📍 Venue: SISTER – Renold Building, 32a Altrincham Street, Manchester, M1 7JR
One year on from our launch, we're bringing together the founders, researchers, investors, corporates, public sector leaders and ecosystem partners who have helped shape Venture Café Manchester into one of the city's most connected innovation communities.
Over the past year, our weekly Thursday Gatherings have welcomed thousands of attendees, showcased leading innovators and thought leaders, and created countless new connections across Greater Manchester's innovation ecosystem - all powered by our belief that isolation is the enemy of innovation.
We're delighted to be joined by the CEO of ARIA, Kathleen Fisher, for this special evening as we reflect on the impact of our first year, celebrate the partnerships that have made it possible, and look ahead to the opportunities for innovation in the years to come.
Expect an evening of insight, conversation and connection. Further programme details will be announced soon.
Register now to be part of this milestone celebration.
Powered by Advanced Research + Invention Agency
Step into a space where every conversation could spark something new. Enjoy music, refreshments, and a lively atmosphere designed to bring people together, whether you’re exchanging ideas, discovering collaborators, or simply sharing a laugh. This is the perfect moment to unwind, connect, and let serendipity guide your evening.
Join us before the main event to explore the Innovator Showcase, where you’ll have the chance to meet the talented startups. Be the first to experience the innovative technologies and forward-thinking ideas on display.
🍄🟫 mushroom+ is a Manchester-based pre-seed molecular farming startup reimagining protein production without rebuilding the food system. Gap exists for low-carbon, scalable alternatives integrated across the value chain; plant-based options face taste, nutrition, affordability and scalability challenges. mushroom+ platform increases mushroom protein content up to 10x, targeting meat-level density (~30% by weight) while retaining produce simplicity.
✍️ Mindofruba is a creative wellbeing startup helping people express their emotions, transform them into art, and eventually become artists themselves. Mindofruba believes everyone, regardless of experience, has the potential to create. Its mission is to make meaningful artistic expression part of everyday emotional wellbeing.
Stop by the café area to network, contribute to the artwork, and unleash your creative flair. Don't miss John live-illustrating our featured fireside chat with ARIA CEO Kathleen Fisher at 6:00PM!
Get Pitched: A Game of Serendipitous Solutions is taking over the Café for a teams edition.
Get ready for fast-paced game full of determination, wit and ingenuity.
You play as a startup company, who is tasked with delivering a solution to a current societal challenge to an investor.
You will be a set of randomised variables:
- The Problem
- A Technology
- An Industry Focus
- A Resource
You must strategise a serendipituous solution on the spot and convince your investor and the room to #makeithappen.
Venture Café is a global movement built on a simple but powerful belief: isolation is the enemy of innovation.
Through our weekly Thursday Gatherings, founders, researchers, investors and innovators come together to share ideas, explore new technologies and build meaningful connections. As ecosystem activators, Venture Café Manchester is creating a central hub for the city’s innovation ecosystem, driving visibility, collaboration and community.
And if you’d like to get more involved with Venture Café, there are plenty of ways to join our network:
🤝 Become a partner
🎤 Speak at an upcoming Thursday Gathering
🙌 Join our ambassador team
💬 Connect with us on LinkedIn
📩 Sign up for our weekly newsletter
An introduction to SISTER and its ongoing partnership with Venture Café Manchester, working together to build a thriving innovation ecosystem centred around the Renold Building.
Join our Lightning Pitch session where you’ve got just 60 seconds to introduce yourself and share your business or idea with the room. It’s fast, fun, and a brilliant way to meet fellow founders, spark conversations and get your idea out into the Manchester startup community.
One year on from the launch of Venture Café Manchester, we sit down with Kathleen Fisher of ARIA to explore what it takes to create the conditions for genuinely ambitious innovation to thrive.
The conversation will reflect on ARIA’s mission to unlock scientific and technological breakthroughs, what it has learned from building new communities and connections across the UK, and why place matters in enabling new ideas to emerge.
Looking ahead, we’ll explore where the greatest opportunities lie, what Manchester and the wider region can contribute to the UK’s innovation ambitions, and how we build an ecosystem that gives more people with bold ideas the opportunity to make them happen.
We’d like to give back to the incredible community that has grown over the past year and beyond.
Help us spotlight some of our collaborators over the year through our Impact Awards:
-
Collaborative Excellence Award (Partner)
-
Activation Partner of the Year
-
Ambassador Extraordinaire
- Workshop Trailblazer of the Year
Manchester has extraordinary research, talent and ideas. But what needs to happen over the next 12–24 months to turn more of that potential into companies, capabilities and real-world impact?
Led by Nucleate, the workshop would explore three questions:
- Where could Manchester genuinely lead? Identifying areas where the city has the potential to create significant breakthroughs, rather than simply mapping existing sector strengths.
- What gets in the way? Exploring the barriers that stop ambitious ideas progressing – from founder confidence and commercial skills to capital, prototyping, industry access and connections.
- How do we turn potential into action? Identifying practical routes that can help people take the next step – including programmes such as Nucleate Activator, which supports researchers and emerging founders in developing ideas into viable ventures.
📍 Venue: SISTER – Renold Building, 32a Altrincham Street, Manchester, M1 7JR
One year on from our launch, we're bringing together the founders, researchers, investors, corporates, public sector leaders and ecosystem partners who have helped shape Venture Café Manchester into one of the city's most connected innovation communities.
Over the past year, our weekly Thursday Gatherings have welcomed thousands of attendees, showcased leading innovators and thought leaders, and created countless new connections across Greater Manchester's innovation ecosystem - all powered by our belief that isolation is the enemy of innovation.
We're delighted to be joined by the CEO of ARIA, Kathleen Fisher, for this special evening as we reflect on the impact of our first year, celebrate the partnerships that have made it possible, and look ahead to the opportunities for innovation in the years to come.
Expect an evening of insight, conversation and connection. Further programme details will be announced soon.
Register now to be part of this milestone celebration.
Powered by Advanced Research + Invention Agency
Step into a space where every conversation could spark something new. Enjoy music, refreshments, and a lively atmosphere designed to bring people together, whether you’re exchanging ideas, discovering collaborators, or simply sharing a laugh. This is the perfect moment to unwind, connect, and let serendipity guide your evening.
Join us before the main event to explore the Innovator Showcase, where you’ll have the chance to meet the talented startups. Be the first to experience the innovative technologies and forward-thinking ideas on display.
🍄🟫 mushroom+ is a Manchester-based pre-seed molecular farming startup reimagining protein production without rebuilding the food system. Gap exists for low-carbon, scalable alternatives integrated across the value chain; plant-based options face taste, nutrition, affordability and scalability challenges. mushroom+ platform increases mushroom protein content up to 10x, targeting meat-level density (~30% by weight) while retaining produce simplicity.
✍️ Mindofruba is a creative wellbeing startup helping people express their emotions, transform them into art, and eventually become artists themselves. Mindofruba believes everyone, regardless of experience, has the potential to create. Its mission is to make meaningful artistic expression part of everyday emotional wellbeing.
Stop by the café area to network, contribute to the artwork, and unleash your creative flair. Don't miss John live-illustrating our featured fireside chat with ARIA CEO Kathleen Fisher at 6:00PM!
Get Pitched: A Game of Serendipitous Solutions is taking over the Café for a teams edition.
Get ready for fast-paced game full of determination, wit and ingenuity.
You play as a startup company, who is tasked with delivering a solution to a current societal challenge to an investor.
You will be a set of randomised variables:
- The Problem
- A Technology
- An Industry Focus
- A Resource
You must strategise a serendipituous solution on the spot and convince your investor and the room to #makeithappen.
Venture Café is a global movement built on a simple but powerful belief: isolation is the enemy of innovation.
Through our weekly Thursday Gatherings, founders, researchers, investors and innovators come together to share ideas, explore new technologies and build meaningful connections. As ecosystem activators, Venture Café Manchester is creating a central hub for the city’s innovation ecosystem, driving visibility, collaboration and community.
And if you’d like to get more involved with Venture Café, there are plenty of ways to join our network:
🤝 Become a partner
🎤 Speak at an upcoming Thursday Gathering
🙌 Join our ambassador team
💬 Connect with us on LinkedIn
📩 Sign up for our weekly newsletter
An introduction to SISTER and its ongoing partnership with Venture Café Manchester, working together to build a thriving innovation ecosystem centred around the Renold Building.
Join our Lightning Pitch session where you’ve got just 60 seconds to introduce yourself and share your business or idea with the room. It’s fast, fun, and a brilliant way to meet fellow founders, spark conversations and get your idea out into the Manchester startup community.
One year on from the launch of Venture Café Manchester, we sit down with Kathleen Fisher of ARIA to explore what it takes to create the conditions for genuinely ambitious innovation to thrive.
The conversation will reflect on ARIA’s mission to unlock scientific and technological breakthroughs, what it has learned from building new communities and connections across the UK, and why place matters in enabling new ideas to emerge.
Looking ahead, we’ll explore where the greatest opportunities lie, what Manchester and the wider region can contribute to the UK’s innovation ambitions, and how we build an ecosystem that gives more people with bold ideas the opportunity to make them happen.
We’d like to give back to the incredible community that has grown over the past year and beyond.
Help us spotlight some of our collaborators over the year through our Impact Awards:
-
Collaborative Excellence Award (Partner)
-
Activation Partner of the Year
-
Ambassador Extraordinaire
- Workshop Trailblazer of the Year
Manchester has extraordinary research, talent and ideas. But what needs to happen over the next 12–24 months to turn more of that potential into companies, capabilities and real-world impact?
Led by Nucleate, the workshop would explore three questions:
- Where could Manchester genuinely lead? Identifying areas where the city has the potential to create significant breakthroughs, rather than simply mapping existing sector strengths.
- What gets in the way? Exploring the barriers that stop ambitious ideas progressing – from founder confidence and commercial skills to capital, prototyping, industry access and connections.
- How do we turn potential into action? Identifying practical routes that can help people take the next step – including programmes such as Nucleate Activator, which supports researchers and emerging founders in developing ideas into viable ventures.