Toby Harper, the firm’s CEO, said the efforts of start ups showed there is room for optimism. He said: “This is a useful moment to stop and reflect on the situation facing the country’s startup scene. 

“Although many are facing a huge fight for survival the way many are pivoting and evolving in this crisis is nothing short of inspirational. Many are also continuing to get investment and complete deals. This is vital. If the economy is going to recover we will rely heavily on start ups and small firms to get the country back on its feet.”

Case studies

Jon Arcos, founder of Axis Spine, a medical-start up firm who has secured nearly £1m in funding during lockdown, said: “So far in lock-down we have focused our efforts across two main areas of activity; conducting a detail design review of all of the instruments for our alpha launch and in preparing our quality system ahead of FDA clearance. Firstly the design review process. Whilst we would have clearly preferred to hold face to face meetings with the surgeons to touch and feel the devices the virtual meetings have gone very well. The benefit has been more quality time with the surgeons who have been less rushed and more focused. Result has been some very thoughtful feedback and in some areas, creative, new ideas to pursue for second generation instruments and implants. This has been great. As regards the quality system the lock-down has provided us with an opportunity to speed things up. Outside of the key workers, to whom we are very grateful, many people have more time on their hands. For us this has resulted in faster turnaround of certain documentation and completion of processes with third party suppliers. We will come out of this better prepared and more organised than we went in."

Francesca O’Brien, from Syndicate Room, is a UK online equity investment platform, providing multi-sector private investment. 

He said: “We've now furloughed a portion of our staff and are revisiting our fundraising plans, undertaking a bridge round at a lower valuation to tide us over until a bigger, institutional raise (which was the original plan for Q3 2020). The UK Government's Future Fund is a welcome development although it remains unclear (at present) what will qualify as third party funding - angels, or only VCs? - so this is a particular query around how it will operate in practice posed by us and others. I think the main difference compared to a month ago is that we've adjusted that bit more to our new "normal" in our spirits, even if circumstances remain anything but.”

Alastair Macgregor, COO of Do IT an innovative online platform who help people build meaningful connections, do good things, and feel healthier and happier as a result, commented: “The last four weeks have been a challenge for all businesses. But challenges always present opportunities too. We are the nationwide platform endorsed by the government to connect 100,000s of people looking for help, with charities and community groups nationwide needing that support. So far the team here at Do IT is meeting the sudden surge in volunteer demand. As a network, and a marketplace of volunteering opportunities and other good things to do, the platform is thriving with this increased activity. So while we obviously wouldn’t have chosen the current context, it is enabling us to scale rapidly. There’s a lot of tech investment and creating a marketplace is always difficult as you need to build both sides in-line with one another. We’ve been fortunate to start with UK’s biggest marketplace of volunteering opportunities, so we’ve been able to grow from there. We now have around 40,000 organisations actively posting opportunities, and 150,000 individuals looking for those good things to do. So we are able to look forward as a business with a sense of optimism.”

Barry Searle, Director of Training at Intqual-Pro - an intelligence and security firm, said: "Our business continuity plan and early communication to clients was effective over the first period with 100% of courses running and 97% planned attendance. No new business was generated and three admin staff were put into the furlough programme with a top up to reflect this. Over the last week the mood has began to shift. Lack of clarity on exit strategy and negative media coverage on timeframes for “normality” very much change business decision making mindsets. Whilst we have maintained a 90% staffing, many of our clients have begun to furlough and we’ve even made staff redundant which will have a huge impact on our revenue in the next quarter.

"There are then real concerns over future plans with retail, leisure and some professional services sector clients’ ability to sustain their operations and continue to pay for existing contracts. We have some big retailers on our books that are looking at administration in the coming days/weeks.

"Planned business growth now clearly appears to be impacted and whilst we will maintain our market position, the strategic plan for 2020/21 is now looking very different. All business focus is on survival and saving jobs.

"We have been running evening social events like Quiz’s for staff to keep engagement and are focusing heavily on mental health and wellbeing.

"As the mood with the media is beginning to change. Serious questions are being asked about the Government strategy, and for those of us following the rules and suffering a clear disruption and financial loss there is increasing frustration at the lack of an economically viable exit strategy. 12 months or more before 'return to normal' is not viable for many businesses and has a knock on impact on us all. With each week that continues I think most SME businesses start to consider the operational impact and plan for an adjustment in resourcing accordingly. Prior to Covid we were recruiting for four new roles. It is now highly unlikely we’ll need these bodies in 2020. The longer we go on with no clear timeframes or exit strategy, the more negative the impact on the business."