Funding - Last.fm paving the way for the UK?

Sue Greenwood, Managing Director of startup Sweeble, commented on the lack of funding for internet start-ups in the UK today:

"Five years is a hell of a long time in webland and the fact that the Last.fm guys had to work so hard to attract investors says a lot about the problems we UK web entrepreneurs face compared to our US counterparts. It took four years for the guys to attract significant venture capital to pay for the "bells and whistles" development that would rope in CBS.

Support for web entrepreneurs is abysmal in Britain. Government business funding mostly keeps quangos and consultants in work. It's interesting that investors in the latest venture (MyDeco.com) launched by Lastminute founders Brent Hoberman and Martha Lane Fox are largely the same ones who first backed Lastminute, rather than a posse of new chequebook-wavers.

The Last.fm guys deserve every penny they've earned, not least because their success might now open the door for other embattled UK web businesses. It will be a shame, however, if it's only American firms, like CBS, that come knocking." (Letters to Media Guardian, 11 June 2007)

Mesh is currently attempting to find funding - if you have any contacts who might be interested in receiving a copy of the business plan, please don't hesitate to holler: mesh@meshminds.com