Boris Johnson pledges £25m to help tech start-ups

The Mayor of London has launched a fund to finance budding tech start-ups across the capital, with an initial investment of £25m

London capital gives us a brilliant story to tell, supported by plentiful evidence of growth and innovation
Shoreditch in east London plays home to the UK's 'Tech City' Credit: Photo: Alamy (file photo: ariel view of Shorditch, East London)

A fund for budding start-ups specialising in technology, science and digital areas based in the capital has been announced by the Mayor of London.

Boris Johnson will provide initial support of £25m for the London Co-investment Fund, which hopes to invest in more than 150 small business and create up to 2,600 new jobs.

Businesses wishing to apply will need to demonstrate they have the potential to create new jobs and be capable of delivering financial returns of ten times the cash invested in them, which will typically be between £250,000 and £1m.

A further £60m investment in the scheme is expected to come from six private sector partners; Wellington Partners, Playfair Capital, London Business Angels, Angel Lab, Firestarter and Crowdcube/ Braveheart Consortium.

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson said the capital's tech sector was "flourishing" and that the city is a "hotbed of talented young and ambitious people buzzing with exciting ideas who are setting up new companies in their droves".

"Despite this boom, we know that many budding start-ups find it difficult to raise the finance they need to grow. This new fund will ensure the tech-giants of the future can get the support they need to bring their ideas to reality and deliver jobs and growth for the capital,” he added.

There are currently over 34,400 digital technology businesses and 155,600 digital technology employees in the capital, including Mind Candy and Moshi Monsters, with more than 32 incubators looking to assist start-ups in establishing themselves.

Mr Johnson announced City's Hall's intentions to add reams of publicly-available London data to its data-sharing portal in an effort to improve Londoners' quality of life in October.

The London Datastore 2 is a free and open resource where anyone can use vast amounts of data relating to the city, including health, crime figures, employment statistics and carbon emissions indicators. The first Datastore, modelled on America's data.gov site, was launched in 2010.