Lancashire’s scaleup community growing, according to influential national report

The number of scaleup businesses in Lancashire is continuing to expand while scaleups’ contribution to the UK economy is also on the rise, according to latest figures published by the Scaleup Institute.

The Scaleup Annual Review is published by the Scaleup Institute, an independent not-for-profit organisation which aims to make the UK the best place in the world to scale a business. It presents an annual overview of the UK’s scaleup business landscape as well as a range of regional analysis.

The influential report also highlights key opportunities and barriers for the scaleup economy as well as providing recommendations to government and other parties on policy and other areas of support.

The 2024 edition was launched on November 4 at The Tate Modern in London, at an event which was attended by over 200 members of the UK scaleup business community, including representatives from Two Zero and Boost; Lancashire’s Business Growth Hub.

The report, which included figures from the Office of National Statistics, showed there were 755 scaling businesses in Lancashire in 2022, equating to 48.7 scaleups per 100,000 population. This was a 25 per cent increase on the 38.8 per 100,000 in the 2021 figures.

Meanwhile, national figures showed the UK’s 34,180 scaleup businesses contributed £1.4trn turnover to the UK economy in 2022, up from £1.3trn in 2021. This is around 55 per cent of the total output of all UK SMEs, despite scaleups accounting for just 0.6 per cent of the UK SME population.

Since 2013, there has been a 27 per cent increase in the number of scaleups, while the number of SMEs as a whole fell by 13 per cent. 

Lancashire was highlighted in the report as an exemplar area for scaleup businesses, with Two Zero gaining specific recognition for its support for the county’s scaleup community.

Amin Vepari, business finance and scaleup lead for Lancashire County Council, was one of Two Zero’s representatives at the event.

He said: “The publication of the Scaleup Annual Review is another reminder of scaleup businesses’ significant, and growing, contribution to the UK economy as well as our own economy here in Lancashire.

“Two Zero was established in 2019, specifically to provide support to the county’s scaleup businesses to help them achieve their potential and increase their contribution to the Lancashire economy.

“The regional figures presented in this year’s report benchmark Lancashire on a national stage and are a huge testament to the progress our county has made in developing a strong scaleup ecosystem, including through recognising, celebrating and providing targeted scaleup programmes to support our high-growth firms.”