Leeds business festival set to tackle the North's investment gap

Climb26, the flagship business festival created by ClimbUK, returns to Royal Armouries Museum and Leeds Dock on 1 and 2 July, bringing together thousands of entrepreneurs, investors, operators and business leaders for two days designed to help ambitious businesses grow.

Now in its fourth year, the event has built a reputation for doing things differently.

Rather than relying on celebrity keynote speakers and theoretical presentations, Climb26 puts experienced founders, operators and investors on stage to share honest insights and practical lessons from building and scaling businesses. Many of the speakers are just one or two steps ahead of others in the audience, making the content more relatable, actionable and relevant.

The festival was created to tackle some of the biggest challenges facing UK entrepreneurs, including unequal access to investment and networks.

Recent industry data shows that all-female founding teams continue to receive only around 2% of UK venture capital funding, while London and the South East attract the majority of investment. Climb26 was established to help challenge those disparities by connecting founders from across the UK with investors, mentors, partners and peers in an environment designed to encourage meaningful conversations and real opportunities.

Over two days, attendees will take part in more than 40 workshops, masterclasses, open-mic pitch sessions, meet-the-buyer opportunities and curated networking events. Topics will cover raising investment, scaling operations, building high-performing teams, adopting emerging technologies and expanding into new markets.

The festival also includes evening networking events such as a female founders reception, investor speed networking and sector-specific meetups.

Gordon Bateman, founder of ClimbUK, said, “We created ClimbUK because we believed ambitious businesses outside London deserved better access to investment, expertise and opportunity.

“Too many business events feel predictable and inaccessible, with the same speakers and the same audiences year after year.

“ClimbUK was designed to be different and our goal is simple: for every attendee to leave with new ideas, valuable connections and greater confidence to take the next step in their business journey.”

Previous ClimbUK events and regional tours have helped attendees secure investment, partnerships, customers and long-term mentoring relationships. In some cases, deals have been initiated during open-mic pitch sessions, roundtable discussions and informal conversations between founders and investors.

To help attendees make the most of the experience, Climb26 also features an AI-powered event app that recommends sessions, facilitates introductions and helps delegates build personalised schedules based on their business goals.

Tickets and further information are available through the ClimbUK website.