Barclays Eagle Labs awarded £12M grant to boost small and scaling tech businesses
Barclays Eagle Labs have been awarded a £12.09 million Digital Growth Grant.
Combined investment from Eagle Labs and the government will increase support for the tech sector so more than 22,000 businesses can benefit from the grant, with at least 80 per cent based outside London.
Estimates suggest strengthening regional tech industries could grow the UK’s digital sector by an additional £41.5 billion by 2025 and create 678,000 jobs.
Barclays Eagle Labs has delivered growth programmes, business mentoring and events to start-ups and scale-ups since 2015. Its growing network already supports businesses through 38 physical sites, as well as virtually across the country. Barclays has Eagle Labs in Bournemouth, Brighton, Kent, Oxford, Portsmouth, Southampton and is about to open in Sussex.
The grant will fund training resources and opportunities for entrepreneurs, including a Learning Management System providing virtual training to over 10,000 businesses and training modules created for young people to inspire the next generation of UK entrepreneurs.
Minister for Tech and the Digital Economy, Paul Scully, said: “Barclays Eagle Labs are digital industry experts and will help tens of thousands of tech firms and founders to achieve their dreams and create jobs and economic growth.”
The Digital Growth Grant was awarded following an open competition and assessment process. The government said that the Barclays Eagle Labs bid represented the best value for taxpayers’ money as the full grant will be allocated to supporting the UK tech ecosystem, with Eagle Labs absorbing all operational and people costs associated with delivering the programme of activity.
The news was a disappointment for Tech Nation, the government-funded growth platform for tech companies and leaders.
It will enable Eagle Labs to launch new programmes to grow tech businesses as well as increasing access to Eagle Labs’ existing services. The funding will double the number of mentoring sessions offered to tech firms to 1,500 a year.
The independent panel assessing applications concluded Eagle Labs was uniquely positioned to deliver targeted support across the country. A bespoke regional partnership programme will ensure funding and training reflects the challenges digital businesses are facing in their area.
“Through the Digital Growth grant, we’re excited to double down to reach more businesses across the country with our best-in-class business growth programmes and bespoke regional support.
“We have a track-record of supporting over 8,000 start-ups and high-growth businesses since we launched in 2015 and we’re proud that, due to our established Eagle Labs network, we can pass through all grant funds to our delivery partners and programmes, helping to maximise the impact of the grant in supporting the UK tech ecosystem.”
Tech Nation will continue to deliver remaining DCMS grant funding until March 2023. The Digital Growth Grant will be awarded to Barclays Eagle Labs from April 2023 and will fund activity until March 2025.
