A CHESTER start-up business founded during the first Covid lockdown has been named as a finalist  in two categories ahead of the StartUp Awards in May.

MODA PR is in the running for Cheshire Startup of the year and Marketing, Advertising & PR of the year. 

The StartUp Awards has been launched to recognise the booming startup scene across the UK which has accelerated since the 2019 pandemic.

More than 800,000 new businesses were founded in the UK since 2021, a 4.3% increase from the year before.

A record number of businesses applied to this year’s StartUp Awards, with 1,100 firms shortlisted across ten UK nations and regions.

The contribution of these firms - all of which were started in the last three years - is significant, having created over 5,000 new jobs since they were established and generating annual sales of £584 million.

MODA PR was founded by Jennifer Hodgson and Ashley Rudd in 2020 during the first lockdown.

Driven by a passion for creating extraordinary work with meaning, they have naturally developed a niche in the market for working with celebrities, key opinion leaders and brand Founders who are driving positive change in the world. 

Jennifer Hodgson, founder of MODA PR, said: "We are absolutely over the moon to be shortlisted for two awards at this year's Startups.

"When we started this business, we had two goals - do good work with good people and create a place where we wanted to work.

"After years of building MODA PR from the ground up, I really feel like we’ve created that.

"In the past, being based up north has often been seen as a restriction, however, we have shown this is in fact our superpower."

Ashley Rudd, the co-founder of MODA PR, said: “We’ve gone from being bored and uninspired in our roles at the time to working with extraordinary people and creating work with meaning.

"We love the fact we are a born and raised northern women and are a northern agency so to be recognised amongst our peers and fellow business founders means the world to us.” 

The StartUp Awards was created in collaboration with the team behind the Great British Entrepreneur Awards, one of the most successful awards programmes in the UK. The StartUp Awards are running for the second year after launching in 2022.