Evening Standard launches seed fund offering London’s best tech ideas up to £150,000 each

Have you started the next Deliveroo?

The Evening Standard has partnered with venture capital firm Triple Point to “find and support the next generation of brilliant entrepreneurs” through the Kickstart Fund – a seed funding initiative offering between £100,000 and £150,000 to London’s best new tech ideas.

Launched on 3 June, The Kickstart Fund has taken its cue from the last financial crisis, which proved fertile ground for innovation, giving rise to some of the biggest startup success stories of the last decade, including Uber, Airbnb, and Slack.

The fund creators are banking on the coronavirus crisis to be just as much of an impetus for the next wave of innovators to finally launch those latent, world-changing ideas.

A number of London’s top tech tycoons have pledged their support to the fund as mentors, including Alex Chesterman, of Zoopla, LoveFilm, and Cazoo, Gumtree founder Michael Pennington, and MarketFinance founder Charles Delingpole.

Speaking to The Evening Standard, Triple Point’s Daniel Cardenas-Clark said: “The world is now a different place than it was before the lockdown and the way we used to do almost everything has changed.

“This change has brought with it an array of opportunities for innovative startups and creative entrepreneurs. Triple Point is delighted to have partnered with the Evening Standard to fund the next generation of talented founders during this difficult time”.

The Kickstart Fund will aim to invest between £100,000 and £150,000 of seed capital into at least 10 startups over the coming months.

All applications will be assessed by Triple Point’s experienced team, who will aim to make a decision and respond within 10 working days.

You will need a presentation, or pitch deck, to complete the application.

To be eligible, your business must be:

• UK based
• B2B or B2B2C
• Software (rather than hardware)
• EIS qualifying