manchester
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Michael Flacks and the price of being unwanted
From factory-second clothing in Manchester to industrial carve-outs, Michael Flacks has built a career buying what other owners want to leave behind. The bargains come with obligations, and the next chapter reaches from steelworks to a football club.
Cate Woolsey and the art of changing her mind
Before joining Alumni Ventures in Manchester, Cate Woolsey studied computer science, played midfield for Middlebury and painted modern versions of old masters. Her next change was leaving the New York she had promised to keep.
Accelerate ME: The startup accelerator whose bosses graduate
Manchester’s student-run accelerator offers founders up to £8,000 without taking equity. Its more unusual experiment is keeping the network alive as one generation hands the keys to the next.
Peak finds the money hiding on the shelf
The Manchester AI company turns inventory and pricing data into commercial decisions. Now owned by UiPath, it is taking the next step: helping businesses act on them.
Interact Software Wants to End the Office Scavenger Hunt
Four intranets to check. One policy to find. Interact has built a business around that mismatch - and its next act puts AI inside the everyday machinery of work.
Vypr wants your bad idea caught before it hits the shelf
From bread bags to birthday cards, Vypr lets brands test the small decisions that shape a launch. Its bet: consumer research earns its keep when there is still time to change the product.
Autocab puts Uber inside the local taxi office
The Manchester software company helps independent fleets book, dispatch and bill their journeys. Its owner, Uber, can also send them passengers - a useful arrangement with an awkward history.
Nxdia
Nxdia (born Nadia Ahmed) is an Egyptian-British alt-pop and pop-punk artist based in Manchester and London whose bilingual English-Arabic songwriting, queer identity, and confessional lyricism about obsession, desire, and self-discovery have made them one of the most exciting emerging voices in UK indie music. Known for hooky, pulsating tracks like 'She Likes a Boy' and 'Jennifer's Body', Nxdia's debut mixtape 'I Promise No One's Watching' surpassed 100 million Spotify streams by August 2025, and their 2026 single 'Cool' cements a more confident, genre-blurring new era.