Matthew Barzun at the Diversity Tech Summit

US Ambassador to the UK, Matthew Barzun, spoke at the first Diversity Tech Summit organised by Wayra UK, Diversity UK and KPMG on Monday 13th June 2016 in London. Mr Barzun, a business executive who is known for his work with CNET Networks and for his volunteering work on Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign spoke about the changing paradigms in digital from traditional hierarchical systems to ‘wiki’ like networked structures. He ended his talk by saying that “we should be pre-disposed to the power in people, helping them to be great”. A theme echoed by Gary Stewart, Director – Wayra UK & Telefonica Open Future (UK) who outlined that the key aim of the inaugural Diversity Tech Summit ‘was to bring key influencers passionate about diversity within the UK’s technology startup ecosystems.’

In 2015, during London Technology Week, Wayra UK launched startupDNA, the first research study to reveal the social makeup of Britain’s startup ecosystem. The research – which started a conversation across three continents with over 70 pieces of PR – made a number of discoveries:

• It’s clear that diversity helps start-ups in a number of ways in relation to overcoming challenges, competing in markets, and innovating. For example, 78.9% of individuals agree that diversity helps start-up teams compete.
• London beats other ecosystems, including Silicon Valley, NYC and Tel Aviv, in terms of gender diversity. For example, compared to the US, an entrepreneur is 5x more likely to be female in the UK.
• UK start-ups are more ethnically diverse than Silicon Valley and NYC. Respectively 79%, 82% and 89% white.
• The UK is a global magnet for entrepreneurs – 1/3 are from abroad.

But, while the startup ecosystem embraces diversity, there is a considerable diversity deficit:

• Men have far greater access to finance than women – almost 2x more likely to get VC finance.
• Start-ups in the UK are overwhelmingly middle-class.
• UK start-ups are very London-centric.
• The UK has so far produced very few “unicorns” like Uber despite having a healthy investment and stock market listing ecosystem

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The Diversity Tech Summit hosted four panels with expert speakers to debate these issues including:

‘How Diversity can help build a billion dollar business’

Given that research proves that building a diverse team leads to enhanced business performance and greater profitability, what are the key remaining ingredients to scaling your venture to be a billion dollar business? The panel explored some of the issues raised by the Scale Up report and discussed the ecosystem needed to help startups scale up their ventures.

The ‘How Diversity can help build a billion dollar business’ panel debate was moderated by Neeta Patel, CEO of New Entrepreneurs Foundation with guest speakers Manish Madhvani, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, GP Bullhound; Jenny Tooth OBE, Chief Executive, UK Business Angels Association; Susanne Stulemeijer, Communications EMEA, Uber and Deepali Nangia, Investment Director of Wild Blue Cohort.

’The Northern Powerhouse needs more than a train’

Following George Osborne’s stated commitment to shift focus to the northern cities, what will support startups outside London more effectively? This panel, with a representative from government and the investors of the North, debated what needs to be done including branding, development of city-based tech clusters and how to overcome a lack of critical mass for an entrepreneurial ecosystem in many northern cities.

‘The Northern Powerhouse needs more than a train’ debate was hosted by Claire Braithwaite, Tech Adviser, Manchester Growth Company with speakers Colin Tan, Early Stage Investor & Mentor, Dotforge Impact; Jonathon Cadden, Managing Director/Founder Business Rocks (UK) Ltd; Jennifer Hartley, Deputy Head and Trade & Investment Director, Tech North and Dr Andrew Ko, Co-Founder & CEO, Preceptiv.

‘Achieving Gender Balance across the UK’s technology sector’

With only 17% of staff in the tech industry female, men having greater access to finance, and dramatic biases reflected in different sectors, what else can be done to achieve a true gender balance in the tech startup ecosystem across the UK. This panel debated a broad range of topics from recruitment and retention, mentoring and sponsorship of female employees and leadership on gender diversity.

The ‘Achieving Gender Balance across the UK’s technology sector’ panel was moderated by Bindi Karia, StartUp Expert, Connector & Advisor with speakers Hannah Dobson, Partner, KPMG Enterprise; Georgia Hanias, Head of Global Communication, Innovate Finance; Aoife Desmond, Senior Manager for eCommerce, Twitter and Harry Briggs, Partner, BGF Ventures.

‘Concrete ceilings in the tech sector beyond gender diversity’

The data from the first startupDNA study seems stark. In order to enter the start-up sector you appear not only to need a University degree but your parents need to have one too. What happens to people from poorer backgrounds? Why are there relatively few entrepreneurs still from Afro-Caribbean backgrounds? Where is the diversity that could lead to a greater talent pool and wider markets? Music has always read across from poor and black to the mass market, what happened to startups? This lively panel debate explored the concrete ceilings that exist in the tech sector in terms of class, ethnicity, LGBTQ and age!

The ‘Concrete ceilings in the tech sector beyond gender diversity’ panel was moderated by Lopa Patel MBE, Founder & CEO, Diversity UK with speakers Natalie Campbell, Founding Partner, A Very Good Company; Gary Stewart, Director – Wayra UK & Telefonica Open Future (UK); Josh Rivers, Head of New Membership, Second Home & Co-Founder, Series Q and Melinda Nicci, Founder & CEO, Baby2Body.

Patrick Imbach, Head of KPMG Tech Growth closed the summit, saying: “Digital industries are very important to the UK, accounting for nearly 1.5 million jobs and representing over 12% of the UK economy, the highest proportion in the G20 set of nations. Due to the vast number of new businesses emerging in the sector it is also the fastest growing part of our economy. Although the UK tech sector scores more highly than other global ecosystems in terms of its gender diversity, very little attention is given to other aspects of diversity within the UK start up community which are of equal importance.”

About KPMG Tech Growth

KPMG Tech Growth is a team based in Shoreditch, London focussed on helping early stage and high growth technology companies succeed through providing business advice and more specific tax, accounting, fundraising and cyber security related support. The team supports companies at all stages of their development – from those with just an idea to those looking ahead to a listing. They host a range of industry and networking events for the startup community in London and support a number of startup accelerator programmes as coaches and/ or mentors.

www.kpmgtechgrowth.co.uk | @KPMGTechGrowth

About KPMG

KPMG LLP, a UK limited liability partnership, is a subsidiary of KPMG Europe LLP and operates from 22 offices across the UK with approximately 11,500 partners and staff. KPMG is a global network of professional firms providing Audit, Tax, and Advisory services. It operates in 155 countries and has 155,000 professionals working in member firms around the world. The independent member firms of the KPMG network are affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative a Swiss entity. Each KPMG firm is a legally distinct and separate entity and describes itself as such.

www.kpmg.co.uk | @kpmguk

About Wayra

Wayra UK, part of Telefónica Open Future, gives direct funding and acceleration services (such as co-working space, connectivity services, mentoring, access to Wayra UK’s network and knowhow, training in entrepreneurship and business skills) to selected start-ups. Wayra UK contributes circa $US50,000 as financial investment and another $US50,000 in acceleration services, or an equivalent amount in local currency, in exchange for an equity stake in the companies.

Since its launch in 2012, Wayra UK has accelerated 140 startups, who have risen $86M in third-party investment and had $6.4M in contracted revenues generated with Telefonica and 64 contracts/trials signed with Telefonica’s operating businesses. Wayra UK have done a huge amount of work around diversity within the startup ecosystem. From commissioning the first research project to reveal the social makeup of the ecosystem, to achieving 50% female founders in this year’s startup cohort, Wayra will continue to invest in diversity as it believes it’s an asset that helps businesses scale.

http://wayra.co.uk | @wayrauk

About Diversity UK

Diversity UK is a think tank to research, advocate and promote new ideas for improving diversity and inclusion in Britain. Diversity UK delivers its objectives by undertaking research, facilitating debates, hosting roundtable meetings, producing white papers and publishing a monthly newsletter focusing on contemporary equality issues. Diversity UK is a registered charity (No: 1155189) in England & Wales.

www.diversityuk.org | @diversityuk