Government ‘must commit to start-up funds’
VIRGIN StartUp has called on the Government to commit more money to the Start Up Loans Company.
It aims to keep the scheme running and cut the number of start-ups that fail in their early years. Virgin’s not-forprofit initiative, which provides business funding and support, wants the Government to pledge to funding the scheme beyond its current commitment to 2020.
It also wants ‘followup’ funding to help companies in their early years after launch. Despite huge numbers of companies starting up, more than a third still do not survive past their third year.
The proposal for ‘follow-on’ funding and support has been presented to the British Business Bank, the Governmentowned business development bank.
Mei Shui, managing director of Virgin StartUp, said funders were busy ‘chasing for the next big thing’ while ‘companies that have potential but need an additional helping hand are constantly blighted by the market’. She said: ‘The failure of startups is still very high, despite the fact that we have never seen start-up support be so buoyant and varied. We have not really moved at all in terms of the failure rate.
‘The funding is secured until 2020. It would be good if the Government could confirm its commitment beyond 2020, and we believe it is critical follow-on funding is introduced – that’s where the gap exists in the market.
‘Because if you look at crowdfunding, and all the different schemes, both private sector and public sector, everything is for growth businesses.’