Virgin StartUp, the not-for-profit home of entrepreneurship at the Virgin Group, will be tripling the number of UK founders it supports over the next two years, distributing up to £36 million in Start Up Loans.
Founded by Sir Richard Branson in 2013, the start-up incubator has been a proud Business Support Partner of the Business British Bank’s Start Up Loan scheme for 10 years and has already distributed £70 million in funding to 5,000 UK business founders.
In 2019, the company also announced its 50/50 pledge to equally support women and men founders.
This expansion means that Virgin StartUp will support an estimated 3,000 early-stage founders over the next two years, opening access to finance for thousands of new would-be business owners from across the UK who often struggle to secure finance from traditional lenders.
In the past decade, Virgin StartUp has funded some of the fastest growing UK startups including Mous, which designs and manufactures protective tech accessories.
In 2014, Mous received a £7,000 Start Up Loan through Virgin StartUp which gave the brand the kickstart it needed. Mous now has 1.8 million customers in more than 150 countries worldwide and the company is valued at £65m.
Tech startups remain beating heart of UK at London Tech Week
Mous has also just been selected by James Watt, the founder and CEO of BrewDog, as one of the five winners in his search for the next billion-pound unicorn business. As part of this initiative the public can invest and get shares alongside Watt on the same terms and their raise is live now.
“We attended a workshop run by Virgin StartUp and quit our jobs right away. We didn’t waste any time putting that Start Up Loan to good use and used the funds to buy a 3D printer,” said James Griffith, CEO and co-founder of Mous.
“We also moved to China to become masters in manufacturing. It was a bold move, but it turned out to be the best decision we ever made.”
Andy Fishburn, Managing Director at Virgin StartUp, commented: “There is nothing more inspiring than listening to the ideas of new business founders who want to have a positive impact in the world.
“In the past 10 years, we’ve had the pleasure of supporting 5,000 founders with a Start Up Loan and we can’t think of a better way to celebrate this milestone than to announce that we will be funding many thousands more over the next few years.
“The Start Up Loan scheme makes starting a business a reality for many more would-be founders. We are proud to be part of their journey and we can’t wait to meet and support the next generation of entrepreneurs.”
Individuals from across the UK are eligible to apply for a Start Up Loan between £500 and £25,000 at a fixed interest rate of 6% with no early repayment penalties.
Virgin StartUp also offers all founders business advice, mentoring and access to further training, scale-up programmes, as well as the Virgin StartUp community and opportunities and offers from around the Virgin Group.