Wales Week 2026: Scaling corporate success in Wales

Browne Jacobson kicked off Wales Week London 2026 with a roundtable event at our London office. The event ‘Wales: the place to start, grow and thrive’ was hosted in collaboration with Hexa Finance and DWJ Wealth Management Ltd. 

The lively session brought together business leaders, funders and advisers who between them have built, backed and scaled businesses across Wales to explore how Welsh businesses can unlock growth, plan for succession, acquisition or exit and connect confidently with capital and wider UK and international markets.

Wales is home to genuinely world-class businesses, and global brands have recognised its value by choosing setting up in Wales. Yet for every success story, there are others held back by structural gaps in funding, a shortage of early-stage capital and a confidence deficit that has less to do with ability than with habit. The consensus was that Welsh ambition is thriving. With the right support and connections, the opportunity ahead is enormous.

Perception is the first battle

Sarah Williams-Gardner, Chair at FinTech Wales, captured the ambition well:

Brands like Au Vodka and Tiny Rebel to early-stage tech founders, are building businesses that operate on a national or global stage. There are so many encouraging success stories; our Wales-based corporate team have completed an acquisition for PLUG Charging – buying Norway headquartered Wattif EV’s UK and Ireland charge point estate – the perfect example of scaling and expanding their business from Wales. 

What can we do to support more businesses break through? The roundtable felt that many businesses are often held back by confidence. There is a sense that Wales sells itself as the underdog, yet Welsh businesses are increasingly pushing well beyond its borders.

Wales is a place to be proud of. Businesses win work because people like them and trust them. The room agreed that younger generations are already arriving with a stronger sense of self-belief, and that the ecosystem needs to harness that energy.

As one participant noted that the secret is to let people experience Wales. International talent arrives and increasingly wants to stay. Strong universities and a genuine affection for the country mean the pipeline of talent is growing. The key question for the roundtable is whether the support and infrastructure around them is keeping pace to match their ambition.

I explained to the room that it’s exactly this momentum that led Browne Jacobson to open its Wales office - a clear statement of confidence in Wales and its people, and a commitment to backing Welsh businesses to scale and succeed. We believe Welsh businesses deserve access to the same depth of expertise and ambition that drives growth anywhere in the UK and we're proud to be bringing that to Wales. 

Funding: Aligning capital with ambition

Many agreed that too many Welsh businesses do not seek expert advice early enough, do not understand term sheets, and rely on chance meetings rather than structured planning. A lot of self-funding happens, when an early advisory relationship could change their trajectory entirely.

Hannah Williams, CEO at Alacrity, spoke frankly about her early years in startups: you do not know what you do not know. Getting financial advisers involved felt daunting at first; "How do you trust someone with your baby?" But the shift in mindset came when the team realised it was all about trust, and that modern investors buy into management teams. It’s in their interest to see you succeed.

A key theme was the untapped opportunity for businesses at the £500k-£1m revenue mark, where the right funding could accelerate already strong Welsh ventures. The room agreed that Welsh founders have the talent and drive to compete with anyone - and that closing the confidence gap around funding conversations would unleash even greater potential. The opportunity is there; it’s about ensuring Welsh businesses seize it.

As one participant put it: there needs to be a rethink on whether Wales is better served by a few hundred good businesses or a handful of truly great ones. Early funding spread thinly across too many businesses may be holding the ecosystem back.

Governance, exit plans and the long game

On the question of when to formalise governance and boards, the consensus was clear: understand your end goal first. Tiny Rebel confirmed that ‘good enough’ processes worked in the early days, but that clarity of purpose is what matters most.

Culture and governance are not separate from value, they are the business. When it comes to sale or investment, what a buyer sees is the values you have actually lived, not those generated for a pitch deck. Staff retention is a meaningful signal of a healthy culture.

There remains a reluctance among Welsh founders to hand over equity to private equity, a distrust of faceless institutional capital. It was also added that the ‘red bus syndrome’ – holding onto responsibility with no succession plan - is a genuine business risk, but common for many family-owned companies.

‘What’s your one piece of advice?’

The session closed with a round of hard-won wisdom for any Welsh business looking to grow and thrive:

• Build a trusted network. You do not know what you do not know.
• The Welsh love telling a story, so tell yours.
• Have a clear and strong ambition. Find people who have been there and done it. Do not be afraid to give up part of your business.
• "We did 566 presentations until we got a maybe." Persistence is key in the funding journey.
• And for funders: Be brave. Back ideas, not just certainty.

The overarching message from the room was that Wales is not a stepping stone; it’s a credible launchpad for ambitious, scalable growth. The challenges of funding, governance and succession aren’t unique to Wales, but what will set Welsh business apart is stronger connection: to expertise, to capital and to the confidence to act decisively.

Ambition doesn’t dilute identity. It sharpens it.

Global in mindset. Welsh in identity. It's clear the Welsh dragon is ready to roar!

Browne Jacobson’s Wales Week event was hosted with Hexa Finance, DWJ Wealth Management Ltd and Wales Week London. To learn more from our lawyers on this topic, read Phil Pugh’s Wales Week feature in City AM, printed on 24 February 2026.