May21135 and HRtech company Flair) raise Seed funding within their first few months of joining the programme, and 6 companies (Boxx, Compare Ethics, Eccobell, Framework, Ruka and Owni) awarded the Black Fund Grant by Google for Startups. Tech Nation is delighted to be partnering with Cooley once again to deliver this year’s Libra 2.0 programme. Chris Coulter, a London-based Cooley partner and member of the firm’s diversity committee, said: “We were hugely impressed by the first cohort of businesses in Libra’s inaugural programme for underrepresented founders, and we are excited by the second group about to start this month. The quality of ideas and level of entrepreneurship we have seen are testament to the huge contribution to be made by the UK’s leading ethnic minority founders. We are proud to play a part in these startups’ journeys and to support the ongoing mission of Libra.” Tech Nation, the UK’s leading growth platform for tech scaleups, today announces the 35 tech startups with Black, South Asian, East Asian or Arab founders who have been accepted into Libra 2.0; the second iteration of the Libra programme for ethnically underrepresented tech founders in the UK. Companies accepted into the newest Libra programme are working to transform multiple sectors; from finance, healthcare and clean technology to education and HR. This includes innovative companies who are creating technology to help growing diverse communities save money for the future (Bloom Money), working to end period pain for women (Hormonious Flo), and turning under-used nutritious plants from the forest in Central America into novel, carbon-negative superfoods (Tierra Foods). This year, 40% of the new cohort companies are based outside of London - including companies from Scotland (such as Cyberodane), the North West (such as Dicey Tech), the East of England (such as Swapped) and the West Midlands (such as &facts). On top of this regional diversity, 63% of the companies have female founders, and collectively the companies operate in over 17 different countries (including the UK). The aim of this year’s Libra programme The six-month government-backed Libra programme was created to tackle the racial diversity challenges that exist in UK tech. Last year, Extend Ventures reported that between 2009 and 2019, three quarters of VC investment went to all-white founding teams, while under a quarter (23%) went to multi-racial founding teams, and just 0.24% went to allBlack founding teams. By supporting ethnically underrepresented tech leaders based in the UK (who are growing and scaling despite VC funding challenges), Libra aims to strengthen the UK’s position as one of the best places in the world to start and grow a business - for everyone. While the inaugural Libra programme focussed on improving the Black founder experience, Libra 2.0 will focus on companies with at least one ethnic minority founder with lived experience of little or no access to capital, networking and commercial opportunities, to help them access equal opportunities and accelerate their scaling journey. Libra 2.0 follows on from the success of the Libra 1.0 programme, which saw 2 Black-founded startup companies (edtech company Framework Tech Nation selects 35 scaleups to join programme • 35 tech startups have today been selected to join Tech Nation’s second Libra programme; designed specifically to combat racial inequality in UK tech by supporting ethnically underrepresented founders. • The companies selected to join Libra 2.0 are: &facts, Alice Camera, Boltzbit, Bendi, Bloom Money, COYOSY, Cyberodane, Data Duopoly, Dicey Tech, Fintellity, FoodLama, FullSpektrum, FutureMatch, Heyr, Hormonious Flo, Husmus, Hypha, Kodobe, Kweevo, LMF Network, CargoScanner, Manageable, Melior AI, Monadd, MySocialPulse, Ocushield, Resony, Sitigrid, Softlink.ai, Swapped, Tierra Foods, Uome, Veriom, WealthOS and ZeroCode Cloud. • The new companies joining Libra collectively employ over 170 people and have raised over £10 million in venture capital investment. • A majority (63%) of companies joining this year’s Libra programme have at least one female founder, and 40% hail from outside of London. Companies accepted into the newest Libra programme are working to transform multiple sectors; from finance, healthcare and clean technology to education and HR. This includes innovative companies who are creating technology to help growing diverse communities save money for the future (Bloom Money), working to end period pain for women (Hormonious Flo), and turning under-used nutritious plants from the forest in Central America into novel, carbonnegative superfoods (Tierra Foods).
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