As someone heavily involved in the northern tech sector, running the Leeds Digital Festival as well as my own consultancy working with startups and scaleups, I’m always on the lookout for anything that promotes tech outside of London. There is often a default, sometimes pushed by those who should know better, that “the UK’s world-beating tech sector begins and ends with the lifeblood of London”.
Those are the words of London mayoral hopeful Dan Korski, which have been echoed by VCs and ministers alike. Receiving an email this week that described a new accelerator in a northern city whose tech sector is perhaps smaller than it ought to be, I was cheered by the thought of more startups getting the help they need to grow.
The accelerator looked pretty standard: plenty of formal workshops, some experienced mentors and the promise of help with finding investment. It came with the cost of giving up equity to the programme, but at a lower percentage than most....