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Tech leaders roundtable: Strategies for supercharging the tech sector
Read time: 6 mins Added: 05/02/25
As part of Leeds Digital Festival, Lloyds convened a summit of the city’s tech leaders to ask: ‘How can we supercharge the UK tech sector, with a focus on the regions?’ Those attending were able to draw on many years of experience of founding, funding and scaling tech businesses, as well as working to create a supportive ecosystem for the sector in West Yorkshire. The region is now home to more than 9,000 digital and tech businesses, including more than 100 fintech firms, employing around 50,000 people1 .
Opening the proceedings, Steve Harris, Head of Technology Sector SME and Mid Corporate at Lloyds, said: “We are an Executive Sponsor of Leeds Digital Festival for the 2nd year and hosting this event because tech is so important to the UK economy and our purpose is to help Britain prosper. There are lessons to be learned from Leeds, which is one of the most dynamic and collaborative places to be involved in tech.”
So, how can we achieve our shared ambition of levelling up the tech sector?
Improve access to finance
Panellists were keen to highlight inequalities in how investment funding is distributed in the UK, arguing that there is a clear systemic and cultural bias towards London and the South East.
Zandra Moore, Co-Founder and CEO of Leeds-based analytics software company Panintelligence, said: “There is a huge amount of talent in the regions, but not everyone has the same equal access to capital. We have to prove to funders that there is a critical mass of investable startups and scaleups here so they will come out to the regions rather than centralising their support in London.”
Steve Harris added: “It’s an issue that is amplified in the tech sector, because venture capital equity financing is how tech businesses tend to finance themselves in the early pre-revenue stages. They could grow much more rapidly, but they aren’t getting the financing.”
There was also discussion as to whether some institutional investors should be obliged in some way to distribute capital more widely across the country as part of their ESG commitments.
Encourage greater diversity
Panellists said that the access to finance issue was even more of a challenge for diverse business founders, including women, ethnic minority communities and neurodiverse people.
Julian Wells, Director of regional strategy consultancy Whitecap Consulting, reported: “This year we completed a report that analysed 250 fintech startups from outside London that had achieved revenues of at least £600,000. We found that those that had really succeeded were those that had more diverse leadership teams, and those firms that go through some kind of support programme grow more, employ more people and raise more funding.”
Zandra identified groups of founders who are ‘locked out’ of the tech funding ecosystem, including female founders, who only receive 2% of all venture capital funding, which drops to 0.4% in the regions2.
As the female founder of a tech company from the regions, I was put at a double disadvantage. Part of the barrier is a lack of diversity among those who distribute capital. Getting a commitment from funds to have more diverse teams deploying capital would be a good starting point.
Zandra Moore Co-Founder and CEO, PanintelligenceZandra continued: “But it’s also about having ecosystems in the regions like The Lifted Project, which ensure that the networks and education for female founders are in place. The reason that is important is because there is lots of evidence that female founders are not as well networked so they don’t necessarily know the people who can provide that seed stage funding.”
Kirsty Rutter, Fintech Investment Director at Lloyds, agreed: “We know that women don’t achieve the same level of investment as men do; women also don’t tend to network as prolifically in circles where the money is accessed, in the same way that men do. Most of those that manage access to money are men – for access you need to be part of the conversation.”
Support for skills
All tech companies are reliant on having the right skills to achieve their full potential, but there was a prevailing view that the regions don’t have a pipeline of the kind of people they need.
We’ve identified access to skills as a real pain point for the sector. We’re constantly hearing from employers that they can’t find the people they need to fuel their growth. We’re working with universities to upskill undergraduates and get them career ready for fintech, but we think this could be rolled out to more education providers.
Joe Roche Engagement Manager, Fintech NorthBut the panellists recognised the particular challenges educators face in preparing young people for a career in such a dynamic sector as tech, where employers’ requirements are rapidly changing.
Steve Harris said: “Roles are evolving quickly, which makes it harder for a student to know what skills they need, and for employers to find the right talent. It makes it even more important for business and educators to work more closely together.”
And all the panellists agreed on the importance of creating a digitally inclusive society, which can help create more opportunity and prosperity for all.
The importance of infrastructure
Every tech business is reliant on infrastructure, from broadband to buses, but in the regions these essential foundations aren’t always in place, limiting opportunities to grow and even forcing businesses to relocate.
While digital infrastructure is clearly critical, transport is also important to enable access to opportunity. Stuart Clarke, Director of Leeds Digital Festival, argued: “You might be young and talented and want to get into tech, but you live in Keighley, for example, which is only 18 miles away, it could take you up to two hours to get into Leeds every day, where the jobs are. That’s not sustainable. The alternative is to move here, which takes money out of Keighley and drives up housing costs in Leeds.”
Sarah Tulip, Co-Founder of the Leeds-based telco Metro Technologies, highlighted how Leeds’ fibre network is now more than 20 years old, which was holding back progress, including preventing advanced supercomputing research at the city’s University. Public investment was not available, however, private sector investors have now stepped in to help rejuvenate the network, which she said would offer up to 40-gigabit connections for businesses in the city when it launches in 2025, with plans to then expand to Bradford and beyond.
Sarah said: “This will be a telecom founded in West Yorkshire for West Yorkshire and it will mean we will be the region with the fastest broadband connectivity in the UK. It has taken a lot of work, but we want to lead the way and show the country what is possible with private sector investment.”
The panellists painted a picture of Leeds as a fast-moving, entrepreneurial city region that is working to identify and overcome any challenges to its ongoing growth with creativity and determination.
It has the potential to act as a role model, inspiring and highlighting the extraordinary potential of tech communities across Britain.
Any views, opinions or forecasts expressed in this article represent views or opinions of forum participants and are not intended to be, and should not be viewed as advice or a recommendation from Lloyds Bank or any other party.