Like many early-stage tech innovators, Ecobelt faced hurdles in scaling to achieve its global potential. Read how Greater Manchester’s innovation ecosystem provided the technical expertise, funding and collaborations to take on a global market.
Funding secured
Projected sales for next financial year
New jobs forecast over the next three years
A Tameside company is helping industries cut costs and reduce waste with a breakthrough technology that makes conveyor belts last significantly longer. Starting life as a micro-business with two full-time staff, Ecobelt has drawn on Greater Manchester’s innovation and finance ecosystem to unlock new revenue streams, secure major investment, and lay the groundwork for international growth.
Founded in November 2022 to commercialise the patented AnnStuMax® technology, Ecobelt has rapidly progressed from concept to global opportunity. With a market-first AI platform nearing launch and over £500,000 in regional support secured, the business is forecasting £2.5 million in project sales in the next financial year and expects to create 24 new jobs within the next three years.
Cutting downtime and carbon
Ecobelt’s mission is to minimise the environmental footprint of conveyor belt operations in what is now a global market worth nearly $50 billion. Its patented AnnStuMax® innovation reinforces the section where belt ends are typically joined – a common failure point – boosting durability by more than 15 times. For sectors such as logistics, manufacturing and heavy industry, that means fewer replacements, less downtime and measurable carbon savings.
AnnStuMax® was originally invented to solve repeated premature conveyor belt failures at the joint and has since been mechanically tested and verified by the Sustainable Materials Innovation Hub at the Henry Royce Institute. This validation supported the granting of a UK patent in early 2024, alongside publication of an international patent later the same year.
“Conveyor belts are an essential part of everyday life,” explains CEO David Waite.
“Indeed, the world would come to a standstill without them. When something is made, it has normally been conveyed. It’s essential, therefore, to extend the life of the belts for as long as possible, and that is exactly what we’re all about."
For David, it’s resulted in a multi-million-pound sales pipeline, a rapidly growing team, and international expansion: “The platform is already attracting interest from major warehouse operators, including potential future customers such as Amazon, who see value in its ability to reduce belt waste and improve operational efficiency.”
SME tech innovation support
The company is also developing a new web and mobile platform powered by AI, which is designed to give clients real-time insights into the state of their conveyor belts, and helping them to identify which belts could be repaired, repurposed or reused. As David says, “It will be a huge step forward for data-led maintenance, circular economy practices, and carbon reduction in material-handling environments.”
Alongside the technology, Ecobelt is building a long-term growth model centred on skills and standards.
Its ambition is to train conveyor belt users globally through “The Ecobelt Standard” — a comprehensive training programme designed to make operators self-sufficient in applying the AnnStuMax® repair system. The programme is intended to become a globally recognised standard, accredited by the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3), and delivered both on-site at customer locations and through a dedicated training academy in Greater Manchester.
Cutting downtime and carbon
While the vision for this platform was clear, delivering it posed a real challenge with Ecobelt lacking the technical skills, resources and connections to move the project forward. The company turned to our Innovation Service, which worked closely with David and his team to shape the commercialisation plan, including how to bring in the necessary expertise and funding.
Russell Mansfield, Commercialisation Specialist at GM Business Growth Hub, played a hands-on role:
“We worked side by side with Ecobelt to define the project and help find the perfect software partner to design and build the platform. We were also able to provide David with an Innovation Grant of £12,000 towards the £29,000 project cost.”
A key element of the project was a capital investment in specialist production and testing equipment, enabling Ecobelt to automate the manufacture of AnnStuMax® repair patches at scale. This step was critical to supporting large-volume customers and unlocking a significant commercial opportunity, including the ability to service UK and European distribution centres for global operators such as Amazon.
With new regulations around corporate carbon reporting being phased in across the UK and Europe, the platform will become a key part of Ecobelt’s value proposition. “The data captured will feed directly into clients’ carbon reporting tools, helping them quantify emissions savings,” explains David. “Thanks to this project, we’ll be able to give clients a much more comprehensive view of the belts they use every day. The result is that we’ll be able to increase the profitability of our existing operations, as well as open new revenue streams.”
Preparing for investment and scaling operations
With the technology side moving forward, Ecobelt turned its attention to operational scale: producing belts, supplying splicing kits, and delivering services at volume. But as an early-stage business without in-house financial modelling expertise, preparing for serious investment wasn’t straightforward.
That’s where GM Business Growth Hub’s Access to Finance team stepped in. Over several months, they helped Ecobelt develop and refine a robust financial model tailored to its growth ambitions. That model became the basis for a successful application to GMCA’s GM Advance fund and, in May 2025, Ecobelt was awarded a £450,000 flexible finance package that will support the next stage of growth.
“GMCA really listened to what we needed and structured the funding around the commercial reality of building the business,” said David. “It’s given us breathing space to focus on building capacity and meeting demand. But we couldn’t have done it without the support of GM Business Growth Hub, who helped shape our financial plan and made sure our application was investment-ready. Their insight and guidance were invaluable at a critical stage.”
With billions of conveyor belts in operation globally, and the potential to dramatically extend their lifespan, Ecobelt is now scaling rapidly to meet international demand, using the UK and Europe as a springboard for wider global growth.
Collaborative partnerships supporting growth
Ecobelt’s journey has also been further supported by scientific and R&D partnerships across the Greater Manchester innovation ecosystem:
- The Henry Royce Institute and the Sustainable Materials Innovation Hub at the University of Manchester provided technical validation and £37,500 in specialist support.
- An additional £25,000 UKRI Impact Accelerator grant supported development of the AI platform’s environmental functionality.
- Ecobelt continues to collaborate with the University of Manchester advanced materials R&D.
- The company is working with national and global partners, including the Department for Business and Trade, to prepare for international expansion.
The strength of the technology and the impact of the collaboration has not gone unnoticed. In November 2024, AnnStuMax won Ecobelt the prestigious ‘Sustainable Materials Innovation for Net-zero’ award from the Institute of Materials, Minerals Mining in November 2024. And, in April 2025 the business was also nominated for the globally renowned Earthshot Prize.
Beyond product innovation and commercial growth, Ecobelt has also played an active role in the wider UK business and innovation community. The company was an event partner for the M3P3 conference in Birmingham in November 2025, shared its scale‑up journey as part of the Spark to Scale programme, and recently joined a panel discussion at GM Business Growth Hub’s Festival of Enterprise — contributing insights on sustainability, innovation and scaling for impact.
If you’re a business with an innovative product or service and the ambition to scale, the support is here in Greater Manchester. Contact our team today to see how we can take your ideas to the next level. Call us on 0161 359 3050 or email bgh@growthco.uk.
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