With reports of patents being registered left, right and centre, and businesses compelled to re-visit how they operate, COVID-19 brings "opportunity". Triple Point is among those launching start-up funds to capitalise on this Phoenix moment, offering a lifeline to businesses that have no right to fail.

As a means of accelerating economic recovery and going after “the UK’s most innovative new start-ups,” Triple Point has announced a new rapid turnaround investment initiative. Called “Kick Start”, the funding venture will be directed at very early stage businesses that have yet to raise funding.

The firm said it will commit between £100,000 ($127,114) and £150,000 into companies with pre-money valuations of between £1 million and £1.5 million, and preferably provide the first external money into the business.

In addition, it will provide founding teams with an investment decision within 10 days of application, with the aim of signing terms within 14 days, and releasing capital within 21 days, the investment firm said.

On the reliable hunch that out of adversity comes opportunity, citing Uber, Slack, Pinterest and AirBnB as global brands born in a downturn, Triple Point said that the impact of the pandemic is “a significant moment for entrepreneurs to innovate.”

The crisis has resulted in lowering wages, rents and advertising costs, now giving businesses improved access to the skilled talent they need, the firm said when announcing the fund. It currently has £600 million invested in early stage UK businesses, with around £1.5 billion in private, institutional and public capital managed overall.

As this service has reported, the government has launched a range of measures to support UK SMEs through the crisis. The most recent is the £500 million Future Fund aimed at early stage companies. But there are barriers. The fund doesn’t admit firms already using the tax-efficient EIS programme. Also, businesses need to have raised at least £250,000 in private investment in the last five years which, as Triple Point rightly argues, will exclude many of the earliest stage businesses from the fund, including any that have risen to meet new COVID-19 realities.

According to research by London-based innovation centre Plexal, UK start-ups still managed to raise £663 million during the first month of the lockdown. But deal flow was down by 39 per cent year-on-year, and only £50 million of the £663 million went to first-time funded start-ups, according to Beauhurst, the main tracker of UK venture activity.

Ian McLennan, partner at Triple Point, said that high-growth companies will be critical in driving the UK’s economic recovery. “Early stage start-ups are the most exciting, innovative and dynamic companies in the country” and offer an opportune moment for investors to support the compelling ones, he said. “Ensuring those start-ups have access to the funding they need is fundamental to them playing a full role in our economic and business revival.”