The LCIF is a £25m venture capital Fund backed by the Mayor of London and the London Economic Action Partnership (LEAP). It leverages private capital through 14 institutional venture capital investors, to invest in some of London’s most innovative science, digital and technology start-ups.

The discussion between the six founders and the Deputy Mayor focused on the varied benefits these companies bring to London including: job creation, significant social impact and enabling early stage investment in the capital. The meetings took place at the City Hall in Royal Docks, East London.

The founders that met the Deputy Mayor comprised of:

• James Roberts, founder of MoM, helping to put a stop to the thousands of newborn deaths that occur every day due to lack of basic medical equipment.
• Melinda Nicci, founder of Body Collective (Baby2Body Limited), a health and wellbeing coaching app for pregnancy and motherhood.
• Sarah Blank, director of Skinanalytics, an AI-supported teledermatology services to support clinicians in the assessment of skin lesions.
• Tom Harte, founder of My Recovery, connecting patients with their surgeons and care team, and providing support through their care pathway.
• Maya Pindeus, founder of Humanising Autonomy, a behaviour AI company using modular, low-power computer vision technology to ethically understand and predict human behaviour.
• Mark Nicholson, founder of Vivacity, a business empowering cities to put sustainable communities at the heart of their transport networks with the help of AI.

The London Co-Investment Fund was founded in December 2014 as a partnership between Funding London and Capital Enterprise. It has deployed £24.85M of capital investing in 153 seed stage companies. 20% of the SME’s supported are founded or led by female founders. Over 5,200 jobs were created and safeguarded by the portfolio companies so far.

Rajesh Agrawal, Deputy Mayor of London for Business, said: ”London’s startup ecosystem is one of the most dynamic and vibrant in the world. The record levels of investment we’ve seen this year in the tech sector will only make the capital go from strength to strength on the global stage.

"Access to finance is essential to support London’s SMEs which will, in turn, create more jobs for our city. The London Co-Investment Fund has also helped bridge the funding gap for London’s startup businesses and these six investees are brilliant examples of how we can improve the lives of Londoners through innovative tech solutions.”

Maggie Rodriguez-Piza, Chief Executive at Funding London and Co-Founder of LCIF, said: “Over the past 10 years London has transformed into a vibrant hub for startups with innovative business ideas coming to life at a fast pace. Attracting talent from all over the world, London is in close competition with Silicon Valley.

"We are so proud that LCIF, the Mayor’s fund, had a role to play in the transformation of this ecosystem not only through its initial capital deployment alongside other early stage investors but also through the support it offers portfolio companies post investment.”