The Cambridge × Manchester
Partnership – Investor Summit 2026

At this year's Investor Summit, in an exclusive investor-only debate, two teams go head-to-head on the motion that matters most to the UK's innovation economy: are we punting on too many startups at the expense of scaling the winners we already have?

One side will argue the UK has become addicted to early-stage hype, funding rounds of new companies while the ones with real traction starve for growth capital and get snapped up by US buyers. The other will argue that a thriving startup pipeline is exactly what produces tomorrow's scale-ups, and cutting it now would be short-sighted.

No panels. No hedging. Just two sides, one motion, and the people whose capital allocation decisions will decide who is right. The room will then discuss, and re-vote to see if anything has changed.