Invest NI support secures £325m of investment in Belfast City Council area

Invest Northern Ireland performance results for 2025/26 show that its support has helped secure £325m of business investment in the Belfast City Council area.  

The agency offered £33m of assistance to help businesses in the area innovate, increase productivity and create new jobs. Over 2,300 new jobs will be created in the area as a result of this support – double that of last year.  

Speaking about the results, Susan O’Kane, Head of Belfast Regional Business, Invest NI said: “As the capital city Belfast is Northern Ireland’s main economic engine. It is often the location chosen by new investors – such as Bank of America, Biller Genie, Craxel and Achilles – choosing to locate in Northern Ireland for the first time. However, while we helped attract 13 new investors to locate here during 2025/26, two thirds of our support in the year was to locally owned companies. 

“Out of 500 investments in Belfast, we supported 440 investments from locally owned companies,including Neurovalens, Catagen, Allsop and Nomadic Watches. CEO and founder, Peter McAuley joined our Ambition to Grow programme in 2023, and it’s been exciting to see him grow Nomadic Watches to deliver over £1.9m of sales in just a few years. We’re delighted to be working with him again now as he builds his team with 20 new jobs. 

“We saw a particular increase in investments from companies in the Digital & Creative Technologies sector – accounting for nearly half of all investment and nearly half of the new jobs to be created. These investments came from companies of all sizes, such as Kainos, Locum Match, SciLeads and Angoka, which is investing £1.8m in R&D to develop a world leading cyber security solution for the advanced manufacturing sector, in partnership with AMIC and our support.” 

Other companies growing their business with Invest NI support include Bia Analytical, Enzai Technologies, Galvia Digital, Medinect Bioservices, Movetru, Rubik Technologies and TieDot Digital. 

“SMEs in the area, such as AllPetz, also accessed much needed finance through our Access to Finance funds, with a 66 per cent increase in the amount of support received. This finance will help these businesses at an early stage of business or product development”, said Susan. 

“We are working with more companies in the area than before, thanks to our programmes Ambition to Grow and Business Innovation Grant,” Susan added. “These programmes are helping us reach small businesses that have an exportable product or international service.  Through these programmes, we have helped 122 entrepreneurs and SMEs to date in the Belfast City Council area to innovate and grow their business outside Northern Ireland.  

“Our strong relationship with Belfast City Council also ensures businesses engaging with council programmes that have export potential get referred to Invest NI. In conjunction with the Council, Belfast Met and Intertrade Ireland we held regional business advice clinics at North City Business Centre and East Belfast Enterprise to help businesses of all sizes access expert guidance, explore opportunities and connect with other local business owners. We also ran Business Breakfasts on access to finance, export advice, R&D, skills and productivity in the local area to engage with businesses, helping them understand what support is available and how we can support them.” 

The Belfast City Council Briefing has now been updated and includes data on Invest NI support over the past five years (2021-22 to 2025-26).