Tech Nation, the UK industry body set up in 2014 to support tech entrepreneurs in scaling up their businesses, is closing after the UK government pulled funding to give it to Barclays Bank.
The government-backed organisation has been working for more than a decade to help the UK scale up tech its ecosystem and done rather well.
Tech Nation’s core grant funding from DCMS is being awarded to Barclays Bank and no one is really sure why. The Government claims that Barclays Eagle Labs got the cash following an open competition and rigorous assessment process.
Tech Nation was effective in helping UK tech businesses to scale, and bringing tech talent to the UK. More than 95 per cent of the start-ups nurtured through Tech Nation’s accelerator programs have gone on to grow further, and more than a third of the tech unicorns and decacorns created in the UK have graduated from a Tech Nation program. It’s alumni includes some very familiar names such as Ocado, Depop, Bloom & Wild, Just Eat, Darktrace and Peak AI.
The organisation claims in its statement that for every £1 contributed by the UK taxpayers, it delivers a £15 return.
A DCMS spokesman said: “The Barclays Eagle Labs bid represented the best value for taxpayers’ money as the full grant will be allocated to supporting the UK tech ecosystem, with Eagle Labs absorbing all operational and people costs associated with delivering the programme of activity. It will enable Eagle Labs to launch new programmes to grow tech businesses as well as increasing access to Eagle Labs’ existing services. The funding will double the number of mentoring sessions offered to tech firms to 1,500 a year.”
Tech Nation said: “As a direct result of the DCMS grant withdrawal, Tech Nation will be ceasing all existing operations through a carefully planned wind-down and has commenced a redundancy consultation process. Tech Nation is also actively seeking interested parties to acquire its portfolio of assets to take forward in a new guise.”
