Today Virgin announces the launch of Virgin StartUp, a not-for-profit company, which will offer financial support, mentoring and business advice to thousands of young entrepreneurs across the UK.
Working with The Start-Up Loans Company (SULC) as a delivery partner, Virgin StartUp will provide loans to entrepreneurs between the ages of 18-30 across the UK.
At its East London launch in BoxPark, Shoreditch, Sir Richard Branson was joined by James Caan, Chairman of SULC, Sir Tom Shebbeare, Chairman of Virgin StartUp, Kevin Horne, Chairman of the Cavendish Consortium and Richard Reed, Co-Founder of Innocent Drinks and a key supporter of the scheme.
Virgin will invest in a central team to manage the new company. It will draw on resources from Virgin to help promote the scheme. The new initiative is collaboration between Virgin, the Cavendish Consortium (made up of six of the largest enterprise agencies across England) and the National Enterprise Network.
Virgin StartUp follows the successful pilot programme in the North East involving Virgin Money. This initiative, launched in October 2012, is a consortium between Virgin Money, Virgin Unite, The Northern Rock Foundation and Project North East to deliver start-up loans. In the last 11 month it has backed more than 100 businesses and lent £600,000 in funding.
