News article
Barclays £100 Million Fast Growth Tech Fund
01/06/2015
Innovative technology businesses can access up to £5 million each, repayable over three years, provided venture capital funding has already been secured.
Barclays has launched a £100 million debt finance fund to help fast growing UK technology businesses rival their US counterparts.
By providing the funding it is hoped this will enable technology firms to focus on areas typically seen as more risky by equity investors, like R&D, sales and marketing, without having to give away any equity in the company.
This new type of lending has, until now, been unavailable to UK businesses leaving them trailing behind US technology firms which in contrast have been able to grow at a rapid rate thanks to access to debt finance.
Traditional businesses take on average 15 years to develop whereas technology firms develop much more rapidly meaning they are set to benefit from the debt finance as an alternative to selling equity. This will also allow leading entrepreneurs to retain control of their company’s development and concentrate on accelerated growth.