£12 Million Grant to Boost UK Digital Start-Ups

The UK Government has announced that it is launching a new scheme called the Digital Growth Grant. They will make up to £12.09 million available to UK based technology start-ups to boost growth in this sector of the economy. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has said that the Digital Growth Grant is aiming to provide skills training and advice in addition to offering support services to digital and tech start-ups. The scheme will be running for the next two years.

Tech companies will need to compete for the funding by submitting a bid that shows they are accelerating UK technology growth through the work being undertaken by the start-up company. The bidding process will happen this summer. The government is consulting with stakeholders in the industry to refine the exact specifications of the grant. It has been confirmed that the winner will receive their funding from the 1st of April 2023 and the money will be paid in tranches over the next two years. A previous winner of the award was Tech Nation which is an entrepreneur network that helps businesses access growth programs and provides advice regarding visas and employment.

UK Digital Minister, Chris Philip said "Start-ups and scaleups are hugely important to our thriving tech sector. This funding is dedicated to growing these innovative businesses wherever they are in the country, providing the support and skills they need to succeed and create good jobs and generate wealth. The successful applicant will play a vital role in making the UK the best place in the world to start and scale a tech business."

The UK is no stranger to successful tech companies. The country has more than forty unicorn companies outside of London alone and there are over one hundred futurecorns. A unicorn business, in venture capital terms, is a privately held start-up with a value in excess of $1 billion. In 2021 tech start-ups in the UK raised a record sum of £29.4 billion from venture capital companies.

These start-ups and scaleups will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of some of the global tech names that have started in the UK. These forward-looking tech companies have transformed industries across a wide range of sectors.

Deliveroo was founded in 2013 and revolutionised the takeaway market bringing restaurant food to our doorsteps. It has been so successful that not only has it reached unicorn status, but it has also spawned a plethora of copycat services. It is headquartered in London and operates in twelve countries. It has sixty thousand riders on its team who deliver meals from over eighty thousand restaurants. In March last year, it was listed on the London Stock Exchange with a value of £7.6 billion.

The gambling industry also has its share of huge tech successes. The likes of Bet365 which started as a bricks and mortar bookies in Stoke-on-Trent, now have global reach due to their very early expansion into the nascent online gambling market. Their chair, Denise Coates, was the UK's highest taxpayer last year. Meanwhile, Isle of Man based Microgaming has revolutionised the arcade slot machine with its award-winning technology. They claim to have created online gaming as we know it today and now operate some of the best RTP slots in the industry. Established back in 1994 they are in the vanguard of online casino software developers and show no signs of slowing down.

Another UK tech company that revolutionised the way we did things was the Edinburgh start up SkyScanner. The business changed the way in which we purchased holidays. Back in 2003, it was a platform to compare flight prices. Nowadays it describes itself as a metasearch engine and travel agency. It is used by over one hundred million people every month and is available in thirty languages. Acquired by Ctrip in 2016 it now employs over one thousand people.

The aim of the grant process is to help find the next big name in tech.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or management of EconoTimes