New report, the Annual Scaleup Review published by the ScaleUp Institute, also shows the number of of scaleup firms in the city region has risen from 550 to 610. Tony McDonough reports

More than 58,500 people now work for fast-growing ‘scaleup’ businesses across the Liverpool city region – an increase of 16.5%.

A new report, the Annual Scaleup Review published by the ScaleUp Institute, also shows the number of of scaleup firms in the city region has risen from 550 to 610 over the past year.

A scaleup business is one that has an average annual growth greater than 20% over a three-year period, having had at least 10 employees in that first year.

The top five scaleups by employee growth have been named as Castlerock Recruitment Group, The Contact Company, disability care operator Potens, Cheshire Mouldings, and Mac Roofing and Contracting.

And the report shines a light on the Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) – which spearheads the Liverpool City Region Local Growth Hub and its plans to support  local businesses to scale and accelerate growth.

Janice Mears, commercial broker for the LEP, said: “Scaleup businesses are crucial for the region’s economy and the fact that we’ve got 8,000 more scale-up employees compared to this time last year is fantastic.”

The top three barriers for scale-up businesses have been identified as access to talent, access to UK markets and customers, and access to public sector support and funding for research and development.

Currently there is a wide range of support that can be accessed through the Local Growth Hub such as the New Markets 2 programme, and most recently the Scaleup MBA delivered by LJMU’s Business School.  The LEP is continuing to develop future programmes of support focused on scale up’s and leadership development.

Ms Mears added: “While the increase in employees, and total number of scaleups, is fantastic news for the region, a lot more needs to be done for the scaleup community to overcome the barriers that it’s facing.

“That’s why the Liverpool LEP and Local Growth Hub are working closely on a range of initiatives that will enable businesses to access the support they need to drive them on their scaleup journey.”