“NatWest has signed the Equinox Charter because it closely aligns with our purpose to support businesses to start, scale and succeed, and to enable inclusive and sustainable regional economic growth across the UK. “

Darren Pirie, Head of NatWest Accelerator, NatWest Accelerator Group, discusses the decision behind signing the Equinox Charter.

“NatWest is committed to helping build the conditions and connections for growth across all nations and regions, and the Equinox Charter aligns with our Growing Together plan to help unlock the potential of each place and person across the UK. Oxfordshire is one of the UK’s most advanced innovation ecosystems, combining global research excellence with a strong pipeline of science and technology businesses. Equinox provides a structured, collaborative framework to align investment, infrastructure, academia and enterprise, ensuring innovation delivers tangible benefits , in line with NatWest’s focus on backing stronger regional economies.

NatWest is one of the UK’s leading banks serving 20 million customers across retail, commercial and private banking. We help people, families, and businesses build financial confidence and thrive - whether that’s opening a first account, buying a home, growing a business, or planning. Alongside a wide range of banking services, we provide specialist sector expertise and entrepreneurial support helping our business customers turn possibilities into progress.

NatWest operates across the UK, with a footprint that combines central capability with strong regional presence. Our NatWest Accelerator, a free community for entrepreneurs providing a range of support to grow their businesses, operates across the UK with 13 dedicated Accelerator hubs, embedding specialist support within key regional innovation ecosystems. NatWest has an extensive network of relationship managers, who work directly with businesses on the ground, providing local insight, sector expertise and hands on, long term support as businesses grow and evolve. This UK wide, place based model enables NatWest to support businesses wherever they are located, while remaining closely connected to regional partners, institutions and communities, including within Oxfordshire, ensuring founders and businesses can access joined up support from early growth through to scale.

NatWest Group is the biggest bank for businesses in Great Britain and is one of the leading banks for start-ups, banking one in five. We have the largest presence in the mid-market sector with one in four mid-market sized businesses banking with us. Our free NatWest Accelerator, running for over ten years, helps businesses launch, scale and thrive. We are expanding our support for entrepreneurs by aiming to grow the community to 50,000 by the end of 2026. 50% of individuals supported are women 20% of individuals supported are from ethnic minority backgrounds Together, this scale, reach and place based delivery model enables NatWest to broaden access to finance, expertise and networks, reduce barriers to growth, and support founders and entrepreneurs to start, scale and succeed, including within regional innovation ecosystems such as Oxfordshire.

Over the past 10 years, NatWest Accelerator has supported more than 10,000 businesses, working closely with regional partners, universities and innovation ecosystems to deliver place based support across the UK. Businesses that engage with NatWest Accelerator support demonstrate significantly stronger survival outcomes, with around nine in ten still trading three years later.

This is complemented by NatWest Accelerator Pitch, launched in 2025, which is awarding £1 million of funding through a series of pitch competitions taking place across the UK in2026 and 2027, providing founders with capital to help unlock their next stage of growth, and to support with exposure for their businesses. We have also launched specialist services in venture banking and are expanding IP lending, so high-potential firms can access finance that reflects the value they’re building.

NatWest is strengthening its role as a trusted partner and convener, combining national scale with strong local delivery. We have seven regional boards spread across the UK’s nations and regions working to deliver NatWest Group’s strategy at a local level, and our network of 1,000 relationship managers supports our business customers, through long-term relationships built on local knowledge and sector expertise. In 2025, we signed partnerships with four leading Universities, to provide targeted support for early-stage businesses, student entrepreneurs and spinouts. We’re committed to a further six partnerships by 2027, helping to create powerful innovation clusters to help turn first class research into scalable, high growth businesses that contribute to sustainable regional economic impact

The greatest strength of the Oxfordshire innovation ecosystem is the depth and quality of collaboration between world class research, entrepreneurship and investment, anchored by the University of Oxford and reinforced by a highly connected network of spinouts, founders, investors and support organisations. Oxfordshire combines global academic excellence with a strong track record of commercialising research, particularly in life sciences, deep tech, AI and engineering. What sets the ecosystem apart is not just the concentration of talent and innovation, but the willingness of partners across academia, industry, finance and the public sector to work together to accelerate ideas into scalable businesses. This openness to collaboration creates a powerful environment for innovation led growth enabling founders to access talent, capital, expertise and networks, while ensuring the benefits of innovation are more likely to translate into long term economic and social impact for the region.”

Find out more about the new Oxford NatWest Accelerator, run in partnership with EnSpire Oxford, the University of Oxford’s entrepreneurship hub.