Edinburgh, Manchester and Bristol are the UK’s growth hotspots, with the greatest numbers of high-growth businesses outside of London.
The three cities, alongside Leeds and Cambridge, have been identified as growth hubs in new research published by Barclays as part of the ‘Tech in the UK 2024 – Innovation Nation’ report, which has been published in partnership with Beauhurst and is funded by the UK Government.
Delivering added value
The report, which has been created using research from Barclays Eagle Labs, analyses the spread of high-growth tech companies. It uses Gross Value Added (GVA), a measure which calculates the economic contribution of businesses to their respective regions. The report’s findings are supplemented by a national survey of 3,000 business leaders to inform research into the state of innovation across the UK tech ecosystem.
As of 2024, there were more than 11,500 high-growth firms in the UK with a reported annual turnover exceeding five million pounds, with the last decade seeing UK firms secure £135 billion in equity investment.
Tech companies remain a huge source of growth for the UK, with the report showing an increase in the population of high-growth tech companies in every part of the UK between 2023 and 2024.
Speaking about the report, Hannah Bernard, Head of Business Banking at Barclays, said: “Our Tech in the UK report drives home the importance of high-growth tech companies to the regions and communities in which they’re based. Investing in and growing tech businesses has masses of economic potential for the UK, however, in order to grow it’s clear that access to finance remains front of mind for these businesses.”
As the report outlines, the higher the number of high-growth businesses, the larger the benefit offered to their surrounding area.
Manchester leads the way
We define Gross Value Added (GVA) as the value produced by any economic unit that produces goods and services, providing a measure of the economic activity taking place in a given area. As shown in ‘Tech in the UK 2024 – Innovation Nation’, Manchester is the place benefitting most from high-growth in terms of GVA.
The report shows the report shows that local areas that boast more than 100 high-growth companies offer up an average GVA of £294k for each business. Manchester benefits the most from its businesses, which contributed £30 billion to the area in 2022.
That is significantly higher than areas with less than 100, which have an average of just £27.5k for each business.
Scotland is a tech superpower in the UK
Looking further North, Edinburgh is another hothouse for high-growth companies with the city playing host to more than 450 high-growth tech companies. This is boosted by Scottish Enterprise which plays a key role in commercialising research for carve outs and has helped to drive 198 deals between 2020 and 2024.
More widely, Scotland has seen a huge increase in equity investment into high-growth tech companies, with the number growing by 32.5 per cent between 2023 and 2024.
Universities drive innovation and growth
Bristol is one of the UK’s leading beneficiaries of efforts between universities. The city is home to the Brunel Centre, a joint data hub between the University of Bath and UWE, and wider investment in the area was up last year by 10 per cent at £167m, with Bristol’s wider deep-tech cluster “Silicon Gorge” now spanning Bristol, Gloucester and Swindon.
The same is true in Cambridge and Leeds, which are each home to 280 high-growth companies. In Cambridge, which received over half a billion pounds in investment in 2024, this has led to every pound spent by businesses contributing to eight pounds of economic impact, with businesses in Leeds contributing quadruple the impact due to its broader base of industries.
Working alongside universities has also benefitted employees, with almost 72 per cent of the 3,000 business leaders surveyed saying that working with universities has helped them find skilled employees, highlighting the value of these partnerships in addressing workforce needs and bridging the skills gap.
Access to finance remains an issue
For businesses to enjoy high-growth, access to lending is vital. And, though the report shows plenty of sectors and regions in the UK flourishing, there is still work to do when it comes to access to finance.
Of the 3,000 business leaders surveyed, almost three quarters (74.7%) believe that there is room for improvement in finance options in their region, and, 75 per cent added that if they were offered access to funding, they would look to invest more in research and development.
Encouragingly, 68 per cent that they are aware of all the financing options relevant to them and just over half of respondents (56.6%) believe that public and local grant schemes are adequately support their tech ecosystem. However, that still leaves almost half who do not agree, suggesting that accessibility and awareness of these schemes could help businesses better leverage available resources.
On this, Bernard added: “Barclays has committed £22 billion of funding through our Business Prosperity Fund to ensure businesses have tailored financial solutions that support growth at every stage. But access to finance is about more than just capital—it’s about providing the tools, resources, and expertise to navigate the funding landscape. As one of the UK’s largest tech entrepreneurial networks, Barclays Eagle Labs is proud to have helped over 17,000 businesses through our ecosystem support.”
To read ‘Tech in the UK 2024 – Innovation Nation’ in full, click here to visit our dedicated page.
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