Tech Nation, the UK leading growth platform for empowering ambitious founders and their teams with the access and knowledge they need from seed stage to success story, has announced this Wednesday Jan 24th, 2024, the 25 UK startups selected for Libra, the growth programme for underrepresented tech founders seeking support for their scale journey.
To help overcome barriers to progress, Libra will deliver a bespoke six-month programme, comprising one-to-one and group coaching sessions, business development planning, access to funding opportunities and industry-led workshops.
This year, participants will also have the opportunity to pitch their startup to an audience of venture capitalists, angel investors, and business leaders, helping them grow their businesses and make lasting connections.
Upon the programme’s conclusion, participants gain a lifelong fellowship and join a thriving alumni community where they will continue to access peer-to-peer support, and the tools needed to scale their businesses both across the UK, and internationally, with access to Founders Forum Group’s global entrepreneur network.
Libra programme lead Chantelle Young said that Libra exists to address the systemic disparities in the entrepreneurial landscape, and the founders’ awareness of these challenges only fuels their determination to succeed.
“I look forward not only to supporting founders through events, workshops, and coaching, but being part of tangible change in the industry. Sharing their stories and successes, collecting crucial data and insights, and fostering a tight-knit community alongside alumni who are the building blocks of the transformative impact we aim to achieve through the Libra Programme.” she added
The UK’s Black and Multi-Ethnic communities comprise 14% of the UK population, yet all-ethnic teams received an average of 1.7% of the venture capital investments made at seed, early and late stage between 2009 and 2019. For black women – it was 0.02%.
According to Tech Nation CEO Carolyn Dawson, a truly innovative and representative tech ecosystem hinges on diversity.
Commenting on the announcement he expressed his excitement to amplify the voices of this talented Libra cohort, highlighting the commitment to help them grow their businesses and inspire future generations of founders from all backgrounds.
The UK’s underrepresented founders face numerous challenges along their entrepreneurial journey. Between 2009 and 2019, only 0.24% of all venture capital funding was allocated to Black founders.
Today, the most significant difficulties are faced by Black women founders who, between 2013 and 2023, raised just 0.14% of venture capital according to Extend Ventures.
Despite the public commitment of many UK tech companies to diversity and inclusion, the sector faces challenges in overcoming unconscious biases, particularly in recruitment and early-stage funding.
Women and individuals from underrepresented backgrounds may encounter predominantly white and male decision-makers, leading to feelings of exclusion. Initiatives like GTA Black Women in Tech are driving change by fighting structural biases and fostering a supportive community for black female tech leaders.
According to the Tech Talent Charter’s sixth annual Diversity in Tech report, only 28% of the UK’s tech workers are gender minorities, and 35% are from minority ethnic backgrounds.
The push for diversity is not just a social responsibility but also makes business sense, as companies with diverse executive teams are 25% more likely to experience above-average profitability, as noted in a 2019 McKinsey analysis.
Meet The Libra Cohort
This year’s cohort – of which 56% are founded or co-founded by women and 25% are based outside of London – includes:
aTrace – gain complete control over your supply chain while ensuring seamless last mile deliver
Bakkali – making grocery shopping for cultural communities easier
Brarista – AI enabled bra expert allows women to fit themselves and shop for the right bra using any mobile device’s camera
Bot Theory – the first web 3.0 learning metaverse that rewards children for learning
Deep Loop – supercharges analytics with generative AI
Ecolens – allows you to leverage supply chain data to measure construction emissions
Elifa – offers a secure digital platform vault and information management platform for efficient life planning and legacy preservation
FueGo – a breakthrough mobile application powered by AI that understands you so well, it can pinpoint exactly what you’ll love in your next city adventure
Final Rentals – is on a mission to sky rocket eCommerce sales of car rental companies online
Genzaar – learn to manage money while having fun in the Genzaar game universe
Greenworkx – solving the green skills emergency by building the trade workforce to deliver net zero homes and roads
meCash – seamlessly send and receive money across boarders
Microfon – education financing platform that tailors financing opportunities to help students fund their education
Nowii – gamifies the public transport experience and encourages people to build sustainable travel habits
Playroom – allows you to make meaningful connections between families helping to reduce the mental load of parenting
Tech1M – a powerful platform making it easy for all types of teams to intelligently attract, evaluate and hire the best talents to build their big ideas
TEVR – offering art galleries and artists an immersive customisable virtual space for showcasing and interacting with digital art
Travel Creators – authentic trips curated by our community of travel creators
TRC – one-stop-shop for cities and municipalities to launch smart city services
UNNDOO – a web platform allowing people in the greater London area to search for medically qualified, experienced, insured and vetted facial aesthetic practitioners
Unyte Africa – enables businesses to seamlessly integrate insurance offerings into their platforms enabling them to acquire new users, drive sales, and enhance revenue
Vendoir – one-stop-shop for seamless event planning to help businesses and event planners organise ever-green events in an efficient way
Vieunite – offers a platform for artists to sell their work in a digital format, making it accessible to a global audience
WUKA – designs and makes period pants that are comfortable, reusable and completely replace single-use pads and tampons
Zido – end-to-end solutions from supplier sourcing to invoicing and payment solutions