The Birmingham 250
250 of the most exciting companies in and around Birmingham, picked for fast growth, fresh funding, awards and headline moves. This brief picks out the 20 with the clearest reason to buy right now and says how to approach each one.
Birmingham's growth is led by things that get made. Manufacturing, mobility and property are the biggest group on the list, and the standout stories are capacity going in: Maeving building electric motorcycles, Zenix Aerospace running eight aerostructures sites, Warwick Acoustics putting its audio systems into cars. New owners, new plants and fresh defence work mean hiring engineers and production staff, fitting out sites and building supply chains.
The funded tech is smaller and mostly backed by regional money, from Grid Edge's AI energy software to Nourished's 3D-printed nutrition and Joblogic's field-service platform. Several are taking a Midlands product to Europe or the US for the first time, which is the moment a company buys its first sales, marketing and market-entry help.
Around them, contractors like M.Lambe are riding record order books in housing and utilities, consumer brands like AYBL are moving from local success into bigger channels, and professional services firms such as Talbots Law and LRQA are adding people, offices and whole businesses by acquisition.
What’s inside.
Funded tech and product companies
Eight companies backed by fresh money, most of it from regional funds. Several are taking a Midlands product to Europe or the US.
Investment to accelerate AI and European expansion, after £60m from Axiom Equity in 2023. Serves 100,000+ users. Honch shows it launching an agentic operating system for service contractors in June and going live across Young Lives vs Cancer's estate in September.
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In the full briefingThe highest-ranked Birmingham firm on the Sunday Times 100. Also 35th in the Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50 2025 with 876% growth, and took a £45m debt facility in October 2025.
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In the full briefingNamed a G2 Market Leader and Momentum Leader in Spring 2026, with 400+ customers and 8,000+ recruiters on the platform. Honch shows a new Chief Revenue Officer appointed in July.
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In the full briefingRaised to expand into Europe and the US. Used by more than 14m students and by the 30 largest UK student accommodation operators.
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In the full briefingScaleup of the Year at the Birmingham Tech Week Awards 2025. Clients include the Bullring and the Royal Opera House.
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In the full briefing11th in the Sunday Times 100 Tech 2025, and in September 2026 became the first British-made gummy stocked by Costco UK.
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In the full briefingAdded UK Export Finance support later in 2026.
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In the full briefingIts systems are now fitted in the Range Rover SV, and the round funds scaling up.
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In the full briefingAerospace, defence and cleantech
Manufacturers with new owners, new plants or new defence work. Each is building capacity fast.
Created when Sullivan Street Partners bought Senior plc's aerostructures arm. Debuted at Farnborough 2026 and won a Prestwick Aerosystems contract.
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In the full briefingOpened an 80,000 sq ft defence vehicle assembly facility in May 2025 for MoD protected mobility programmes, and now leads Team LionStrike in the UK Light Mobility Vehicle competition.
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In the full briefingConstruction on a growth run
Contractors with record turnover and full order books, much of it in housing and utilities.
Consumer brands
Two brands moving from local success into bigger channels.
Professional services growing by acquisition
Law firms, an assurance group and an agency, all adding people, offices or businesses.
More from the list.
| Company | Sector | Based | Why it made the list |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4T2 Sensors | Sensors and data analytics | Birmingham | Fluid sensing and data analytics company that raised a $969K seed round in January 2025 from Midven (Future Planet Capital) and Waterpoint Lane. |
| 3P Innovation | Medtech / pharma manufacturing automation | Warwick | Won Excellence in Innovation at the Medilink Midlands Business Awards (May 2025) and then the national Innovation award at the Medilink UK Awards (July 2025); recently launched a next-generation DPI blister filling line and moved into cell and gene cryovial filling. |
| Ammogen | Hydrogen | Birmingham (Tyseley) | Building what it calls the world's largest and most efficient ammonia-to-hydrogen cracking unit at Tyseley Energy Park, targeting 200kg a day of transport-grade hydrogen with partners H2SITE, Yara and EQUANS. |
| A&M EDM | Advanced manufacturing (precision engineering) | Smethwick | Make UK Manufacturing Awards 2025 SME of the Region (Midlands and East) and Express & Star Manufacturing Champion 2025 after record £8.75m sales supplying aerospace and four F1 teams. |
| Adam's | Restaurant | Birmingham | Adam Stokes' fine dining restaurant retains its Michelin star in the 2026 guide alongside three AA Rosettes and a Good Food Guide score of 7. |
| Aston Villa FC | Sport | Birmingham | Won the 2025-26 UEFA Europa League (3-0 v Freiburg), ending a 30-year trophy drought, after reaching the 2024-25 Champions League quarter-finals and finishing 4th in the Premier League. |
| Ampa (Shakespeare Martineau) | Law and professional services group | Birmingham | Birmingham-founded B Corp group now running seven brands (Shakespeare Martineau, Marrons, Lime, Corclaim, CSS Assure, Coadax, Mayo Wynne Baxter); Shakespeare Martineau has 1,200+ people across 12 cities and took on 10 newly qualified solicitors in October 2026. |
| Bonafide Marketing | Marketing agency (B2B demand generation) | Birmingham | Birmingham demand generation agency for industrial B2B brands, shortlisted for the Pioneer award at the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce Awards 2026. |
| BBC Birmingham (Typhoo Wharf) | Broadcasting (major employer move) | Digbeth, Birmingham | Moving into an 84,000 sq ft broadcast centre in the former Typhoo Tea factory in 2026, bringing The Archers, Asian Network, Newsbeat, Radio WM and Midlands Today together; the BBC has also pledged to lift regional production spend from £24m to £40m a year by 2027. |
| Ascendea | AI agents / SME SaaS | Warwick | AI agent and CRM platform at Warwick Technology Park that turned a profit in its first year of trading with a team of 9 people and 10 named AI agents (April 2026). |
| Ademen | Health tech SaaS / connected sensors | Stratford-upon-Avon | Won a $2.1m NIHR grant in June 2026 for its SaaS-connected digital sensors for human and pet health monitoring. |
| BYOHM | Cleantech / water | Coventry | Bio-electrochemical wastewater-to-energy startup secured $1.5m of grant funding in November 2025 (Ofwat, Innovate UK) and is building its first Ofwat-funded demo plant in summer 2026. |
| Accura Engineering | Aerospace and advanced manufacturing | Willenhall | Won Developing Future Talent and was runner up for Business Growth and Strategy at the Make UK Manufacturing Awards 2025 (Midlands and East); AS9100 supplier to Airbus, GE and McLaren. |
| Alfred Works (Blend Family) | Hospitality / food hall | Digbeth, Birmingham | 17,500 sq ft food hall with 18 independent kitchens at the Custard Factory, opened Feb 2026 and named Best Food Hall at the British Street Food Awards 2026 within six months. Parent Blend Family was named in The Sunday Times 100 fastest-growing companies 2026. |
| Big Bear Music (Birmingham Jazz & Blues Festival) | Events and music | Birmingham | Its 2026 Birmingham Jazz & Blues Festival had record turnout: 62,702 attendees, 178 gigs at 102 venues over 11 days. It returns in 2027 for its 43rd year. |
The rest of this briefing is in Honch.
Every company in this briefing, with why it matters, how to sell in, the people to reach and the signals live on each one. Ready to filter, add to a campaign or send to your CRM.
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