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Startup Ecosystem in the UK Bitspiration Festival June 2015 Guy Levin @guy_levin

Startup Ecosystem in the UK (Guy Levin - Bitspiration 2015)

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Page 1: Startup Ecosystem in the UK (Guy Levin - Bitspiration 2015)

Startup Ecosystem in the UKBitspiration Festival

June 2015 Guy Levin

@guy_levin

Page 2: Startup Ecosystem in the UK (Guy Levin - Bitspiration 2015)

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

Page 3: Startup Ecosystem in the UK (Guy Levin - Bitspiration 2015)

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

Page 4: Startup Ecosystem in the UK (Guy Levin - Bitspiration 2015)

THE STARTUP

MANIFESTOHow the next government should support digital startups in the UK

Guy Levin – September 2014

#StartupManifesto

www.coadec.com/ the-startup-manifesto

Page 5: Startup Ecosystem in the UK (Guy Levin - Bitspiration 2015)
Page 6: Startup Ecosystem in the UK (Guy Levin - Bitspiration 2015)

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

Page 7: Startup Ecosystem in the UK (Guy Levin - Bitspiration 2015)

Household names

Page 8: Startup Ecosystem in the UK (Guy Levin - Bitspiration 2015)

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

Page 9: Startup Ecosystem in the UK (Guy Levin - Bitspiration 2015)

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

Page 10: Startup Ecosystem in the UK (Guy Levin - Bitspiration 2015)

Talent

• World-class universities

• Increasing number of training programmes

• Coding on the school curriculum

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Density

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

• (At least) 21 clusters around the UK

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

Page 13: Startup Ecosystem in the UK (Guy Levin - Bitspiration 2015)

Culture

• Role models and entrepreneurship celebrated

• Meetups, drinks, conferences

• Political leadership - trade missions, speeches, pitching competitions

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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

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Funding on the rise

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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’

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Challenges

• Scale-ups

• Diversity

• Policy (immigration, EU)

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Thanks!

@guy_levin @coadec

[email protected]