Startup Ecosystem in the UKBitspiration Festival

June 2015 Guy Levin

@guy_levin

Me• Former policy wonk in UK

government: advisor to George Osborne, Conservative Party, DCMS and DFID

• Now tech policy - relaunched and run Coadec.

• Also write for The Memo and Tech City News.

@guy_levin

Coadec

• Set up by tech entrepreneurs in 2010 to be the ‘policy voice of digital startups’

• Last year published ‘The Startup Manifesto’, backed by over 200 founders and VCs

@coadec www.coadec.com

THE STARTUP

MANIFESTOHow the next government should support digital startups in the UK

Guy Levin – September 2014

#StartupManifesto

www.coadec.com/ the-startup-manifesto

UK’s startup scene is thriving17 UK ‘unicorns’ created since 2000 according to GP Bullhound

Household names

Why?Many ways to cut it, but I like UP Global’s 5 elements:

1. Talent

2. Density

3. Culture

4. Capital

5. Regulatory Environment

Politics matters across all of these

George Osborne MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer Speech at launch of Google Campus London, March 2012

“We want nothing less than to make the UK the technology centre of Europe”

“I want this to be the startup nation in Europe and one of the great startup nations of the world”

David Cameron MP, Prime Minister Campaign speech, May 2015

Politics matters

Talent

• World-class universities

• Increasing number of training programmes

• Coding on the school curriculum

Density

• 382,000 workers in London’s tech sector (in 2014)

• (At least) 21 clusters around the UK

It’s not just London74% of digital companies based outside of London and 21 Clusters identified by TechCityUK in their recent Tech Nation report

Culture

• Role models and entrepreneurship celebrated

• Meetups, drinks, conferences

• Political leadership - trade missions, speeches, pitching competitions

Capital• VC investment on the rise ($781m in

Q1 2015)

• More US investors (eg Google Ventures, a16z)

• Crowdfunding taking off

• Generous tax reliefs for angel investors (SEIS, EIS)

Equity crowdfunding

Source: Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance

Funding on the rise

Regulatory environment• Significant engagement right from

the top of government

• Examples:

• ‘Tech City breakfasts’ in Downing Street

• Review into the sharing economy

• Financial regulator (FCA) set up an ‘Innovation Hub’

Challenges

• Scale-ups

• Diversity

• Policy (immigration, EU)

Thanks!

@guy_levin @coadec

guy.levin@coadec.com