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If the business entity was established to create a unique product or service, it is a startup. Some locations attract such kinds of business formation, and Great Britain is one such jurisdiction. The UK supports investment activity and entrepreneurial activity because it can bring a new spin to the economy of this conservative country. The UK traditionally pays serious attention to the documentary part of business activity, and startuppers need help to avoid it. Often startups are passionate about the idea but need a deeper knowledge of the legislation and its nuances. Lack of knowledge may bring serious risks because not all registration procedures in the UK are apparent for beginners in business or if you are new to the foreign market and its requirements. Considering that startups bring new ideas and already mean risk to some investors, it is expedient to ensure that collaboration with contractors, investors, and vendors would go smoothly, and competent legal support of the startup in Great Britain would be an outstanding contribution to the success of your undertaking.

First, startups are based on innovations; their mission is to eliminate deficiencies of products already presented on the markets and introduce new categories of goods and services. Startups function like a beeline for the implementation of innovations. Such types of business entities promote progress in society. 

Startupers have their own procedure for implementing their creative ideas. It is called iteration. During iterations, they constantly improve their products based on the feedback of customers and data on utilisation.  

Interesting details about startups

To keep it short and straightforward, startups aim to eliminate deficiencies in existing products on the market or create brand-new goods and services. In other words, launching the startup in the UK, business seeks to quickly implement innovations and progress. 

One of the procedures used by startups is called iterations. In this context, iteration means that startuppers constantly work on improving their products and actively use feedback and data about the utilisation of their product and services. They absorb such information to get better results and to answer the market needs better. While they improve their products and services, they also interact actively with the consumers and increase their clientele base. As you understand, in such a way, they gain more significant market share, develop their products or services and get the audience's loyalty. Why? Because people like when their opinion is heard and respected.

Introducing something brand new to the market requires significant financial resources. Thus, many entrepreneurs choose world financial centres (such as Great Britain) for launching their businesses. Brilliant ideas take faceting to become diamonds. In this case, it means:

  • analysis of legal nuances and requirements for the launching of a startup in the UK;
  • development of an individually tailored structure;
  • competent legal support for the project from the profile lawyers because they understand the specific;
  • development of the corporate documentation;
  • harmonisation of the project with the applicable requirements;
  • getting required permissions;
  • launching of a startup in the UK.

The business culture of Great Britain

According to the rating of the TOP-50 countries for running a startup business in Europe, Great Britain took silver, 2nd place and the most remarkable expert rate was given to this country for 2 significant indices:

  • cost of doing business;
  • business-friendly environment.

Running a startup in the UK is not the cheapest option compared to other EU countries. Still, the quality of the business environment compensates for this to a great extent. Among its multiple pieces of research, the World Bank regularly monitors such indicators as the Simplicity of running a business. The World Bank says that the UK's normative legal acts are more favourable for the startup company than other EU countries. 

What does it mean to launch a startup in Great Britain?

First of all, launching a startup in Great Britain means perspectives. Here are only some benefits which startups get in this jurisdiction:

  • strategic location;
  • Easiness of running business, according to the World Bank report dd. 2020 the United Kingdom holds the 8th place in the world rating;
  • it is a worldly recognised legal system;
  • over 100 countries concluded treaties on the avoidance of double taxation with the UK;
  • the profit tax rate is 20%;
  • intellectual property is very well protected;
  • the labour market is rich with highly proficient and multinational employees;
  • the Government is actively supporting startups and is interested in their development;
  • one can easily get access to the capital.

Business owners often focus on their product (or service) and its quality, take time to polish it and bring it to the sales stage. At the same time, some work behind the production scene should be handled. We mean legal formalities, which you must fulfil, plus the ability to estimate the consequences of launching and operating your startup business. Remember these nuances if you want to launch a promising startup in the UK that would shine like a star.  

If you don't want to risk your startup's future, consider getting competent legal support from the beginning. It is vital throughout all stages of the product/service life cycle. If you decide to rely on your abilities to sort things out, the company risks severe consequences if you can't do it alone. For this reason, involving competent profile lawyers actually means investing in your startup's success. Throughout the complete life cycle, you will avoid many problems and build the proper structure. Startup legal assistance helps to prevent complications while getting permissions, startup approval and launching the startup in the UK.

Ways to create a startup in the UK

 

The legislation offers a rich choice of legal corporate structure types, each with pros and cons. Getting the idea may be the first stage from the angle of the creative side, but on the practical side, you have to start with choosing the company's corporate form. Seven times measure then cut is applicable for selecting the startup's organisational structure because it determines the scope of commitments and responsibility of the startup founders in the future. Legal support of the company registration in Great Britain allows businesspeople to focus on what they enjoy doing:

  • Work on the idea.
  • Communicate with customers.
  • Arrange pools or many other things which will enable innovation.  

By contacting the specialists of our company, you will get legal support for every stage of the startup life cycle in Great Britain, starting from the corporate structure and ending with the post-investment support of the business.

Our company provides legal support on the following stages of the project:

  1. Market research;
  2. Registration procedures for legal entities, including the filing of the application for approval of the company name;
  3. The creation of a detailed business plan based on a clear understanding of the competitive environment in the country, financing needs and other relevant aspects;
  4. Choosing the proper option for the financing of your startup, including the conclusion of the licence agreement if the startup financing source comes from the state or private entities;
  5. Evaluation of commercial perspectives of the future business;
  6. Due diligence procedures for the project where we also detect potential risks and provide practical options hot to eliminate them;
  7. Filing of application to get the patent in the UK for a specific product/service before they go public.

When do startups actually need lawyers?

 

Without exaggeration, legal support for the startup is needed from the beginning in choosing the structure of the new business entity because many areas may be as complicated as chemistry. Still, the lawyer can explain complex things in simple words and provide competent legal support.

Great Britain is very much favourable for businesses and startups. Nevertheless, without a professional legal background, it is very uneasy about getting the most out of the opportunities available in the UK because its legislation is quite complicated; often, amendments are made, plus the legislator harmonises it with international standards and practice. If you want to avoid the experience of struggling with obstacles and are interested in your startup's efficiency, ensure that you get profile legal support because there is no need to learn things the hard way, as you can enjoy a turnkey legal solution. 

Suppose you want to launch a startup from scratch in Great Britain. In that case, legal experts of our company help to solve multiple tasks like in the list below (of course, this list is not exhaustive because every project is unique):

  1. Company registration: experts can provide information about the best option for corporate structure for your project, what main agreements you will need to have and prepare these agreements for you; the lawyer would consult about the package of documents which one have to file to start the business and set up respective legal entity;
  2. IP creation: Startap, as an innovative driver, deals with the IP, and thus it is crucial to understand what strategy can be applied to protect your intellectual property objects and what documents are needed for this, including legal support of trade mark registration, protection of patent, etc.;
  3.  Profile lawyer prepares commercial agreements, corporate documents and other documents needed for running a business and efficient relationship between founders, personnel and partners. Duly structured agreements allow to avoid of unanticipated complications;
  4. Regulation: Let's look at this using fintech-startup as an example to simplify it. Great Britain needs a unified legislative basis which regulates financial technologies. It is possible to avoid problems in the future when you take advantage of legal assistance from experienced lawyers in the early stages of startup launching because profile experts know the legal procedures required to conduct business in the UK. Under such circumstances, the companies may be held by different Regulatory Bodies depending on the type and size of the business.
  5. Financing: When startups attract investments, they need lawyers. It is critical. Investment documentation is quite complicated, so nothing should be left to chance. Otherwise, you expose yourself to serious financial consequences, which you could avoid using the services of a profile lawyer.

Creation and financing of startups in the UK

How to get financing for the startup launching this question is crucial because otherwise, projects which require funds, even genius ideas, might never be presented to the world. We summarised some options for how one can attract funding for startups:

Crowdfunding in the UK. This method is trendy for raising financing for different projects. Great Britain has multiple crowdfunding platforms where people can present their ideas and projects. Apart from getting money, startuppers can evaluate how the audience accepts their product or service. Knowing this, businesspeople know how to efficiently respond to market needs. There are two types of crowdfunding.

  1. Consumer-oriented crowdfunding. If you run a product-based business, you might find it interesting to check out the platforms Kickstarter and Indiegogo. They allow ensuring guaranteed sales even before you launch production;
  2. Investor-oriented crowdfunding is presented with platforms like Crowdcube and Seedrs, which allow you to raise money in exchange for your company's shares. This option works well if the project requires significant business expansion.

Peer-to-peer business loans. As you might know, big banks are not willing to take high risks, and for this not always approve the loan application of companies that still need a solid reputation and have not proven themselves. It is not a dead-end situation because other creditors are ready to help and provide financing for the projects of young companies that want to grow and need money.

Business-angels. Some wealthy individuals are willing to invest in startups in the early stages of their development. Almost everything determines personal meetings to get this type of investment. It's about efficiently presenting your project and connecting with the right people.

Venture capital. Entrepreneurs-beginners can get access to venture finance for their startup. A venture capitalist is an investor open to financing small startups with high growth potential. Venture capitalists influence the work of the company in which they invest. They may become part of the staff or partners of the business entity.

In addition to standard options (crowdfunding and venture capital in the UK) to finance startups applied worldwide, there are other variants to get money for your innovative ideas. For example, financing can be provided by the state. Startups can get a loan, especially if planned in the area determined by the state as a priority for economic development. Profile legal advisers know about such opportunities and can help you to choose the best funding option. In the UK, startups which work in the high-technology or processing industry are stimulated by the government via state grants to support innovations, research activity and innovative development. Government support is provided in the form of a loan from HMRC. In some cases, with filing the application for tax allowances, it is possible to get up to 30% of expenses for research and development.

Legal assistance of the startups with the support of scalability 

Better opportunities for business success become available if one takes advantage of specialised legal services for startups, for instance:

Structuring the ownership of your business. Profile experts suggest which ownership structure fits your project the best and how the areas of responsibility would be distributed within the board of directors. A legal consultant can assist with the registration procedures of the company or LLC, and the lawyer will help elaborate individual versions of the Charter and other required documents.

Creation of the organisational structure of the business. The specialist can help to bring clarity into mutual relations between the founders.

Attracting financing. The solution helps to get needed investments and make the project available for investors interested in helping it grow and scale up. Specialists will provide consultations on how to access the capital and ensure that your company has a legal right to take advantage of these investment opportunities. The lawyers can restructure the company to enable it to pass prequalification for the financing scheme. 

Strategies to protect intellectual property. Our experts can help to understand the matters of how to protect the IP of the company. It contributes to the company's success when it is clearly determined who owns what from the angle of commercial property and intellectual property of the company. Disputes about ownership of intellectual property rights concerning software, trademarks or data can bring devastating consequences. When a business uses licensed legal specialists' services, they help resolve these and other accompanying issues even before they arise and create risks.

Data protection and alignment with GDPR. If you plan to launch an IT startup in the UK, it is very relevant for you. Our company provides consultations about data protection and GDPR.

Exit strategy. The licensed lawyer will help you plan potential exit strategies and consult you about business structuring, considering your desired B-point.

Suppose your startup considers the possibility of a share placement. In that case, our lawyers can consult about IPO and listing on the British and international stock markets.

Cooperation with a professional lawyer helps to avoid crushing lawsuits against your business. Every company is unique, but our experts know how to elaborate custom-tailored route maps towards your goals within the legislative requirements of your jurisdiction. 

Activity-based legal support of startups in Great Britain

Legal assistance for fintech startups in the UK. Currently, the financial sector is experiencing dynamic changes. The banking business and financial industry are actively developing following digital trends and the evolution of the global network. Fintech is a bridge through which the digital revolution touched the financial world. It introduced new concepts like "open banking" to the market. Users of the services get enormous benefits out of it, so many operations can be done now, even on the go, saving time and giving more flexibility. But as always, benefits come with risks and launching a fintech startup in England bears several serious risks, which at the same time can be mitigated. Licensed legal experts during the consultations provide precious information about the regulation of fintech in Great Britain. Such information is crucial for new startups because it helps them ensure their business's uninterrupted development in this area. Qualitative legal assistance for fintech projects includes:

  1. Consultations to choose an organisational-legal form for launching a startup in the UK.
  2. Consultations about business strategy and concept of the project;
  3. Legal support of the registration procedure for fintech in Great Britain.
  4. Assistance with the elaboration of corporate documents, dealing with formalities of the banks as well as other financial institutions and regulatory bodies.
  5. Consultations for legal requirements concerning getting the licences for a specific business model;
  6. Consulting services about compliance with KYC and AML/CTF
  7. Consultations regarding blockchain projects.

Legal support of startups in the area of mineral resources extraction

In the latter years, this industry bet on digitalisation. Knowing that this industry prioritises digital technologies, businesspeople who intend to launch a startup in Great Britain that would function in mineral exploration would be in trend. However, they must adequately structure their business activity and apply a comprehensive approach to balance their long-run strategy.

Legal consultation about launching a new business in the UK mining industry includes:

  1. assistance with choosing the proper organisational-legal form for launching a startup in the mining industry in Great Britain;
  2. consulting services about all aspects regarding all stages of the life-cycle of a startup in the mining industry;
  3. legal assistance in of M&A deals in the mining industry;
  4. consultations about ecological, social and managerial matters (ESG);
  5. legal support for getting licence for mineral exploration in the UK;
  6. evaluation of future prospects of the project upon the startup launching in the UK.

Legal support of e-commerce startups

E-commerce is one of the world's most rapidly growing areas of business. According to the data of Statistica, in 2020, retail sales of e-commerce in the world amounted to 4,28 trillion dollars. Foreign businesspeople get a wide variety of opportunities in this area in Great Britain. But this sphere of investment requires efficient project management. To become a leader in e-commerce, one must have professional assistance from specialists who support launching e-commerce startups in Great Britain. 

Legal assistance for the industrial startups in the UK

 

Industry plays a critical role in the economic development of the country. Many industries prioritise the implementation of innovations, and thus innovative ideas brought by startups are welcomed here. Consider launching an efficient startup in one of the UK industries. In that case, you must choose the right strategy, clear understanding and building of the relations with the investors, partners, counterparties and clients. 

In the beginning, in the early stages of an industrial startup's launch, ensure that you get specialised legal support from an industrial startup. Our company provides the following services in the scope of legal assistance:

  1. help with the right choice of organisational and legal form for the registration of an industrial company in the UK;
  2. consulting for industrial outsourcing;
  3. consultations about the protection of industrial property;
  4. M&A deals support within the industrial sector;
  5. representation of client's interests during approval procedures with the local regulators.

Legal support of the IT startups

Technologies are growing so fast that it takes effort to become a pioneer in Great Britain in this area. But suppose you have a valuable project idea in this sphere. In that case, you are lucky to be in trend and have a chance to enjoy the benefits of Government support. The UK government supports businesspeople who invest in IT startups because the country benefits from such projects. They allow the creation of thousands of new working places and build higher growth opportunities for the entire country. 

Legal support of IT startups in the UK includes:

  1. Consultations about the requirements for the realisation of IT startups;
  2. IT company due diligence procedures which have to be performed on different stages of startup launching;
  3. consultancies about data protection and informational security;
  4. Consulting about transferring of copyright for software created by the employees or software vendors;
  5. support in conflict resolution within the IT area;
  6. Assistance in the matters of protection of technologies and intellectual property;
  7. Legal support of IT company licensing in the UK.

Conclusions

Businesspeople who want to set up a business in Great Britain have to consider many nuances of the legislation of this country which are often like a complicated labyrinth for a person without a professional legal background. Legal assistance is rather an investment into your project's success than an expense. We have experience in legal assistance for startups of all sizes, including British technological startups and growing large-scale companies that have kept this trend for many years thanks to the efficient mix of their innovative components and our professional support. Our company's experts provide custom-tailored turn key solutions and separate consultations for your needs. Our experts also work with new companies and startups (including technological companies) and help to determine their legal priorities.