NatWest has opened a new business Accelerator at Tyseley Energy Park in Birmingham, giving West Midlands founders direct access to networks of capital, training and investors in a region with an advanced engineering and manufacturing sector that already generates £22 billion a year and supports 273,000 jobs.
The hub, launched in partnership with TEP Birmingham and the Webster & Horsfall Group, is aimed squarely at founders and scale-up businesses trying to make the leap from a promising idea to an investable company.
There is an interesting symmetry in the choice of location. TEP is owned by the Webster & Horsfall Group, a family-owned Birmingham manufacturer with over 300 years of industrial heritage and a banking relationship with NatWest dating back to 1948. The group continues to manufacture professional wire and cable products for the aerospace, automotive, marine and medical industries, while transforming part of the Tyselenovation site and capacity into its Tyselenovation flagship.
For small business owners, active offers should be considered. Members receive specialist training, workshops, peer support and introductions to investors, commercial partners and industry experts, as well as access to NatWest banking, sustainability finance and IP lending proposals. Membership is free, and the bank plans to grow its Accelerator community to 50,000 members by 2026, with entrepreneurs able to join through the digital platform at natwest.com/accelerator.
The site places members within a cluster of active industries rather than a glass-box co-working space. TEP Birmingham is home to over 20 energy and technology organizations working across low carbon energy, sustainable transport, resource recovery, advanced materials and the circular economy, including entrepreneurs and manufacturers, universities, policy makers and infrastructure providers.
Time is not a risk either. The West Midlands Growth Plan identifies the commercialization of technology developed by businesses, universities and research institutes as a key growth opportunity, while the government-backed Local Innovation Partnerships Fund, led by UK Research and Innovation, is designed to bridge the gap between research and commercialization in regions such as the West Midlands. Ministers have already given regions up to £20 million each to support clusters with strong innovation potential.
The launch also coincides with the West Midlands Investment Zone, which focuses on the growth of advanced manufacturing, including battery technology, digital industries and the green sectors, and sits neatly alongside the Government’s wider drive to put advanced manufacturing at the heart of its industrial strategy.
Robert Begbie, CEO of NatWest Commercial & Institutional, said: “The West Midlands has the industrial strength, technical expertise and business ambition to be one of the UK’s leading regions for green growth.
“But strong ideas require more than just technology.
“This partnership brings those things together. By combining our Accelerator network, commercial banking expertise and sustainable finance expertise, we can help more businesses sell, attract investment and scale.”
Robert Horsfall, Director of Webster & Horsfall Group and founder of TEP Birmingham, said: “TEP Birmingham was created to bring together business, universities and the public sector to develop and commercialize new ideas.
“Together, we want to help more businesses find partners, secure investment and grow here in the West Midlands.”
NatWest already operates Accelerator hubs in Birmingham and the University of Warwick. The new Tyseley site connects these three areas into one regional ecosystem, meaning that a founder in Digbeth or a spin-out in Coventry now has a shorter route than ever to investors, industry partners and, most importantly, the bank manager.
