Some of the North East’s leading business owners & support organisations have joined forces to make Sunderland the business startup & scaleup capital of the UK in June.
UK Startup & Scaleup Week is a 5-day, multi-venue, citywide festival taking place in Sunderland, North East England between 2-6 June that is designed to inspire & educate over 500 people how to start, grow & fund a successful business in the UK.
Since the pandemic, the organisers (Paul Lancaster & Neil Stephenson) have seen first-hand how Sunderland has been gearing up to be one of the most exciting places to live, work, start & grow a business in the UK so they are helping to create an entrepreneurial ecosystem in the city through their UK Startup & Scaleup Week festival in June (& the monthly PLATFORM events they have been running in the city since June last year).
Over the course of 5 days (between 2-6 June 2025), the UK Startup & Scaleup Week festival will cover the following themes that they believe all new businesses, products or services need to go through to be a success:
- Monday = INSPIRATION
- Tuesday = GETTING STARTED
- Wednesday = FUNDING & FINANCE
- Thursday = GROWING & SCALING
- Friday = KEEP GOING OR PIVOT?
Day 1 (INSPIRATION) is the main conference taking place in the world-class, 550 person capacity auditorium at The Fire Station theatre in Sunderland city centre.
Featuring a range of inspirational keynote talks & fireside chats (including Dragons’ Den star Sara Davies MBE, Daniel Priestley & Paul Mort), panel discussions, 1-2-1 sessions, exhibition stands & networking opportunities, Day 1 is for anyone with an idea for a new business venture, who has recently started a business, is an established business owner or leader with ambition to grow, who works in a large enterprise serving SMEs, is a funder or investor & anyone else who wants to see the business community & local economy in Sunderland & the wider North East of England succeed!
Day 2 (GETTING STARTED) will provide practical information & advice on how to start a new business, product or service, learn how to create effective video content for digital marketing & social media & bring other creative ideas to life.
Day 2 will take place in multiple venues in the Sunniside area of Sunderland city centre including The British Esports Performance Campus & Diego’s Joint with specific content aimed at people who want to know how to start or run a successful business in the esports, tech / digital, creative, film & music industries, a social enterprise or community interest company, or be a supplier to these sectors.
Day 3 (FUNDING & FINANCE) at The City Hall is for anyone looking for funding or investment to start or grow a business with experts talking about grants, loans, angel investment, venture capital, private equity, crowdfunding & other sources of finance.
Day 3 will also provide the opportunity to book 1-2-1 sessions with funders & investors.
Day 4 (GROWING & SCALING) at Sheepfold Stables is all about how to grow your business through better sales, marketing, business development, leadership, mindset, how to develop new tech products & make use of automation & AI, finding talent & building teams, partnerships, national & international expansion & more!
Day 5 (KEEP GOING OR PIVOT?) at Hope Street Xchange is all about measuring & monitoring success, how to know what is & isn’t working, how to stay focused, resilient & motivated & how to innovate & change direction if necessary. It’s also a celebration of all that’s taken place throughout the week & a look ahead at what’s next for Sunderland & the wider North East of England.
The UK Startup & Scaleup Week festival is taking place with support from Sunderland City Council & a range of leading businesses, funders & service providers including NatWest, North East BIC, BearTech, Business Enterprise Fund (BEF), BJSS (now part of CGI), The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), Northstar Ventures, Sweeney Miller Law, Tennick Accountants, UMi, Ward Hadaway, Waterstons & Wubbleyou.
Paul Lancaster (Founder & Event Producer, UK Startup & Scaleup Week) said: “After running three hugely successful & internationally-renowned business festivals in Newcastle, we’ve chosen to run this year’s event in Sunderland because we genuinely think it’s the most exciting place to live, work, start & run a business in the UK right now!”
“As someone who lives & runs a business in the city, I believe Sunderland has all the ingredients necessary to be a hotbed of entrepreneurial activity so I encourage anyone who is thinking of starting a business, wants to grow their existing one, is a funder or investor or just wants to play a role in supporting the future success of Sunderland & the wider North East of England to come along!”
Cllr Kevin Johnston (Portfolio Holder for Business, Housing & Regeneration at Sunderland City Council) added: “We are thrilled that Sunderland has been chosen as the host city for the UK Startup & Scaleup Week festival. Billions of pounds of inward investment over recent years has made Sunderland one of the UK’s fastest growing and business friendly cities and attracting events like this, which will shine a national spotlight on the city’s business community, is testament to that. We’re delighted to be involved.”
