London’s tech start-ups get help from the city’s mayor

The £25m London Co-Investment Fund (LCIF) has been launched by the Funding London and Capital Enterprise and will receive money from Mayor of London Boris Johnson’s Growing Places Fund.

To begin with, the £25m announced will be invested in 156 seed stage firms needing funding of between £250,000 and £1m in the technology, digital and science sectors via the LCIF, while a further £5m will be invested into high growth businesses.

Speaking at the launch of the fund at City Hall, Boris Johnson said London was “a hotbed of talented young and ambitious people buzzing with exciting ideas”, but added that despite this boom, many budding start-ups find it difficult to raise the finance they need to grow.

He said the new funding would enable the transition from start-up to growth phase easier.

In order to be considered for funding businesses need to show that they can also generate returns of 10 times the initial investment, added London’s mayor.

He added that in exchange for the funding, firms would be expected to contribute towards the LCIF’s target of creating more than 2,500 new jobs.

At Royds we are committed to helping a wide-range of start-ups and have particular experience within London’s burgeoning tech sector.

To find more about the services our commercial law team can provide, please contact  John North and Claus Andersen.