By Emily Hawkins
London has received more start-up loan cash than anywhere else in the country after a decade of a programme supporting entrepreneurs.
Founders in the capital have received £187.1m through the government backed Start Up Loan scheme, with businesses across the country being provided with loans and mentoring.
The scheme has delivered more than 97,000 loans since 2012, worth over £900m to businesses in the UK.
Thanks to such loans thousands of firms were “thriving today” from as far ranging as “from Shetland to Scunthorpe and Carlisle to Cardiff,” business minister Dean Russell said this morning.
The programme was launched in 2021 as a £10m pilot scheme, as the brain-child of Lord Young following the 2008 financial crisis.
One business includes Old Street-based start up, Ochushield, which sells screen protectors and has now inked a deal with Peter Jones and Tej Lalvani from Dragon’s Den.
The business first received a £500 loan via Virgin Startup in 2015, with the cash being used to set up the firm website.
“The mentoring programme was really important in the early days of the business, as it helped me take all the right steps,” Ocushield founder Dhruvin Patel said.
“Our success has continued to grow ever since,” he explained.
The post London start-up founders reap rewards of almost £200m in loans appeared first on CityAM.
