Barclays has announced it will be investing £1.75m to seven startup accelerator projects across the UK specialising in different emerging technologies, including AI and deep tech.
The funds, which will be granted from its Digital Growth Grant (DGG), will match £250,000 in UK accelerator schemes.
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Sheffield Hallam University, University of Edinburgh and Conception X in London are among the seven recipients, all of which will have a different specialist focus.
“It’s vitally important that startups and scaleups are supported particularly in growing sectors in AI, climate tech and the digital space,” said Matt Corbidge, director of Barclays Eagle Labs.
“We hope these projects will go a long way to supporting start-ups and scale-ups, which are vital to growing local economies throughout the UK,” he added.
The news comes half a year after Eagle Labs first began deploying funding from its DGG, which was awarded to Barclays by the UK Governent Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).
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By GlobalDataTech Nation, the previous beneficiary, was closed down after Barclays was awarded the £12m grant for UK startups in January.
The body, which was launched by David Cameron in 2014, was given responsibitly to promote the UK’s digital industry.
However, Tech Nation said it was “ceasing all existing operations through a carefully planned wind-down” after it lost the £12m Digital Growth Grant to Barclays in a competitive tender.
“Britain’s innovative tech startups span the nation and drive global innovation forward,” said Paul Scully, the minister for tech and the digital economy.
“Directly supporting businesses in this way is the cornerstone of our Digital Growth Grant, which champions a future where every corner of the UK benefits from the job creation and growth technology provides.”
The value of AI venture financing deals in the UK have seen an increase in 2023 so far after a slight fall in 2022, according to GlobalData’s deal database.
In 2023, as of 23 October, the value of AI venture financing deals totalled $3.6m.
This is already a slight increase to the year prior, which saw AI venture financing deals total $3m.
In 2021, the value totalled $3.7m, a significant increase from 2022, which totalled just $1.6m.
Our signals coverage is powered by GlobalData’s Thematic Engine, which tags millions of data items across six alternative datasets — patents, jobs, deals, company filings, social media mentions and news — to themes, sectors and companies. These signals enhance our predictive capabilities, helping us to identify the most disruptive threats across each of the sectors we cover and the companies best placed to succeed.
