How do we help more Liverpool businesses take the next step?

The startup scene is thriving — and that matters. Liverpool City Region is a £33 billion economy. Its creative industries are world-recognised, its universities are producing talented graduates, and its co-working and incubator ecosystem has real energy. The intention is there. The ideas are there. I see them regularly, and so does the team at Liverpool Chamber, whose members reflect a city that is genuinely entrepreneurial at its core.

But the scale-up numbers tell a different story. According to Liverpool Business School’s Scale-Up Ecosystem Report 2024, the region has just 590 scale-up businesses — a below-average rate nationally. Scale-ups make up less than 0.6% of the SME population yet generate half of all SME turnover. The opportunity here is significant. Close that gap, and the impact on jobs, wages and the long-term strength of our economy could be transformative.

From my experience, and from conversations with businesses and support organisations across the region, three things stand out as areas where the ecosystem can go further.

First, the financing cliff edge is real — and largely invisible to the people who need to know about it. That’s where investment readiness support makes a real difference. Organisations like LCR Finance Hub do vital work in helping businesses understand what growth finance actually looks like — and whether equity, venture, debt or mezzanine finance might be right for them. Many founders at this stage have never been in the room with an investor before. Closing that knowledge gap is the first step. River Capital backs businesses across the North West at exactly this point in their journey — through NPIF II, our Business Growth Loan Fund, Flexible Growth Fund and ability to signpost to equity. The businesses are here. Support to bridge them is what makes the difference.

Second, the success stories skew too heavily toward starting. Launches get celebrated. Growth milestones deserve the same. If a founder announces their first hire, it’s news. If they close a growth round two years later, that story should travel just as far. Ambition feeds on visibility, and the more founders can see businesses like theirs scaling — and understand how they got there — the more they’ll believe it’s possible for them too.

Third, growth finance needs to be part of the conversation earlier. There are strong programmes supporting Liverpool businesses at early stage — and River Capital works alongside many of them, including LCR Finance Hub and various chambers. The opportunity is in making that transition from supported startup to funded scale-up feel like a natural next step rather than an unknown leap. Investment readiness programmes, warm introductions, and joined-up signposting between support organisations and investors are what turn a promising pipeline into actual growth finance. We want to be the next call a business makes when it’s ready to go further.

“What gives me genuine optimism is what happens when the conversation is had properly. 

Earlier this year, my colleague Jim Moore and I joined a Funding Unlocked panel hosted by Liverpool Chamber, alongside two of our portfolio companies — LexioTech and Actua. We talked openly about what growth finance actually looks like, what the process involves and what investors are genuinely looking for. The response was remarkable. Approximately seven businesses came forward with genuine funding enquiries off the back of that single event. Seven. From one conversation.

That tells you everything about the appetite in this city. The ambition is there. The businesses are ready. They just need the door opened.

So what needs to change? In my view, three things specifically. More events like the one we ran with Liverpool Chamber — practical, honest, accessible finance conversations that demystify investment for founders who’ve never been in the room before. More investment readiness support at the critical transition point, with organisations like LCR Finance Hub and Liverpool Chamber continuing to help businesses understand their options and get investor-ready before they approach funders. And a collective commitment — from investors, advisors, media, and the Chamber — to make scale-up success stories as prominent as startup launches, so founders can see a clear path from first funding to real growth.

Liverpool has the foundations. It has the energy. It has the businesses. What it needs now is for all of us — investors, advisors, institutions — to treat scale-up growth as the economic priority it actually is.

At River Capital, we’re already doing that so lets see how we can work together.

ENDS