Sheffield’s startup ecosystem is slowly growing. We originally built these lists because, as an engineering company, we needed a CRM. We now work for many more groups than just Sheffield startups. Hopefully, some will find this list and map helpful.
HQ Map
We first created the map view to help us think about where the best place for a Sheffield scale-up campus would be. In our view, the stretch from the station through to Decathlon (known as the Cultural Industries Quarter) was the best place to focus the startups. We weren’t focused on building availability nor plausibility of development, rather proximity to the services we wanted and peer businesses we wanted to be near.
The city’s “Innovation Spine” pushes for startups to move in the opposite direction, popping over the hill to “Penine Five”. Whilst not to our taste, we’re excited to see Penine Five expand and are pleased that there is a growing, collaborative, startup ecosystem in Sheffield.
Growing startups
This list covers companies that, by our estimation, have either raised or received revenue of more than $10m. This is not an exhaustive list. If you think someone is missing, then email us! None of this operates on private information:
| Company | Description |
|---|---|
| Additive Manufacturing Technologies (AMT) | Automates post-processing and surface finishing for industrial 3D-printed parts. |
| Aegiq | Builds quantum photonics hardware and systems for secure quantum communications and networking. |
| Amodo | Building the 21st century’s most important hardware. |
| Exciting Instruments | smFRET instruments. |
| Faradion | Develops sodium-ion battery chemistry and cells as a Li-ion alternative. |
| Iceotope | Provides precision liquid-cooling technology for data centres and edge computing. |
| MOPO | Pay-as-you-go clean-energy service providing portable power systems in sub-Saharan Africa. |
| Opteran | ”Natural intelligence” computer vision and autonomy software for robots and edge devices. |
| Ossila | Supplies materials and lab equipment for OLED/perovskite/organic electronics research. |
| Phlux Technology | Designs high-performance infrared photodetectors and sensor chips (SWIR/MWIR). |
| Razor | Digital product consultancy — designs and builds bespoke software, data and AI solutions. |
| Rinri Therapeutics | Cell-based therapies to restore hearing by regenerating auditory neurons. |
| Sitehop | Builds ultra-low-latency, quantum-resilient network encryption hardware/accelerators. |
| Tribosonics | Makes embedded ultrasonic sensing for industrial condition monitoring and process optimisation. |
| Unicorn Biotechnologies | Building automated, scalable cell-culturing/biomanufacturing platforms (benchtop bioreactors). |
SitRep.
In comparison to London and Cambridge, Sheffield’s startup ecosystem is very weak. But that’s okay, we’re growing! We love being in Sheffield and think there are lots of positive feedback loops in being a bigger fish in a smaller pond. We very quickly grew in Sheffield, worked with lots of local companies, and then grew out of the region and then out of the country.
Sheffield’s startup ecosystem won’t grow overnight, but the city is now on a trajectory to have a strong, sustainable ecosystem. There now exist enough startups that we are on the inevitable trajectory for:
- Startup founders to exit and become angels, seeding the next generation of startups
- Early startup employees will exit the companies they work for and, having been trained in how to (or how not to) run a startup, start their own companies
- There to be enough of a critical mass that people will move to the region
It’s not a startup hub yet, but we’re on a steady trajectory towards having a small but strong ecosystem.