Region ranked among world greats for its start-up levels

Manchester-Liverpool has ranked ninth globally among emerging ecosystems for start-ups in the 2020 Global Startup Ecosystem Report by Startup Genome.

The report, which assesses 270 ecosystems from around the world, scored the region strongly on the performance of start-ups, access to early-stage funding, ability to scale up and the talent locally available.

It ranked the region fifth among emerging ecosystems in Europe and, overall, the number two UK start-ups ecosystem, second only to London.

Underlining the global attractiveness of Manchester-Liverpool, the region ranked higher than Dubai, Lyon and Chengdu.

With a start-up ecosystem valued at $9.2bn, Manchester start-ups benefit from global connectivity, the largest venture capital concentration outside of London, university spin-outs, a large number of STEM graduates and a concentration of incubators which drive collaboration.

This is the latest in a series of recent accolades and rankings for Manchester, including Tech Nation assessing Manchester as Europe’s fastest growing major tech cluster, CompTIA rating the city as number one in the UK for IT careers and FDI ranking as number one European large city for business friendliness.

Tim Newns, chief executive of Manchester’s inward investment agency, MIDAS, said: “Manchester’s resilience has been tested like never before during the COVID crisis.

“This report demonstrates how well Manchester is perceived globally, and as we build back better it will be the entrepreneurs and start-ups grown and attracted here who play a key role in shaping the future of our region.”