Some of the biggest and brightest names in business shared their insights at the launch event for BusinessCloud’s GM Rising Stars of Business.
More than 100 people attended the event at KPMG’s Manchester office, including several of the names from the main list and the second list of 40 up-and-coming companies.
GM Rising Stars of Business was put together by BusinessCloud in conjunction with GM Business Growth Hub to celebrate ambitious companies across the region.
The headline speaker was Matthew Scullion, CEO of Matillion, which became Manchester’s newest unicorn in 2021 when a $150m fundraise valued the business at $1.5bn.
However Scullion (pictured, main image) told the audience that founders should not obsess on achieving such enterprise valuations.
“All being a unicorn means is that at one moment in time, someone values shares in your business at an enterprise valuation of a billion dollars or more – and just like any other asset, prices can go up and down,” he said.
“One of the main reasons that Manchester hasn’t produced a unicorn since 2021 is that after interest rates went up off the back of rising inflation, war in Europe and COVID supply chain friction, it made more sense for investors to put their money into government bonds and bank accounts than it did into venture capital.
“So with the rules of supply and demand, prices go down – and the software company that is otherwise in a steady state globally is worth less than it was before.
“There are fewer unicorns being created in Manchester because there are fewer unicorns being created anywhere.”
He added: “Raising capital is just something you need to do to fuel your business. The valuation is really a byproduct of how good a job you and your team have done on executing your business.
“Those are the things that CEOs and management teams should be thinking about.”
Janine Smith, director of GM Business Growth Hub, said the main list had opened up to more innovative businesses and had been expanded from 125 names to 200.
On the services offered by Greater Manchester’s business support organisation, Smith (pictured above, second from left) said: “We have teams of specialists: it could be around helping people to access finance; it could be around skills and finding the right people for their business; it could be around innovation – there are a number of grants at the moment around helping businesses to develop technology, AI or materials, for example.”
Smith also explained how GM Business Growth Hub is now inviting applications for its second ASCEND Scale Up Programme cohort – pointing out the presence of a number of cohort 1 businesses in the room – which will be extended to nine months for 2025-26 and again include a visit to Europe’s largest tech conference Web Summit.
Also speaking was Jayden Patel (pictured second from right), founder and CEO of Aquaint, which supports the hospitality sector.
He praised the impact of two accelerator programmes – Exchange Programme at Bonded Warehouse and the NatWest Accelerator – that he’s undertaken and highlighted the impact of £200k in pre-seed funding from Praetura Ventures.
Harvey Lowe (pictured right) is the co-founder and COO of Arcube, which helps airlines collect and analyse customer data. Earlier this year the company raised $1.5 million in seed funding, co-led by Fuel Ventures & Oxford Capital Partners.
Notable investors include the chairman and former CEO of Pegasus Airlines.
“There’s lots going on in Greater Manchester,” he said. “The startup ecosystem might not be as big as it is in London, but there is a real community: you can get key people together in a room like this and, if you have a specific problem, there will be someone to help you solve it.”
Judy Leung (pictured left) is the award-winning CEO of Sweqlink, which runs a sweat equity platform to connect entrepreneurs who have great ideas with people who have the skills to drive them forward.
Leung, who was one of the winners of Innovate UK Women in Innovation Awards, said more education was needed to raise awareness about the differences between venture capital, angel investors and other types of investment.
Claire Watson is the managing director of Bury-based manufacturer Airmatic, which has grown turnover from £3m to £5.7m in the last 12 months.
She told the audience how the company had changed its sales strategy and invested in increased automation following difficulties in recruiting staff.
Nicola Weedall is the founder and CEO of invoice platform Hydr, which helps SMEs with their cashflow. Hydr’s platform has transacted over £30m with only £60,000 written off.
Kit Muir-Rogers is a co-founder of fast-growing live music platform GigPig. Revenues are set to rise from £9m in 2024 to over £30m in 2025 – all with just 11 staff.
Muir-Rogers said a key part of GigPig’s success was choosing to base their business in Manchester.
The final speaker was Tom Dunlop, who launched Summize in 2019 and landed a string of high profile clients, including FIFA, Everton and Rothchild.
The company has grown to 70 people – including 13 staff in the US – and is touching eight figures in revenue. It has raised investment of $10m.
“To have global scale, we have to crack the US market,” he said. “There is a mentality in the US that if you can win in the US market, you can win anywhere. So we knew we had to get over there.”