Fast-growing tech start-up Wakelet is moving to a new home in Manchester after outgrowing its previous base thanks to “rapid growth”.
The online content curation platform is relocating to Manchester Science Partnerships’ Tech Incubator at Manchester Technology Centre.
Wakelet currently boasts more than a million individual and business users on its platform, including prestigious institutions like Harvard University, blue-chip companies like Airbus and Experian and international sports teams FC Barcelona and Atlanta Hawks.
The start-up has seen its user base surge by over 200 per cent year-on-year. As a result, it has grown its headcount by 40 per cent in the last six months.
“In recent months, world-class names such as the Ashmolean Museum, Manchester Metropolitan University and Minnesota United have joined our platform and we’ve also expanded our team,” said co-founder and CEO Jamil Khalil.
“This rapid expansion meant that we’d outgrown our previous offices.”
Wakelet is joining a community of fast-growing data science and technology innovation start-ups at the Tech Incubator, which was launchd in May 2018 and is helping to create up to 2,000 jobs for Manchester’s tech sector over the next decade.
As the largest company within the Tech Incubator, Wakelet will be part of the new Circle Square development at the heart of the Oxford Road Corridor innovation district, next to the University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University.
The Tech Incubator also forms part of Bruntwood SciTech, a 50:50 joint venture between Bruntwood and Legal & General Capital, which was created last week.
Chris Oglesby, chairman of Bruntwood SciTech, described Wakelet as “one of the most exciting tech businesses” in the region, with “the clear potential to be a global player in online content curation”.
He added: “We are sure they will benefit from being part of the vibrant, collaborative and ambitious community at the Tech Incubator and also from the unique programme of business support it offers.
“Space at the Tech Incubator is filling up fast, reflecting the strength and depth of Manchester’s technology sector, which is great to see.”