Matillion CEO Matthew Scullion and Kids Planet founder Clare Roberts OBE are the first speakers confirmed for the launch event for the second annual GM Rising Stars of Business list.
KPMG’s Manchester office will host the event on the morning of 1st May, which will showcase some of Greater Manchester’s most exciting companies.
Nominations for this year’s list close on 31st March, which has been expanded to include more high-growth firms. You can nominate a firm using the form further down.
Last year the inaugural list focused on four key growth sectors but the 2025 list has been extended to include all companies which are harnessing technology for growth or making a name for themselves as leaders in innovation.
Matthew Scullion founded data productivity provider Matillion in Manchester in 2011 with chief technology officer Ed Thompson after the pair quit their jobs to change the world of business intelligence.
In 2021 they joined the ranks of Manchester’s tech unicorns when a $150m fundraise valued the business at $1.5bn and relocated their office to a new 28,000 sq ft space HQ at Two New Bailey in 2023.
Award-winning Clare Roberts OBE is the founder of fast-growing nursery business Kids Planet. She is in an exclusive group of only 80 UK women to have founded a business that has topped £50m in revenue.
Both Roberts and Scullion were included in BusinessCloud’s 2024 Northern Leaders list.
BusinessCloud has again joined forces with GM Business Growth Hub to compile this year’s GM Rising Stars of Business list.
The list is open to firms based in Greater Manchester’s 10 local authority areas of Bolton; Bury; Manchester; Oldham; Rochdale; Salford; Stockport; Tameside; Trafford; and Wigan.
The 2025 list will be published online on BusinessCloud in early April, while a launch event will be held at KPMG’s Manchester office in St Peter’s Square on 1st May – register here – to showcase several of the businesses on the list.
Companies on the list must be headquartered or have a significant presence in Greater Manchester, and be able to demonstrate how they are using technology to aid their growth; or how they are at the forefront of an innovation.
They may be early-stage, scaling or well-established. Judges will look for ambition and evidence of growth.
The launch will be followed by a series of sector-specific roundtables across the region.