BusinessBite live blog

TIC Manchester unveils first Startup Lab cohort

Published: January 28, 2026 at 1:00 pm

Author: Patrick Killeen

Turing Innovation Catalyst Manchester (TIC Manchester) has unveiled the first cohort of its new Startup Lab.

The incubator is designed to help early-stage AI founders turn technical ideas into commercial businesses rooted in Greater Manchester.

The three-month programme is aimed at academic entrepreneurs, technical builders and DeepTech founders at the very start of their journey, providing hands-on support to help AI-first ideas gain real-world traction.

The businesses taking part are AI assessment platform Running Paper; STEM education equity organisation ClickSafe Sentinel; solo traveller social network SoloBudd; PR specialists Unhooked Communications; video generation platform VideoZero; autonomous medical sterilisation system Smarterile; and polymer data platform PolymerFlow.

Subscribe to our newsletter

    This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.