Private office and coworking space, Accelerate Places Manchester, has reported a successful first year with thirty-seven businesses and nine freelancers making it their home over the last year.
In the last 4 months alone, nine businesses have moved into the building, on Princess Street, and a new manager has been appointed to grow the community of ambitious enterprises.
New businesses based at Accelerate Places Manchester include news and events hub, Prolific North; award-winning video production company, Groundbreak Productions; Irish marketing agency, Socio Local; and Airbnb management company, Airsorted.
Over the last year, many of its start-ups have also celebrated their own growth and successes. Nuuk Digital moved to Accelerate Places from Ireland in April 2017 and grew to a team of six before they moved in to their own office space. Bunting Software launched in November 2017 and grew to a team of eight and Zaptic, a frontline operations platform, secured funding and expanded into a new, larger office space in Accelerate Places.
Another Accelerate Places Manchester business, One Million Mentors (1MM), has recently secured funding for their programme in Greater Manchester. The organisation helps to pair professionals with young people looking to improve their professional skills and experience. Co-founders, Rushanara Ali MP and Alveena Malik, said: “We were keen to be in a space with thriving tech ideas because tech is a vital part of our organisation.
“We have found the Accelerate Places network and diverse range of businesses here really beneficial to bounce ideas off, make new partnerships and even recruit mentors from. We enjoy an excellent location with restaurants, cafes and public transport nearby so it is such an accessible space. Everyone is very friendly and hardworking and it is clear that the pioneers and leaders of tech in the North West are in this space, which motivates you to be more creative and productive.”
The team at Accelerate Places is also growing. Georgia-Kaye Berry has been appointed as Community Manager. Originally from Burnley, Georgia spent two years managing a business centre of serviced offices. She’s really excited about her new role as its more focused on the community aspect of the coworking space.
She said: “Accelerate Places is a fantastic place to work as you feel like you’re part of one big team and there are so many inspiring businesses here. I enjoy getting stuck in with our members and getting to know them and what makes them tick. I also enjoy being involved in organising our member events and making sure they are valuable for our members.
Lisa Murgatroyd, Business Manager, said: “It has been an incredible year for Accelerate Places Manchester. Both Accelerate Places and our businesses have enjoyed some incredible successes and we all feel very privileged to work in such a vibrant, dynamic and ambitious community.
“Georgia’s appointment strengthens our team and means that we now have three managers onsite working to support all the businesses and freelancers based here. These exciting and influential entrepreneurs have the opportunity to work together, whilst taking advantage of our huge support network and venture building expertise. We‘re now setting our sights on year two and looking forward to all the successes which I’m sure it will bring both to us and our members.”
