Startup Support in...Birmingham
by Startacus Admin
Birmingham based early stage startups and entrepreneurs take note - here's the lowdown on key startup support and help available where you are...
Away from the established startup hubs like London, the support for setting up a business isn’t always so clear. It’s not a lack of support, just a quieter ecosystem that takes a little more work to unearth. We want to help with this by highlighting what some cities, which might not spring immediately to mind at the mention of ‘startups’, have to offer.
From sunny seaside Bournemouth to less sunny Birmingham, you may have noticed a complete lack of pattern to our journey around the UK...
Co-Working space
Comfortable chair? Coffee? 24/7 access? These are the most important questions to ask when looking for co-working space. These spaces answer ‘yes’ (disclaimer: we have not personally tested all the chairs):
Alpha Works is apparently Birmingham’s first flexible work space, offering hot desks, permanent workspace, and even private offices. Facilities include meeting rooms, shower,
kitchens, café, coffee bar and, yes, free coffee. And tea, but that’s unimportant.
The Old Print Works in Balsall Heath is a vibrant community charity, providing workspaces for creative local designer-makers and opportunities for all. As well as workshops and studios, The Old Print Works also offers more traditional co-working space from The Transfer in a quiet but friendly environment.
Innovation Birmingham Campus is one of the biggest spaces we have written about, as it is designed for any tech or digital business, from entrepreneurs and start-ups, to SMEs and scale-ups.
Custard Factory is another big one, located in the Greenhouse building. It offers flexible co-working space and offices for startups, SMEs, and big name businesses. Existing tenants include a well-known video game developer and TV companies, including a BBC unit.
Finances
Midven manages multiple funds focused on early-stage and SME businesses. The range of funds currently represent over £110m, and Midven also provides mentoring, resources, and connections, which help businesses to overcome the challenges faced when scaling.
Ascension Ventures have a base in Birmingham and runs a number of UK funds from Seed to Series A. They will lead rounds or follow alongside other funds or angel investors. They also provide expertise in strategy, operations, finance, sales, growth hacking, and connections to current business and industry experts.
Midlands-based Minerva is an angel investor network focused on technology businesses from emerging or established businesses, and they often use their investment as a means of attracting further capital from other sources.
With an Innovation Grant, Business Development Grant, and more, Grants WM is a good place to visit for financing a business in the West Midlands.
The startup ecosystem and programmes
Innovation Birmingham Campus not only provides co-working space, but also runs an incubator for innovative ventures in cloud, gaming, social media, applications, digital technologies, clean tech and low carbon sectors.
BizzInn is an incubator located in Birmingham Research Park, and hosted by the University of Birmingham. It is particularly interested in startups in or relating to the medical and biomedical sectors.
As always, this is not an exhaustive list, so feel free to let us know at editorial@startacus.net if you think there is a particularly deserving entity in any of these categories.
Subscribe to our newsletter
If you would like to receive our startup themed newsletter, full of the latest startup opportunities, events, news, stories, tips and advice, then sign up here.
The startup that is on a mission to empower cyclists everywhere by providing the world’s largest cycle route collection in its innovative app
Black Young Professional Network, aka BYP Network will hit and surpass their Seedrs £500k funding round target.
.jpeg)
Planning to hire an accountant for your startup? Here are a few of the things you should consider before you do just that...
Sustainable reward scheme Bagboard, a first-of-its-kind advertising platform for planet-friendly brands launches £600k funding round
The Manchester-based startup that's created an app to enable hospitality businesses to maintain social distancing while still taking customer orders quickly
The lowdown on Bubo AI, the Yorkshire-based startup that's using AI to create value-based pricing for wholesale and distribution businesses
The London-based startup that's disrupting the insurance industry by its collective-based model for cycling insurance
More than half of employees concerned about returning to work and majority of employees NOT comfortable using public transport
The GCHQ Innovation Co-Lab is on the hunt for companies harnessing data science, machine learning and AI techniques to create real products and solutions.
Eppik is a smart family photo sharing platform that helps families reconnect through their shared photo heritage
Published on: 2nd November 2018
.png)
If you would like to enable commenting via your Startacus account, please enable Disqus functionality in your Account Settings.
- More than half of employees concerned about returning to work 2nd Jul 2020 More than half of employees concerned about returning to work and majority of employees NOT comfortable using public transport
- GCHQ Innovation Co-Lab seeks startups harnessing data science, machine learning and AI 2nd Jul 2020 The GCHQ Innovation Co-Lab is on the hunt for companies harnessing data science, machine learning and AI techniques to create real products and solutions.
- Ten Years On: 30% Club Sets New Targets 1st Jul 2020 New targets set by 30% Club aimed at achieving both gender diversity and fully inclusive cultures on FTSE Boards, Executive Committees and Chair Appointments
- Xero’s Roadmap to Recovery manifesto launched 1st Jul 2020 Xero’s Roadmap to Recovery manifesto launched as new data confirms impact of COVID-19 on UK small business revenue and employment
