Meet 5,000 founders with traction exploring capital
The Festival of Entrepreneurs returns to the NEC, 3–4 November 2026.
5,000 founders, 200 speakers and 150 partners gathering to scale serious businesses.
If you provide debt, equity, growth capital or funding advisory services, this is where commercially active founders come to build relationships and structure their next phase of growth.
A commercially serious founder audience
83% are founders or senior leaders. 35% run £1m+ revenue businesses.
The Festival attracts revenue-backed operators who are actively investing in growth.
2025 attendees:
• 46% were repeat founders.
• 48% were actively exploring funding or capital options.
• Sessions covering funding readiness, structuring and growth finance attracted strong attendance across both days.
These are decision-makers building businesses, hiring teams and securing capital.
Banks, alternative lenders, venture firms and advisory specialists joined the Festival to connect with scaling founders.
Speakers included national banks, specialist lenders, venture capital firms and funding platforms.
The 2026 Festival builds on that momentum — expanding both the audience and the funding programme.
30+ funding and capital organisations participated in 2025
Capital sits at the heart of scale
63% of founders attend to meet new partners with expertise that can drive their growth.
Growth-stage founders come to the Festival to solve real funding challenges.
Across the programme, themes include:
• Debt and structured finance
• Venture and growth capital
• Revenue-based funding
• Acquisition finance
• Investment readiness
• Financial leadership and governance
Founders attend to understand options, compare structures and meet providers face-to-face.
The Festival creates an environment where early conversations can develop into structured opportunities.
Exhibit within a high-density founder environment
• Stand options from 6sqm to 72sqm
• Positioned around high-traffic stages and networking hubs
• Premium shell scheme stands and turnkey options
• Access to pre- and post-event marketing exposure
The floorplan is designed to drive movement and maximise meaningful interaction.
Lead the funding conversation
• Join a panel or practical session
• Align with the Funding stage programme
• Contribute to founder education and literacy
• Position your organisation as a trusted capital partners
Advisors who demonstrate credibility and depth resonate strongly with growth-stage founders.
“The Festival of Entrepreneurs was a great event, there was real interest in applied AI with established Founders who are scaling their businesses and we made valuable connections. We have rebooked for the next one!”
— Dominic Kos, Founder of Cleverfox AI“Festival of Entrepreneurs was a fantastic event for Strategus Consulting. It was great to meet so many entrepreneurs and founders and hear their ambitions. Follow up has also been excellent, with over 85,000 people viewing our FOE related episodes of the Leaders in Strategy Podcast. We will be back in 2026 with a much bigger stand”
— Mike Harris, CEO of Strategus"We exhibited at last year's Festival of Entrepreneurs and picked up many leads for our fractional c-suite services, so this is a highly recommended event"
— John Courtney CEO, BoardroomAdvisors.co “Our presence at the Festival of Entrepreneurs was a real standout this year. The energy around our stand was fantastic, engaging, inviting, and full of meaningful conversations with entrepreneurs, innovators, and partners who were genuinely excited about what we had to offer. Overall, the event was a brilliant platform for us.”
— Linsey Luke, Head of Business and Stakeholder Engagement, FSB“I had a fantastic experience at the Festival of Entrepreneurs. It’s a rare event that brings together such an open, ambitious and generous group of founders, and the energy across the day really reflected that. I left feeling inspired, with several valuable new connections and conversations that I’m confident will turn into long-term relationships.”
— Mark Rushmore, Co-founder of SURI“The scale and energy in Festival of Entrepreneurs was fantastic, and we really appreciated the opportunity to be part of it.”
— Jay Lad, Business Growth West Midlands
A national platform hosted at the NEC Birmingham
The Festival draws founders from across the UK, with strong representation from London and the South East alongside a growing Midlands base.
The 2026 event doubles in scale — expanding the exhibition, the content programme and the curated networking zones.
The Festival is becoming an essential knowledge exchange and marketplace for scaling founders and the partners who support them.
40% of exhibition space already allocated
Early movers get the advantages of prime exhibition stand locations and alignment with speaker topics.