Assertion Supported AI assessment confidence: 95% certainty 4/5 debate potential 2/5

Bradley: UK And Europe Offer More Government Grants Than The US

Matthew Bradley · 20 VC 097: Betting Big on Consumer Fintech with Matthew Bradley, Investor @ Forward Partners · Dec 16, 2015 · at 17:29

Matthew Bradley, investor at Forward Partners, contrasts funding sources for early-stage founders in the US versus the UK and Europe.

0:00 / 0:13exact quote · 13.7s

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“There'd be a huge much more venture money available in America, but conversely here in the UK, we have there's more government money and tax breaks here as well as in Europe.”

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The claim, plainly

The US has significantly more venture capital available than the UK, but the UK and Europe offer more government grants and tax breaks for startups.

a quote alone can be ambiguous, so this restates it with the references and context of the conversation around it resolved. AI-written; the tape below the player is the source.

Assessment

Both parts of the claim are accurate based on 2015 data. First, the US had significantly more venture capital available: US VC investment reached $77.3B–$78.9B in 2015 compared to the UK's £3.4B (~$5.2B), making the US VC market 15 to 20 times larger than the UK's. Second, the UK and Europe offered significantly more government grants and tax breaks tailored for startups and early-stage investors: the UK featured generous angel investor tax write-offs (EIS/SEIS with over £1.8B raised annually), payable cash R&D tax credits (~£1.75B paid out annually), and EMI employee option rules, alongside substantial grant schemes like Innovate UK (£550M+) and the EU Horizon 2020 program (€11.4B/year). In contrast, in 2015 the US lacked federal upfront income tax write-offs for angel investors, had non-refundable federal R&D tax credits for unprofitable startups prior to 2016, and offered smaller overall grant availability relative to the combined UK/EU non-dilutive and tax relief ecosystem.

2015 PitchBook/NVCA data showed US VC funding was $77.3B–$78.9B versus the UK's £3.4B (~$5.2B), an advantage of 15 to 20 times.
The UK offered EIS and SEIS investor tax incentives raising £1.8B+ in 2014/15, payable SME R&D cash tax credits of ~£1.75B/year, and EMI stock options, with no equivalent upfront federal tax write-off in the US.
European and UK grant funding (Innovate UK £550M+/yr and EU Horizon 2020 ~€11.4B/yr) surpassed US federal startup grant funding (SBIR/STTR ~$2.25B).

Checked against

[1] ssti.org [2] prnewswire.com [3] prnewswire.com [4] pitchbook.com [5] nvca.org [6] nvca.org [7] pitchbook.com [8] pitchbook.com

assessed as of 2026-07-23

This assessment is an AI reading of a public statement, made against the cited references with the confidence shown. It can be wrong. The quote, the tape and the references are all on this page; if something is off, use report an error below. full disclaimer →

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America Europe United Kingdom

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Bradley: UK And Europe Offer More Government Grants Than The US

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