Virgin StartUp triples the amount it will hand out to new UK founders over the next two years to £36m
- Virgin StartUp Loans from £500 to £25,000 available at 6% interest rate
- Mous and Dash Water, among others, received a cash boost via Virgin StartUp
Virgin StartUp has unveiled plans to triple the amount it spends on start-up loans to help burgeoning new entrepreneurs.
It will now distribute up to £36m in start-up loans to UK company founders over the next two years, helping an estimated 3,000 companies.
Individuals across the UK are eligible to apply for a start-up loan of between £500 and £25,000 through Virgin StartUp, at a fixed rate of 6 per cent, with no prepayment penalties.
Cash boost: Virgin StartIp will hand out up to £36m in start-up loans to UK company founders over the next two years
Virgin StartUp said it also offers all founders business advice, mentoring and access to upskilling, including scale-up programs.
The provider’s start-up loans often help support new entrepreneurs who have struggled to get financing from traditional lenders.
In 2019, the company announced its 50/50 pledge to support male and female company founders equally.
Andy Fishburn, managing director at Virgin StartUp, said: ‘There’s nothing more inspiring than listening to the ideas of new business founders who want to make a positive impact in the world.
“Over the past 10 years, we have had the pleasure of supporting 5,000 founders with a seed loan and we can think of no better way to celebrate this milestone than to announce that we will fund many thousands more in the near future. a few years.
‘The starter loan makes starting a company a reality for many more aspiring founders.
“We are proud to be a part of their journey and can’t wait to meet and support the next generation of entrepreneurs.”
Success story: Tech case company Mous benefited from a Virgin StartUp loan in 2014
Fresh: Dash Water also received a start-up loan from Virgin StartUp
Founded by Sir Richard Branson in 2013, Virgin StartUp has proved invaluable to the likes of Mous and Dash Water.
In 2014, technology company Mous received a £7,000 start-up loan through Virgin StartUp. The company now has 1.8 million customers in over 150 countries worldwide and is valued at £65 million.
James Griffith, CEO and co-founder of Mous, said today: ‘We attended a Virgin StartUp workshop and immediately quit our jobs.
“We wasted no time putting that starter loan to good use and used the money to buy a 3D printer.
“We also moved to China to become masters of production. It was a bold move, but it turned out to be the best decision we ever made.’
Mous was recently named as one of five UK companies that BrewDog founder and CEO James Watt thinks could be the next billion-pound unicorns.
Another success story is Dash Water.
Dash Water uses shaky fruit that would otherwise be thrown away to flavor sparkling water and seltzer drinks. The company started in 2017 with a seed loan from Virgin StartUp.
Dash recently raised £9m in investment to continue its growth and most recent turnover was £25m. Their products are sold in 10,000 stores in 20 countries.
Jack Scott, co-founder of Dash Water, said the loan gave his company the “opportunity to have some capital to start the process.”
He added, “It made us accountable for our business plan and gave us the structure to drive it all forward.”
According to Virgin StartUp research in January, 26 per cent of adults in the UK were interested in setting up a business this year, rising to 46 per cent of those aged 18 to 24.