liverpool and Oxford in the top five for the UK’s startup growth hotspots list.
London, in comparison, witnessed a modest startup growth rate of 5pc year on year, with Manchester showing a growth rate of 1.9pc.
We have long recognised the innovation which happens here in Salford
Stephen Wild, managing director, MediaCityUK