Government's £1.25bn for startups sounds like a lot but core is just £250m to 'match' venture capital funding — that won't stretch far.
"VCs are going to have to choose, kind of like a Sophie’s Choice situation," @WeAreLantum's @meliss_morris tells me. https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/coronavirus-covid-19-uk-nhs-startups-future-fund-lantum-melissa-morris-230132895.html
"VCs are going to have to choose, kind of like a Sophie’s Choice situation," @WeAreLantum's @meliss_morris tells me. https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/coronavirus-covid-19-uk-nhs-startups-future-fund-lantum-melissa-morris-230132895.html
Others are sceptical too — @InnFin chair Natalie Ceeney told me match funding will "help some, it wouldn't help enough."
Morris told me she's on an email group with 400 just LONDON based tech founders.
"If you think every single one of those applied for a million, which conceivable they could all do — are they really going to fund everybody? This is why I’m sceptical.”
"If you think every single one of those applied for a million, which conceivable they could all do — are they really going to fund everybody? This is why I’m sceptical.”
@Beauhurst, a consultancy that tracks the UK’s startups and high-growth businesses, estimates over 15,000 companies across the UK faced moderate to severe risk to their operations as a result of COVID-19. No way government scheme will help all.
Other plank of £1.25bn support is £750m in R&D grants and loans. But it seems from the wording of the announcement that companies who will benefit from that support have already been earmarked.