techUK champions scale-up support from government in new report
[LONDON, UK]17 March 2025: A group of technology businesses, led by technology trade association techUK, is calling for better support to help companies scale.
techUK, on behalf of its members and Scale-Up Council, which include Riverlane, Sage, KPMG and Wayve, outlines practical steps that the UK Government can take to nurture more successful tech scale-ups in the UK.
This Action Plan comes at a pivotal moment, with an immediate opportunity through Invest 2035: the UK’s modern industrial strategy to better support our tech scale-ups and unlock economy-wide benefits, strengthen supply chains, and raise living standards across the UK.
Supporting the UK’s tech scale-ups is also an immediate growth opportunity. Recent research has shown that UK scale-ups are reporting huge growth rates, with an average annual revenue increase of 43% over the past three years - more than double the OECD benchmark.
The report addresses key challenges ranging from access to markets, finance, and talent, which are vital building blocks for scale-ups to reach the next stage of growth. techUK calls for government to continue to be ambitious, placing diversity at the heart of scale-up support.
Challenges and recommendations
The priority for the UK Government should be to simplify operations and reduce costs for tech scale-ups, creating headroom for growth by preventing early-stage scale-up failures. Immediate steps include reviewing, streamlining and joining up the different types of government financial support; bolstering world-leading EIS and VCT schemes to support regional scale-ups; continuing at pace to advance wider capital market reforms; making the scale-up worker visa more competitive.
To provide the wrap-around support and help scale-ups reach the later stage of growth, techUK call for the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) to launch a dedicated support package for tech scale-ups, including a concierge service.
This streamlined, accessible service would connect scale-ups with relevant experts across government and industry, leveraging, and working with, successful models.
techUK proposes that this should have a particular focus to support scale-ups access to markets, both domestically and internationally. As outlined by the ScaleUp Institute, 64% of scale-ups identify access to markets as the number one barrier to growth.
Tackling key challenges when accessing new markets, it should include a dedicated account manager, targeted regulatory and policy support and track market opportunities and high-potential tech scale-ups, ensuring promising businesses are noticed early.
Embedding diversity across government policy is crucial to drive innovation, sustain growth, and unlock the full economic potential of tech scale-ups.
To drive more diversity into tech scale-ups, techUK call for the Office for Equality and Opportunity and HM Revenue & Customs and Companies House to improve data collection of diverse tech founders. This would provide government and policymakers with stronger evidence on diverse entrepreneurship and founders.
The UK Government should also look to continue the Venture Capital Fellowship Programme. This would help fast-track the growth of UK-based venture capital investors. In the next phase of the Programme, a cap or certain eligibility criteria to participate in the programme should place greater emphasis on growing the network of women and ethnically diverse investors.
This comes as research shows if women started and scaled their businesses at the same rate as men, it could mean unlocking a staggering £250 billion for the UK economy.
Antony Walker, deputy CEO of techUK, said:
"Scale-ups should be thought about as ultra-growth companies - bringing unparalleled dynamism to the economy. If the Industrial Strategy is to deliver on its vision it will be a compelling plan for supporting scale-ups, powered by technology at its core. The report we are publishing today sets out techUK's recommendations for ensuring that the UK remains one of the most attractive locations in the world to locate and build high-growth companies.”
Maria Maragkou, VP Commercial, Riverlane said:
“The UK has all the right ingredients to foster the growth of successful businesses: it can boast the world’s best technical universities, a strong start up ecosystem as well as access to seed and start-up capital. Riverlane is a champion of the UK quantum ecosystem and strongly believes in reaching the next milestone in our scale up journey from Cambridge. We welcome techUK’s thorough assessment of the issues faced by companies looking to scale up nationally and the recommendations in filling critical gaps.”
Michael Moore, BVCA Chief Executive said:
“This report makes clear the areas where the government and industry must do more to ensure innovative UK businesses can continue to scale domestically. Only around 40% of capital raised by UK venture funds typically comes from domestic sources, compared to over 70% in France and Germany.
“The government must work with industry to ensure pension reforms encourage more investment by UK pensions in venture capital and growth equity funds, fuelling the growth of Britain's most exciting new businesses. Key to this will be expanding the remit of the British Business Bank which plays a significant role crowding in regional and growth funding in the VC and tech investment ecosystem.”
Irene Graham OBE, CEO ScaleUp Institute, added:
“This Action Plan mirrors the ten-point scale-up growth plan that the ScaleUp Institute has long evidenced and is monitoring the progress on. We are at a pivotal moment to propel our scale-up economy forward and need to at pace deliver on reforms now in progress, including those related to pensions, capital markets, procurement and evolution of the British Growth Partnership.
“The upcoming Industrial Strategy and Small Business Strategy offer excellent opportunities to double down on scaling businesses utilising data to greater effect and account management structures to join up public and private services to unleash collaboration, funding, talent and export opportunities. It is now essential to anchor clear policy into action that matches the ambitions of our dynamic UK scaling firms to enable them to continue to grow, scale and stay here.”
Notes to Editors
The full report can be downloaded here.
The full list of the members of the techUK Scale-Up Council can be found here.
Focus area
Policy recommendation
How to deliver impact
Access customers in other / home markets
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology should launch a dedicated support package for tech scale-ups, including a concierge service.
Government buyers should give scaling businesses more opportunities when buying tech.
Utilise the Regulatory Innovation Office for tech scale-ups and complement the RIO with regulatory sandboxes and test beds.
Targeted intervention: Series B and Series C+.
Problem solving: Companies at series B+ stage may face challenges in securing funding from UK investors and look to explore opportunities to expand into new markets. At this stage of growth, companies are also likely to face regulatory scrutiny.
Government role: A concierge service should tackle the key challenges for scale-ups. techUK advise a particular focus on removing barriers to entry into other, and home, markets through a dedicated account manager. This would support businesses to navigate the regulatory landscape and access public procurement.
Access to the right combination of finance
Review, streamline and join up the different types of government financial support (including arms-length Government bodies UKRI, InnovateUK and British Business Bank) to make it easier for scale-ups to access.
Bolster world-leading EIS and VCT schemes to better support regional tech start-ups and scale-ups, including increasing the age-limit for firms.
Continue at pace to advance wider capital market reforms, helping to maximise the impact on government investment vehicles.
Apply the success from the French Tibi scheme to boost investment in innovative tech businesses.
Targeted intervention: Series A – Series C+.
Problem solving: It is well versed that there is a lack of institutional capital to drive growth. This investment gap impacts on businesses’ ability to expand within the UK and compete on the global stage.
Government role: Access to finance support for scale-ups needs to be simplified and joined up. This will create the headroom to better make use of schemes.
Taking steer from successful international counterparts, continue to use public investment to catalyse private investment into tech scale-ups.
Access to talent and skills
Better promote the Enterprise Management Incentive (EMI) as an option for scaling firms to access talent.
Make the scale-up worker visa more competitive, removing complexities and making it cheaper.
Bolster the role of national assets, including universities, to continue developing a pipeline of entrepreneurial talent.
Targeted intervention: Series A – Series C+.
Problem solving: Scale-ups often struggle to compete for talent with larger tech businesses, i.e., in offering competitive financial benefits, such as signing bonuses.
Tech scale-ups are also learning to cope with meeting growing customer demands whilst simultaneously developing their managerial and leadership talent.
Government role: Share options and visas must work to support and meet the needs of fast-growing tech businesses.
Drive a culture of entrepreneurship by harnessing existing national assets, including universities, to build managerial and leadership talent.
Develop a pipeline and ecosystem of diverse tech scale-ups
Create stronger evidence base on diverse tech founders by improving data collection for government and policymakers.
Work to establish a network of next generation diverse leaders in deep tech and life sciences ecosystem by continuing the Science and Technology Venture Capital Fellowship Programme.
Targeted intervention: Pre-SEED – Series C+.
Problem solving: Female and ethnic minority remain vastly underfunded, receiving only a small fraction of scale-up capital.
Demonstrating the scale of the problem, only one in three UK entrepreneurs are women, a gender gap equivalent to 1.1 million missing businesses.
Government role: Diversity must be embedded into all government policy – whether targeted at founder, investor or later stage scale-ups.
Continue to partner with industry to unlock the potential of diverse scale-up founders.