Key Findings

These startup stories are ones of hard work, resilience, and success. While almost half of the founders started off alone, and just over one fifth had access to friends and family rounds, so often critical to fund the early stages of their ventures, they managed to raise on average £166k. These funds not only fuel the growth of their businesses, but create much needed employment, with these startups creating, on average, 5.4 jobs, almost half of which were taken by women.

43%solopreneurs

22%raised from Friends & Family

£166kaverage amount fundraised

46%female team members

5.4average jobs created

77%generating revenue

An African Proverb

If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.

Founders

Social Mobility:

Growing up, two-thirds of the Black founders identified as working class, compared to the 75% that identify as lower to upper middle class now

Education:

69% of the founders pursued a career in tech and startups with non-STEM degrees

The number of Russell graduates in our sample of founders is higher than the UK average by 11%

Mental health:

15% of all founders proactively manage their mental health, vs 6% of the general Black population

Startups

Founding teams:

43% are solo-founders

48% female, 52% male

Job creation:

An average of 5.4 jobs created by each startup

322 jobs total at the time of reporting (Q1,2020)

Teams and diversity:

Black founders hire diverse teams: 53% of their staff are male, 46% female, 1% identifying as non-binary

6% of staff identify as LGBTQIA+

75% of staff identify as people of colour, which is 3x higher than industry standard

Early success metrics:

77% of the startups are generating revenue

Funding

Self-funding:

88% of Black founders self-fund their startups, commiting an average of £14k

22% of founders raised a Family & Friends round

External funding:

28% relied on angel investment, more than any other source of funding

Venture capital investment totaled £2.26M out of £8M