These companies excel across LinkedIn's four key pillars: employment growth, engagement, job interest, and attraction of top talent.

LinkedIn’s top five startups in Manchester are:

1. Apprentify – Apprentify bridges the gap between businesses and aspiring professionals in digital sectors such as marketing, content creation, data analytics, and software development. Offering comprehensive online training programmes across the UK, Apprentify equips apprentices with the practical skills needed to thrive in their careers, while supplying businesses with a fresh wave of qualified talent.
2. Campfire – Campfire is a marketing agency that leverages data insights to connect brands with the right social media influencers. Its platform, Spark, enables brands to anticipate upcoming trends in influencer marketing, offering a strategic edge in shaping campaigns.
3. Bright Money Group – Bright Money Group is a fintech firm specialising in a range of financial services, including consumer loans, business solutions, and vehicle financing. It aims to simplify financial choices for both individuals and businesses.
4. WeDo Business Services – WeDo Business Services offers a suite of support solutions tailored to small and medium-sized enterprises. From finance and IT to accounting, HR, and back-office operations, the company delivers a comprehensive range of services designed to help businesses bridge skill gaps and streamline their operations in one convenient place.
5. APIS Assay – APIS Assay Technologies develops innovative tools for detecting and analysing diseases, including biomarker testing and specialised software. Collaborating with healthcare providers, it focuses on enhancing medical diagnostics and advancing treatment solutions.

Methodology

LinkedIn evaluates startups using four key pillars:

• Employment Growth: Assessed by the percentage increase in headcount within the city over a specified time period (minimum of 5% growth).
• Engagement: Measures non-employee interactions with the company’s LinkedIn page, including views and follows, as well as how many non-employees are viewing the profiles of the startup’s employees.
• Job Interest: Looks at how often people are viewing and applying to job postings at the company in the city, including both paid and unpaid roles.
• Attraction of Top Talent: Tracks the percentage of employees the startup has recruited from global LinkedIn Top Companies, relative to the startup's total workforce.

Additional criteria:

Data covers the period from 1st July 2023 to 30th June 2024.

The company must:

• Be fully independent and privately owned.
• Have 30 or more full-time employees in the city.
• Be 7 years old or younger.
• Be headquartered in the country where it appears on the list.

Exclusions:

• Staffing firms, think tanks, venture capital firms, law firms, consulting firms, nonprofits, accelerators, and government-owned entities are ineligible.
• Startups that have laid off 15% or more of their workforce during the evaluation period, based on corporate announcements or verified public sources, are also excluded.
• These decisions are overseen by LinkedIn’s News team, using both company statements and trusted news outlets.

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