TechWM strengthens cross-city partnerships with four new patrons

TechWM, an organisation driving the growth of the West Midlands tech sector, has strengthened its cross-city partnerships with the addition of four new patrons.

The patrons include the Rigby Group, SCC, Haatch, and Midven.

Each patron brings expertise to the region’s tech ecosystem, with aims to enhance investment, foster innovation, and connect startups with industry leaders.

Rigby Group and its IT services arm SCC are focused on driving innovation and addressing the skills gap within the tech sector.

The duo’s support will provide new opportunities for the 144,000 people working in tech across the region to develop and thrive.

Haatch and Midven (part of Future Planet Capital) are joining as patrons with the intent to strengthen the investment landscape in the West Midlands, particularly supporting the scalability of startups.

With the region’s tech sector valued at £15.3bn, their patronage is crucial to maintaining the rapid growth and investment momentum, especially for emerging businesses.

Yiannis Maos MBE, Founder and CEO at TechWM, said: “These partnerships will be transformational for both TechWM as an organisation and the West Midlands as a region, allowing us to turbo-charge the support we can offer our tech startups and scaleups. We know that the West Midlands is one of the best places to start a tech business – the
2,797 new tech companies founded in the last year alone make that abundantly clear. However, we want to ensure that it’s also the best place to scale a tech business; in turn bolstering the regional economy, creating new job opportunities, and cementing the region’s reputation as a global tech superpower.

“By being able to tap into the expertise of our patrons – all of whom have themselves grown massively in the West Midlands – TechWM hopes that the businesses in our ecosystem can scale even more quickly and sustainably than before.”

As part of their patronage, Rigby Group, SCC, Haatch, and Midven are supporting the One to Win competition, launched at London Tech Week.

The initiative offers £1m in prize money to propel a local tech business. The pitch competition, backed by investors and tech leaders, provides not only a financial boost but also guidance, connections, and mentorship to participating startups.

Steve Rigby, Co-CEO of Rigby Group, said: “We are tremendously proud to join TechWM as a patron, in a bid to boost the support TechWM provides for our region’s great innovators and entrepreneurs. Rigby Group is today the largest private sector investor in technology in Europe yet we remain very proud of our roots and large business based here in the Midlands. As TechWM works towards its goal of making the West Midlands a Global Tech Superpower, we couldn’t be more excited about playing a part in their success."