About Us
Empowering founders to start up and thrive
Our History
Virgin is entrepreneurial at its heart, having spent the last 50 years starting and scaling businesses around the world.
In 2013, Virgin StartUp was founded by Sir Richard Branson to support the next generation of founders who are looking to do the same.
Since then, we’ve helped tens of thousands of founders to start and scale… and we’re just getting started.
Our Purpose
We’re Virgin StartUp, a not-for-profit organisation that exists to help founders start up and thrive.
We know there’s a lot that goes into starting your business, so we’re here to help on all fronts - advice, access to funding, mentoring, training and sometimes just a friendly shoulder to lean on.
We provide straight talk and useful advice to make the entrepreneurial road less bumpy and access to a supportive and dynamic community to help you have some fun along the way.
The People
Starting a business can be great! It can also be hard work.
We’ve worked with thousands of founders over the years and we’re here to support you every step of the way.
Find out more about our team below:
What We Do
Virgin StartUp supports founders and future founders as they get their startup ideas off the ground, all the way through to raising investment and scaling up. You can find out more about our support and programmes below:
Start Up Loans
Virgin StartUp are one of the leading Business Support Partners of the Start Up Loans programme, a Government-backed scheme to help founders get their businesses funded.
A Start Up Loan is a personal loan for founders looking to start or grow their businesses. You can borrow between £500 - £25,000 per co-founder.
Every founder we fund gets 12 months' post-funding support from our partners.
Empower100
Free investment-readiness programme for London founders to unlock the potential of their startup and take it to the next level.
Collective Impact
Investment-readiness programme for purpose-driven startups looking to scale their impact.
Investment Ready Bootcamp
Everything you need to know about fundraising. In a week.
Our Investment Ready Bootcamp is like a mini-MBA for you and your startup. You'll get ready to raise and pitch perfect in 4 days.
Regular cohorts, 3 and 4-day programmes available.
Changmakers
Our monthly Changemaker events are designed for hybrid, and free to attend in person or online. They are a time for our community to come together, learn from experts, founders and each other, to find inspiration and guidance, and to come away with practical solutions to act on.
