Form invests in UK startups with public policy exposure, focusing on regulated markets and government-adjacent sectors. Form aims to help startups navigate regulatory challenges and engage with policymakers.

Form

Form is an early stage venture fund investing in startups disrupting regulated markets, or building in new markets that will face regulation. 

We use decades of experience to help founders break down policy barriers and shape winning regulatory strategies. Pitch us at formventures.vc/pitch

Lyall Ventures

Form Ventures

We're getting bored of the "US innovates, Europe regulates" meme:

1. It's absurd on its own terms: US regulated markets are themselves ridiculously hard to navigate, the US is more litigious, and the binary meme overlooks all the ways startups create and capture value *in regulated markets*

2. The comparison is limited: Europe is 1 continent, but not 1 country. It's starting point is different to the US: a partial and contingent union of sovereign states. We should advocate for stronger integration, but carve our own path.

3. Optimism is a choice: it's trite even to list all the European technology companies who are either genuine path-breakers or clearly superior to their US equivalent. And there are more coming. (see chart).

Don't throw shade from the sidelines. Choose (impatient) optimism. Get stuck in.

[Full piece in the comments.]

"We've had 10 years of telling ourselves that Europe is some sort of backwater, and now it's holding us back. We tell ourselves a story that 'we're the little sibling, we're not as good, we're hobbled by regulation, there's something irredeemable about Europe...'

And I actually think that's preventing us looking at what it is about Europe that we could actually lean into. Let's flip that narrative and get beyond it, rather than getting stuck in this doom loop."

Leo Ringer bringing some much-needed optimism on European tech, in conversation with Mads Jensen & Dan Bowyer at SuperSeed:

1️⃣9️⃣ There were 19 references to "tech" in Labour's election manifesto, but what can we expect from the new government when it comes to policy? Two clues from The Form Playbook, our regular interview series:

🌹 Sir Tony Blair, who hosts his #FutureofBritain Conference today, told us about his vision for the UK as a technology leader, and how we need more engagement between tech and policymakers to realise it:
- To secure the future of UK tech, governments should focus on building its own network effects and treating data as a competitive asset: innovative models like the UK Biobank, reforms to allow dual-class share structures, and targeted R&D spending all support this.
- Every high-growth company will need to engage with government at some point, but authorities are juggling hundreds of priorities and can be slow to respond. Start working on your engagement strategy early, not just when crisis hits.

🔬 Sir Patrick Vallance, appointed as Minister for Science last week, talked to us about the need to radically rethink how we regulate new technologies:
- We need a change in regulatory behaviour, not just rule changes. This is a key part of how the UK gets to above-average growth. The Chancellor believing regulation for innovation is an important part of an economic growth strategy is very important.
- For regulators, the incentive to take risk is virtually zero. We need strong political leadership and to give regulators a clear mandate for innovation, to support them to go a bit early, to work with companies iteratively, to do things in parallel not in sequence.

Full interviews linked in comments 👇

Breakthrough progress in health requires a rare alignment of patient, regulatory and commercial incentives. So last week Form Ventures hosted another sitrep -- convening founders, VCs, regulators and policymakers to discuss the state of play in frontier markets -- again in collab with pals Estia Ryan Eka Ventures, and with Molten Ventures kindly hosting.

This time, we focused on scaling AI in health, and we're open sourcing our notes from the discussion. Read on for takeaways on:
- Fully-regulated, end-to-end care pathways vs 'thinner' props
- Product velocity in regulated markets
- Go-to-market incentives, in & out of NHS
- Potential of and constraints on AI doctors & agents
- NHS absorptive capacity
- Regulatory incentives

link in comments!

Loved chatting all things health, policy and tech with Eka Ventures and Form Ventures and a wonderful bunch of experts on Wednesday 💙

Thanks for Molten Ventures for hosting! And huge props to Estia Ryan and Andrew Bennett for organising 🙏🏼

Amazing to share how we're approaching building technology safely and securely at Healthtech 1 - because we believe the NHS and the UK is the best place to be for innovation! Really enjoyed hearing how other policy and tech leaders are thinking about health and AI policy, regulation, and research ⚡️

(ps. was a great breakfast selection! 😋)

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