The Telegraph looks at the rise of startup firms since the 2008 financial crash, which now contribute £184bn-a-year to the UK economy.
The collapse of the global banking system had led to layoffs across the financial and technology sectors. But from the ashes of the crash, a new breed of business rose.
The financial crisis produced a generation of financial professionals with an appetite for new ventures. Many had seen promising young careers dashed on the rocks, and now wanted to work for themselves, in some cases hoping to fix a system that had proved broken.
In the UK, the coalition government pushed hard into pro-founder programmes. “The cult of the entrepreneur was starting to take hold,” says Matt Smith, founder of the Centre for Entrepreneurs. Government moves included offering tax breaks to founders, while a generation of angel investors, many of whom had themselves benefited from the first dotcom boom, were starting to pick out their next bets, and pumped cash into the start-up scene.
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