Business support in Leeds

This guide lists 16 accelerators working in Leeds. Entries are added as Leeds Today confirms them, so the list grows over time.

Included: accelerators with an office in Leeds, evidenced work in the Leeds market, or a firm credibly serving Leeds from elsewhere (labelled with its home city). Listed A to Z; firms headquartered in Leeds are marked. Independently compiled. No company can pay to be added.

An accelerator works with a group of businesses, chosen by application, for a fixed period, usually a few weeks to six months. Many end with a showcase or investor day, and most are aimed at firms ready to grow quickly. An incubator supports earlier-stage businesses for longer, often with workspace, access to facilities and expert advice. Businesses can usually join when they are ready rather than as part of a cohort. Some programmes in this guide combine the two.

Most programmes in this guide do not take a share of your company. NatWest Accelerator says it does not take equity, and Propel Healthtech and Venture Forward are free for the founders selected. Some programmes end with an offer of investment for a few of the businesses taking part: PraeSeed can invest up to £200,000 in each of up to eight businesses, and GC Angels can offer equity investment to selected Venture Forward founders. That investment is a separate deal on its own terms. Check the terms of any programme before you apply.

Much of it is. Publicly funded programmes such as Propel Healthtech, the Digital Knowledge Exchange and the support at the Business and IP Centre Leeds cost nothing to join, and Made Smarter's digital assessment is free. Some programmes ask for a contribution: Help to Grow: Management is 90% funded by the government and participants pay £750. Made Smarter's technology grants cover up to half of a project's cost. Free support usually has eligibility rules on location, size or sector.

Help to Grow: Management is a government-backed 12-week course for senior leaders of small and medium-sized businesses, taught by business schools and mixing online and face-to-face sessions with one-to-one support. Leeds Trinity University's terms are typical: the business must have 5 to 249 employees, have traded for more than a year and not be a charity, and the participant must be a senior decision maker with at least one direct report. The government pays 90% and the participant pays £750.

Every organisation in this guide either has a base in Leeds or runs a current programme that is open to Leeds businesses and names Leeds or West Yorkshire. Some are based elsewhere, such as Health Innovation Yorkshire and Humber in Huddersfield, but run programmes for West Yorkshire businesses or hold cohorts in the city. Each entry shows where the organisation is based.

Many programmes recruit once or twice a year, so a programme shown as running in rounds is likely to open again. Most let you register interest for the next cohort on their website. Programmes shown as full have reached capacity for their current funding, and closed programmes have ended. The table shows the latest status we found and the date it was checked.