Lancashire scaleup sector outperforms UK stats as support service celebrates fifth anniversary

The growth of Lancashire’s scaleup economy was significantly better than the UK average over the past five years, according to figures from national scaleup body, The Scaleup Institute.

According to data from the organisation’s Annual Scaleup Reviews from 2020 and 2024 (which utilises Office for National Statistics data from 2018 and 2022 respectively), the number of scaleups in Lancashire grew seven per cent over the five-year period, compared to one per cent across the whole of the UK.

This five-year growth covers the period when Lancashire County Council launched Two Zero, the county’s scaleup support service, in January 2020.

Two Zero’s goal is to help leaders of Lancashire businesses to grow 20 per cent per year and create jobs.

 The service has supported 143 of Lancashire’s now 755 scaleups over this period and the county’s business leaders have highlighted the data as evidence of the impact of funded business support in the county.

 Councillor Aidy Riggott, cabinet member for economic development and growth, Lancashire County Council said: “Scaling up presents a unique set of challenges for an organisation’s leadership team and this requires a tailored approach to business support.

 "We launched our scaleup support service, Two Zero, five years ago, to support Lancashire businesses to thrive and in turn drive economic growth. Two Zero has now supported nearly 20 per cent of Lancashire’s scaleup businesses.

 “The fact that, over this period, Lancashire has outperformed the national growth in scaleup business by such a margin is evidence that funded scaleup support, both through Two Zero and the county’s other support services such as Boost; Lancashire’s Business Growth Hub, has provided real long-term economic benefits to the county.”

 To date, Two Zero has ran 11 targeted support programmes offering businesses funded and part-funded access to expert private sector support. The 143 supported companies have a combined total turnover of around £309m and employ over 1,100 staff.

 In addition to the data from The Scaleup Institute, a report released by data intelligence platform Growth Flag last year highlights the scaleup potential across Lancashire.

 According to the report, The State of Growth in Lancashire, 15 per cent of Lancashire’s businesses were forecast to grow 20 per cent or more over the following year, higher than the UK average of 13.1 per cent.

 To celebrate the fifth anniversary of Two Zero’s launch, the service will be shining a light on the growth of the scaleup economy in Lancashire over the past five years and its own contribution toward it.

 The campaign will feature key statistics about Two Zero’s impact and interviews with businesses who took part in Two Zero’s first scaleup programmes to understand more about their growth since receiving support and how the service helped them.

 Amin Vepari, business finance and scaleup lead, Lancashire County Council said: “We want to use Two Zero’s fifth anniversary not simply to highlight the service’s achievements but to help inspire other Lancashire businesses to enable them to better understand the scaleup economy.

 “This includes them understanding the opportunities and challenges that scaling a business presents so they can determine whether scaling is right for them and the best time to do so.”