Manchester Venture Builder

Manchester Venture Builder is a hands-on accelerator designed to help students, graduates and researchers turn early-stage ideas into validated, market-ready startups. 

Manchester Venture Builder applications are open now! Apply here

 

Over a structured 12-week of support, founders test assumptions, build MVPs and gain real customer traction. The most promising teams then progress into a selective 8-week extended support phase, receiving deeper 1-2-1 mentoring and preparing to pitch at Demo Day. 

Participation in our Manchester Venture Builder Programme is based on verified applications to take part in our 2026 cohort apply here. The application deadline is Sunday 1st March 2026.

 

Venture Builder 2026 – Key Dates 
  • Applications open: Monday 22nd December 2025 
  • Applications close: Sunday 1st March 2026 
  • Interviews: Week commencing 9th March 2026 
  • Outcome notifications: Tuesday 17th March 2026 
  • Programme start: Tuesday 24th March 2026 

An information session will be hosted between January-February to help answer any questions and provide application support. 
 
Register your interest to join the information session here.

VB Cohort 1
 
During our first programme launch of Venture Builder in 2025: 
  • 28 student founders joined the 12-week programme 
  • 100% validated their ideas through live experimentation 
  • 11 teams pitched at Demo Day to investors and ecosystem partners
VB Stats

Ready to build, test, and grow your startup? 🚀 Apply today and join Manchester’s next generation of founders.

 
As a participant of Venture Builder, you’ll also receive lots of perks including:
  • Hands-on mentoring - Structured 1-2-1 support and expert-led sessions, Venture Builder mentors act as sparring partners, not lecturers. 
  • Equity-free funding - Access of up to £140K funding pool. Our funding is released as small grants to support testing, prototyping and early go-to-market activity. 
  • £100K+ in software & tech perks - We have lots of technology perks to support you will be developing your startup, including Google Cloud, Notion, GitHub, Miro, Mixpanel and more. 
  • Hybrid founder community & workspace - Access to the Masood Entrepreneurship Centre co-working space (known as the Enterprise Zone) plus an active Slack community for ongoing peer support. 
  • Investor access & Demo Day - Pitch at Demo Day and access a curated database of 400+ investors
VB Participant Perks
 
Our Offering - Software Perks
MEC Perks
 
How the programme works:

Our Venture Builder programme is a sprint-based accelerator focused on learning by doing. 

During the VB Journey you will: 

  • Run customer discovery and test assumptions 
  • Design and execute real experiments 
  • Build and iterate early MVPs 
  • Build traction and learning 

Alongside this, you’ll gain practical skills in: 

  • Financial planning and revenue models 
  • Legal and compliance basics 
  • Fundraising strategy and early investor outreach 

By Week 12, every team will have validated (or invalidated!) their idea and built the foundations needed for investor-ready conversations. 

The Venture Builder Approach
VB Framework
 
How to apply to our Venture Builder 2026 Cohort 

Applications for the Venture Builder 2026 Cohort open on Monday 22nd December 2025. 

To apply, you will need to complete the online application form, linked here. As part of the application, you will be required to submit: 

  • A pitch deck 
  • A short video 

Applications close on Sunday 1st March 2026. 

Apply for Manchester Venture Builder

After applications close, a shortlisted group of applicants will be invited to interview. Interviews will take place week commencing 9th March 2026. 

All applicants will be notified of the outcome by Tuesday 17th March 2026. The Venture Builder programme will begin on Tuesday 24th March 2026. 

 
Hear from our 2024/25 Cohort:

 

VB Cohort Quotes