The great and the good of Liverpool City Region鈥檚 tech scene were recognised at the prestigious 2023 LCR Tech Climbers event.
It was the third time the event has been held in Liverpool with more than 150 packing into Love Lane Brewery in the heart of the Baltic Triangle.
A total of 25 companies were selected for this year鈥檚 LCR Tech Climbers list with another 10 making the 鈥極nes to Watch鈥� list.
A stellar line-up of judges looked at investment, impact and innovation with entrants submitting a snapshot of their data which is also used to chart growth and insight into the businesses and their challenges.
Tech Climbers also runs in Leeds and will launch in another Northern region soon.
New data, released by Tech Climbers in Liverpool City Region, found 75% of businesses are looking for funding to grow this year, with almost three quarters on the hunt for Seed or Series A capital.
Whilst 76% of the 58 entrants to Tech Climbers this year have already raised money to date, they cited access to finance as the biggest challenge for the businesses, closely followed by slow adoption of technology.
Last year Liverpool ranked 12th in terms of tech vacancies by city (excluding London) and the latest Tech Climbers data also showcases the influx of jobs in the industry, with all entrants looking to hire over the next 12 months, creating an estimated 297 new jobs 鈥� a 13% increase from last year.
Anna Heyes, CEO at Active Profile and founder of Tech Climbers said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 no surprise that the IP rich tech businesses we engage with through Tech Climbers are naturally looking for funding at various stages of their journey.
鈥淲hat is interesting to see is that the numbers are consistent year on year, with healthy figures linked to the ambition to create jobs in the region too.
鈥淚t鈥檚 great to see the region responding as new accelerator and various specialist funds come on stream. There鈥檚 certainly an emerging market of tech and impressive founders to invest in, so we look forward to seeing more deals in this space over the next 12 months鈥�.
Helen Cross, Digital & Creative Sector Lead at Growth Platform – Liverpool City Region Growth Company said: 鈥淟iverpool City Region is well placed to reap rich rewards because of its ever-expanding tech community and the spirit of entrepreneurship and ambition which this year鈥檚 Tech Climbers have in abundance.
鈥淚nitiatives such as Tech Climbers are important to not only to celebrate the companies doing great work in the region but also for investors and partners to identify key businesses ripe for investment who can benefit from support such as the AI fund, Baltic Ventures, and later this year the Seed Fund.
鈥淏eyond investment, wrap around support from the likes of Growth Platform鈥檚 High Growth Programme and Peer Networks enable businesses to work together and build their networks.鈥�
Thursday鈥檚 launch event was hosted by Chris Maguire, executive editor of 老九品茶Cloud, and heard from several of the leading names from the region鈥檚 tech scene.
Chelsea Slater, CEO of Innovate Her; Claire Lewis, CEO of 聽Baltic Ventures; and Emma Jarvis, founder of Parent Promise by Dear Bump took part in the first panel discussion.
Antony Shimmin, chief operating officer of Mycardium; Dr Adam Sykes, CEO at Swiftcase; Jen Fenner, co-founder and MD of DefProc Engineering; and Adam Triantis, co-founder of DCYPHER made up the second panel after all being included in the Tech Climbers list.
LCR Tech Climbers was sponsored by Avison Young, BDO, Brabners and Marks & Clerk. The associate partners were Gather, Growth Platform, InnovateHer, LCR Connect, LYVA Labs, STFC Digital Cluster, Startup Grind, Tech Nation and Zut Media. ReCulture sponsored the drinks and Rathbones were the food sponsors.