RBS owner NatWest to support 10,000 more entrepreneurs as accelerator network expands

Royal Bank of Scotland parent NatWest Group is looking to ramp up its support for thousands of entrepreneurs as it marks the tenth anniversary of its “accelerator” initiative.

The banking giant is offering 10,000 entrepreneurs the chance to join its accelerator community in 2025, while setting out a long-term strategy to support Britain’s growth goals through new university partnerships.

Since the programme was founded in 2015, in Birmingham, NatWest’s accelerator - which centres on a string of “hubs” - has grown its network to 12 sites. These hubs have supported more than 9,700 businesses over those ten years, raising in excess of £684 million in investment and creating some 12,000 jobs, the bank noted.

Robert Begbie, chief executive of NatWest’s commercial and institutional franchise, pictured in the Edinburgh accelerator hub.

The first hub to launch in Scotland was in Glasgow, in 2016, and now NatWest Group/RBS will be partnering with up to ten UK universities to open additional business accelerators over the next three years. Bosses said this investment in the accelerator programme would support thousands more entrepreneurs from across the UK to run and grow their businesses.

Robert Begbie, chief executive of NatWest’s commercial and institutional franchise, said: “It’s a testament to how much the accelerator has achieved that today we are setting out plans for its expansion - starting with our ambition of supporting up to 10,000 entrepreneurs in 2025.

“As the UK’s biggest business bank we are ambitious for the UK and believe that by unlocking the potential of entrepreneurs we can support sustained economic growth. The next stage of the accelerator’s expansion will involve partnering with more UK universities, combining our strengths to help entrepreneurs commercialise their ideas and kickstart economic growth.”

Royal Bank’s Scottish accelerator hubs are based in St Andrew Square in Edinburgh and Queen Street in Glasgow.

In Scotland, the bank has a strong relationship with the country’s higher education institutions. In 2022 it entered into a £1.5m partnership with the University of Edinburgh to drive colleague and customer education and awareness surrounding opportunities in sustainability.

Earlier this month, Royal Bank of Scotland announced a new partnership with Scotland’s Smart Things Accelerator Centre (STAC). STAC works with the University of Glasgow and is focused on “deep tech” and artificial intelligence-centred start-ups.

The partnership with RBS’s Glasgow accelerator will provide businesses operating within the deep and advanced technology sector the opportunity to benefit from bank support while providing bank colleagues with greater knowledge and understanding of this growing market.

Universities have become a key focus for the UK government’s industrial strategy, which recognises that research and development-led and innovation-centred concepts have a significant role to play in accelerating economic growth.

NatWest said its investment in the UK’s university ecosystem would support entrepreneurs to commercialise their ideas, “bringing the bank’s expertise in funding, selling and leading to bear upon their journeys to growth”. The bank wants to target businesses in the “innovation economy” in particular, in sectors such as technology, healthcare tech, life sciences and fintech, as these sectors offer “considerable potential to the growth of the UK economy”.

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