Virgin StartUp

Most businesses are built for growth. Fewer are built with purpose from day one. This May, we’re welcoming Nathan Clemes, founder of @unrooteddrinks to the Changemakers stage. Rooted in his South African upbringing, Nathan’s journey begins among the ancient baobab trees that shaped his early perspective and goes on to challenge how we think about what we consume, and why. UNROOTED isn’t just a drinks brand. It’s a reintroduction to ingredients, origins, and impact. But building something like that means making decisions differently. From uncovering the nutritional and environmental value of baobab, to turning that vision into a business that can scale without losing its soul. This one’s for founders: 👉 Building with purpose and trying to stay true to it as they grow 👉 Exploring new ways of thinking about products, ingredients, or impact 👉 Looking to build something meaningful, not just scalable Expect honest reflections, not polished answers. A conversation about what it really takes to build with intention and challenge the conventional path. 🪵 Community-Exclusive Fireside Chat 📅 Wednesday 20th May ⏰ 6:00pm arrival 🤝 Networking from 7:15pm 🎟️ Tickets are free. Comment “UNROOTED” and we’ll DM you the details. Big thanks to @virginmoney for making these events free for founders.

Are you looking for funding? Good news. We’ve got more than £20 million in Start Up Loan funding available for UK-based founders over the next year. 🙌 💰 You can get between £500 to £25,000 per co-founder, or up to £100,000 for teams of four or more. But, we believe that funding alone isn’t enough. That’s why when you apply for a Start Up Loan through Virgin StartUp, you’ll get 1-1 support from a dedicated Business Advisor to help shape your idea and guide you through your application. If you’re successful, you’ll receive ongoing support plus 12-months of mentoring to help you build and grow with confidence. We’ve distributed over £100 million so far, backing more than 7,000 founders. In fact, you may recognise some of our alumni: 🥒 @oddboxldn 🧴 @upcirclebeauty 💪 @magicdotfit 💦 @dashdrinks So, whether you’ve got a business idea and the ambition to start, or an existing business that’s been trading for up to 3 years (this will increase to 5 years from 6th April), we’ve got the funding and support you need. 💬 Comment “Virgin StartUp” and we’ll send you more information on how to get started!

Incredible news. @VirginStartUp has now distributed more than £100 million in StartUp Loan funding from the @BritishBusinessBank . That’s more than 7,000 loans to founders all across the UK - starting businesses that solve problems and disrupt industries for the better. This will have generated more than £550 million in value to the UK economy. Over the next year, Virgin StartUp will distribute another £20million to help even more entrepreneurs chase their dreams. If you’ve always wanted to start your own business, this is your cue to take the first step.

Sometimes the best action you can take for your mental health is to pause and check in with yourself. Step inside the Reset Room this Mental Health Awareness Week - where we invited founders to do just that. With guided breath work, yoga nidra, and a sound bath session from the Yoga Lead at @virginactiveuk founders were given a chance to quieten their thoughts and be truly present. 💭 @drinksult joined us to help founders rehydrate after the session and share their inspiring journey with our founder community. 🙌 We encouraged everyone to connect and share what’s been on their mind lately, because simply talking about it can make a huge difference. ❤️ We also invited founders to commit to a small 1% action they could take every day to support their mental health. Now it’s your turn, what 1% action will you take each day to support your mental health? Let us know in the comments! 👇 #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek

Founders, can you take just 60 seconds to be present? Unclench your jaw, soften your eyes, take a breath, and be present. This is a moment from our founder community Reset Room event with @virginactiveuk for Mental Health Awareness Week ❤️

Inside the Virgin StartUp Community this week, we’re creating space for founders to pause, reset, and check in with themselves 💛 Here’s what’s happening 👇 🧠 Mentor Office Hours x Andrew Salter (DIRTEA) A special Mental Health Awareness Week edition of Mentor Office Hours for Premium members. @andrewpsalter co-founded @dirteaworld following his own experience with burnout, and founders selected through our ballot will get the chance to speak with him 1:1 about wellbeing, growth, creativity, and building a business sustainably. 💬 The 1% Action We’re inviting founders to share one small action they can take to support their mental wellbeing moving forward. Because big change often starts with small shifts. 🧘‍♀️ The Reset Room x Virgin Active An in-person founder reset at Virgin HQ, featuring breathwork, meditation, a restorative sound bath, and meaningful conversations around wellbeing. A reminder that you can’t pour from an empty cup. 🎙️ Founder to Founder x Alex Partridge This week inside Community, we’re also spotlighting our conversation with @alex_partridge_100 founder of @ladbible and @unilad where he opens up about mental health, ADHD, neurodiversity and the realities of building under pressure. 🏋 Virgin Active Day Passes Community members can also claim a limited number of free @virginactiveuk day passes - because taking action for your wellbeing doesn’t always have to look like doing more. We’ll also be sharing additional founder resources, wellbeing support and exclusive offers throughout the week inside the app. Join the Virgin StartUp Community to take part (link in bio). There’s a free version to get started, plus Premium for deeper mentoring, events and support. #MentalHealth #FounderWellbeing #Entrepreneurship #Startups #UKStartups

Being a founder is a high pressure job that can often result in a lot of stress. It's important to find ways to help manage your mental health, to prevent yourself from becoming burnt out or experiencing other mental health issues. For @olivialouise.jenkins the founder of @d.louise one effective way is through meditation. This week is Mental Health Awareness Week. This Wednesday, we're welcoming founders in our Community along to Virgin HQ to reset - through breath-work, meditation, and connection. How do you look after your mental health? #MentalHealth #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek #Meditation #Founders #Entrepreneurship

Neurodivergent entrepreneurs will change the world 🙌 🌎 We couldn't agree with you more @alex_partridge_100 They just need the right support and mentorship. 90% of founders who took part in Momentum - Virgin StartUp's accelerator for dyslexic founders - left the programme seeing their dyslexia as a strength. This is your final call to submit your application to Momentum for our second cohort. Applications close at 6pm today (Friday 8th May) This is a clip from our Founder to Founder podcast with Alex Partridge - founder of @ladbible and @unilad - give it a listen wherever you get your podcasts! #Neurodivergence #dyslexia #dyslexic #entrepreneurship #Startupaccelerator

The irony of dyslexia being one of the most difficult words to spell! 😂 Luckily, spelling doesn’t actually matter so much. When it comes to Dyslexic Thinking, traits like: 👉 Big-picture thinking 👉 Creative problem solving 👉 Resilience and adaptability 👉 Visualisation and spatial reasoning 👉 Effective communication and storytelling are what makes for excellent founders with incredible businesses 🙌 It's not too late to apply for Momentum - Virgin StartUp’s accelerator for dyslexic founders. Applications close tomorrow (Friday 8th May) at 6pm. Apply now!

Momentum - the accelerator for dyslexic founders - is the first of it’s kind. It was designed with neuroinclusion at the core. When 1 in 3 founders is dyslexic, and neurodiversity more broadly is prevalent amongst founders, inclusion and accessibility can’t be a nice to have - it’s a must. Our second cohort kicks off later this month and applications are still open! Make sure to get them in by 6pm this Friday 8th May. Later in the year, we’ll be publishing a playbook to help other organisations to design and deliver more neuroinclusive support for founders. Because when we meet founders where they are, we can empower them to become the next generation of changemakers. Huge thanks to @virginunite and @madebydyslexia for helping us to bring this to life.

Our founder @richardbranson and Moyin, Project Admin for accelerators, sat down to discuss their experiences with Dyslexia. We’ve come a long way since Richard was at school, when Dyslexia wasn’t commonly known or understood. Moyin is part of the brilliant team at Virgin StartUp who have put together Momentum - the startup accelerator for dyslexic founders. The programme is all about working with dyslexia and neurodiversity, not against it. It’s about reframing your perception of dyslexia to better understand the many strengths of Dyslexic Thinking. Because when founders lean into their strengths, brilliant things happen. As Richard himself says, so many incredible British businesses encounter Virgin StartUp at one point or another. It’s not surprising - we’re the home of UK founders, helping businesses to startup and thrive! If you’re a founder and you identify with Dyslexic Thinking traits, this is your chance to apply to Momentum and take your business to the next level. 🔗 Apply through our website today!

I lied my way through school. Not in a dramatic way… just enough to go unnoticed. Messy handwriting so no one clocked the spelling mistakes. Getting on the wrong buses, then saying they never turned up. Carrying a dictionary everywhere! No one picked up I was dyslexic until my Master’s. Now? It’s how I build. It’s why I don’t follow the “rules”. Why I created products people said shouldn’t work. Why I trust my gut when something feels different. The @virginstartup Momentum Accelerator Programme helped me put structure around that chaos. It gave me tools for the bits I’m not great at. And put me in a room where I didn’t feel like the odd one out for once. 1 in 3 entrepreneurs are dyslexic. So if that’s you, or it might be you, stop overthinking it - just apply on their website. You will not regret it. #madebydyslexia #dyslexicthinking #virginstartup #entrepreneurmindset #Momentum