Whatever the motivation, it was really good today to see the UK government putting in place some entrepreneur and start-up friendly items in the budget.
Some of the things which may catch founders and start-ups eyes:
– Extending 10% capital gains tax from £1m to £2m, giving founders more incentive to develop businesses with significant outcomes
– Extending 40% tax relief on CAPEX from £50k to £100k, helping small businesses invest more affordably in critical equipment
– Raising by 15% the procurement target that must go to SMEs, driving an additional £15bn in spend, providing critical demand and revenue to start ups
– Building an Institute of Web Science around Tim Berners-Lee to push the commercialization of the semantic web and build on the great progress around data.gov
With over €3bn in committed early-stage venture capital in London looking for great startups across Europe to back, its good to see the UK government trying to create a more entrepreneur and start-up friendly environment.Whoever wins the election I’m sure will have no choice but to continue and build on this.