{"id":130442,"date":"2023-04-24T22:03:30","date_gmt":"2023-04-24T21:03:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/technation.io\/?p=130442"},"modified":"2025-06-24T10:24:46","modified_gmt":"2025-06-24T09:24:46","slug":"founders-forum-group-has-formally-acquired-tech-nation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/technation.io\/founders-forum-group-has-formally-acquired-tech-nation\/","title":{"rendered":"Founders Forum Group acquires Tech Nation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Founders Forum Group (FF Group), a global community and group of businesses supporting entrepreneurs at every stage of their journeys, has formally acquired Tech Nation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The transfer will see FF Group continue to execute against Tech Nation\u2019s mission to empower tech entrepreneurs, scale innovative startups, and provide a united platform for UK tech founders.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">FF Group will relaunch a number of Tech Nation programmes and reports on the UK tech sector as part of its existing portfolio of events and services tailored to entrepreneurs, continuing to build on the organisation\u2019s activities to date.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Having invited expressions of interest from organisations across the UK, and completed a process of due diligence, Tech Nation chose FF Group to usher the growth platform into a new chapter, given its existing impact in the UK tech ecosystem, and focus on supercharging entrepreneurial growth both in the UK and globally.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tech Nation, under the FF Group umbrella, will continue to process the Global Talent Visa for the Home Office and applicants can continue to apply as normal with applications in process unaffected, while the Home Office identifies a \u200b\u200b<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">new endorsing body to <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">take over from Tech Nation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tech Nation\u2019s outgoing founding CEO, Gerard Grech and Board Director Sarah Wood will help steer the transition as part of FF Group\u2019s Tech Nation Advisory Board.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the last decade, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/technationio.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Tech-Nations-lasting-impact-2.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tech Nation has helped shape the trajectory and success of UK tech <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to be the number one digital economy in Europe and number three globally, valued at $1tn (16x growth in 10 years) with over 20 places in the UK home to one tech unicorn or more. Additionally, a third of tech unicorns ever created in UK history have passed through one of its growth programmes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Gerard Grech, Founding CEO and Tech Nation Advisory Board member, said:<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cFounders Forum Group is the ideal custodian to lead Tech Nation into its next chapter. I am confident FF Group will continue the vital work of Tech Nation, leveraging its influential network to evolve Tech Nation\u2019s existing programmes, foster entrepreneurship nationwide, and supercharge scaleups and high-growth businesses across the UK. It\u2019s been a privilege to have worked with so many fantastic people during Tech Nation\u2019s journey to date, and I want to thank the Tech Nation team for all their hard work in making it happen with the ecosystem.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Carolyn Dawson OBE, FF Group CEO, said:<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe\u2019re delighted to be carrying the Tech Nation brand forward and building on the remarkable decade of growth which has resulted in the UK now being third in the world for tech investment. Programmes like Future Fifty, Net Zero, and Rising Stars align succinctly with many of our existing initiatives at Founders Forum Group, as well as our overarching mission to bolster entrepreneurial innovation and support founders at every stage.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Brent Hoberman CBE, FF Group Co-Founder &amp; Chair, said:<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cBy recognising and fostering remarkable digital talent and accelerating startup success nation-wide, Tech Nation has positioned the UK as a world-class innovation hub. We\u2019re honoured to be inheriting this important mission and marrying our objectives with those of Tech Nation to preserve and expand the UK tech ecosystem.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Stephen Kelly, Tech Nation Chair, said:<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cSince I returned from building global market leaders in Silicon Valley in 2006, we have witnessed an incredible transformation in UK Tech. In the last decade alone, UK tech jobs have grown from 2 million to 5 million with tech sector growth of 5% CAGR contributing half of the overall UK economic growth. Tech Nation has been a foundation for Britain\u2019s 6000 tech scale-ups which powered more than 90% of the job creation in this golden decade. I am thrilled with FF taking ownership of Tech Nation to extend the golden era of UK Tech. Carolyn and Brent have created the vital platform for growth and the cornerstone of the Government\u2019s ambition for the UK to become a \u2018Science &amp; Technology superpower\u2019\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>UK Minister for Tech and the Digital Economy, Paul Scully, said:<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cStartups are at the heart of what makes the UK&#8217;s tech sector a success \u2013 creating opportunities, innovation, and growth across the UK. We have invested millions over the years to help early-stage and scaling tech businesses go from strength to strength. Founders Forum Group will build on this by continuing the work of Tech Nation, which will complement our ongoing support for the sector.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Thought Machine Founder &amp; CEO, Paul Taylor, said:\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThis acquisition is great news for the nation&#8217;s technology industry. Founders Forum Group, under the stewardship of Carolyn and Brent, has created a winning formula for supporting entrepreneurs at all stages. Tech Nation has been a pivotal partner for the UK tech industry, and we look forward to seeing its legacy live on under the FF Group brand.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Busuu Founder, Bernhard Niesner, said:<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cTech Nation was fundamental in creating the UK\u2019s tech ecosystem and allowed us to learn from fellow entrepreneurs. The tech community has much to gain now that Founders Forum Group can pick up that mantle.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Wayve Co-Founder, Alex Kendall, said:<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI feel fortunate to have been part of both Tech Nation and Founders Forum Group\u2019s communities which have been pivotal in supporting the growth of technology entrepreneurship in the UK. I\u2019m delighted to see that Tech Nation\u2019s important work will be able to continue to champion our tech sector by supporting entrepreneurs and founders internationally.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Founders Forum Group (FF Group), a global community and group of businesses supporting entrepreneurs at every stage of their journeys, has formally acquired Tech Nation.\u00a0 The transfer will see FF Group continue to execute against Tech Nation\u2019s mission to empower tech entrepreneurs, scale innovative startups, and provide a united platform for UK tech founders.\u00a0 FF&#8230;","protected":false},"author":125,"featured_media":130444,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-130442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-updates"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Founders Forum Group acquires Tech Nation | Tech Nation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/technation.io\/founders-forum-group-has-formally-acquired-tech-nation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta 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