‘If we’re serious about growth this is the lever to pull’, says Treasury adviser
UK founders are launching businesses faster than ever, yet many still feel undervalued, underfunded, and overlooked.
The 2025 UK StartUp Report showed that only 29 per cent of founders believe entrepreneurship is seen as a desirable career while just 27 per cent feel successful founders are celebrated.
And, perhaps worst of all, only around a third think the government recognises their contribution to the economy.
The findings come amid heightened anxiety over government support for startups.
Rumours of a so-called ‘exit tax’ for wealthy individuals had stirred fears that Britain was about to penalise its own entrepreneurs.
But the Treasury’s second Autumn Budget spared founders’ worst fears and contained a range of measures designed to keep high-growth companies rooted in the UK.
Boosted enterprise management incentives (EMI) share option limits, a three-year stamp duty exemption for London listings worth up to £50m a year, and targeted scale-up support including follow-on capital initiatives, all suggest a concerted effort to back founders at the crucial Series B stage.
For the Treasury’s first-ever entrepreneurship adviser, Alexandra Depledge, these measures are the beginning of a broader mission to reverse years of neglect.
“This has been a slow decline, right? That didn’t start with this current government,” she told CityAM.
“It’s been around since the mess of Brexit really – there’s been more and more things layered in, and things have become less supportive.”
“And so I feel like what I tried to do in this Budget was show that directionally, we are going in the right direction, and we are talking their language. And this is just a start.”
Budget measures and scale-up support
Depledge claimed two main initiatives could reshape the UK’s high-growth ecosystem.
“My overwhelming goal was twofold. It’s to help us retain talent, attract and retain talent, which is what the EMI scheme was all about,” she said.
“And the second thing,” she added, “is increasing the amount of capital available to scaling founders. So when people are looking for that check of like 10 or 20 million, that they’ve got multiple options.”
These measures aim to give founders alternatives to selling early or seeking foreign investment, a key frustration flagged in the startup report.
“This is the lever we need to pull – retaining talent and having multiple options available at the Series B level. And both of those things have happened now. So I’m feeling positive about that,” she told CityAM.
From culture to capital
The report also underlines a cultural gap.
Many founders feel undervalued, and public discourse often conflates scale-ups with SMEs.
“There needs to be a recognition” of the difference between SMEs and scale-ups, Depledge said.
“It’s a bit like saying you’ve got a Ford Focus, and then you’ve got this McLaren, and you’re going to use the same engine oil and the same wheels. They’re just not the same at all.”
She stressed that access to capital markets and government procurement is key to keeping innovative companies in the UK.
“We need to have a pipeline onto our capital markets, and we need to open up our procurement channels.”
“Because, if British companies are being used by British institutions – that can only be a good thing, and it allows us to grow bigger companies.”
Treasury collaboration
Depledge also praised Treasury leadership for backing the sector.
She described chancellor Rachel Reeves’ ambition for scale-ups as an “11 out of 10”, and called her “impassioned” about this part of the economy.
“Rachel’s placed a £2bn bet on that sector,” she added.
But for Depledge, narrative matters as much as policy.
“Regardless of what you think overall, of this government or this budget or the UK, I think you can always find a reason to talk the UK down, and if you continue to do so, we’re just going to be in a managed decline that we’ve almost like manifested ourselves,” she said.
“And I think that in Rachel Reeves, we have somebody who is determined to make these high growth companies a success.”
The Budget measures were given a cautious welcome by many founders, who had feared a punishing regime.
Yet despite policy steps such as EMI reform, stamp duty relief and R&D funding, founders still feel undervalued, underrepresented, and culturally overlooked.