Cut to scenes of folk jumping on trains to flee the city hours before the London Christmas kibosh and it’s little wonder we are where we are with the super strain of covid rampaging through the country. 

 

 

 

 

But it’s certainly not all complete doom and gloom, various vaccines have now been approved in multiple countries and governments are rolling out their immunisation programs at speed. 

 

Here in the UK were doing around 10% of the weekly dosing we need to do so fingers crossed we can get up to and over the estimated 2m inoculations per week we need to in order to out pace the fast spreading mutation of the virus. 

 

And, of course, in other big news the UK and EU signed a deal meaning that the country hasn’t crashed out of the bloc without any grounds for future trading in place. Concessions were made, fish were scapegoated and playing fields may even have been levelled. 

 

The actual working reality of the trade agreement is one we will continue to review and try to shed light on as details and practical realities emerge. 

 

Some of the things we and the great ventures we work with will be keeping an eye on are issues such as the storage and transmission of data, requirements to register locally for VAT or the equivalent and of course the provision of services from the UK to the EU and vice versa. 

 

The reality is that many of these issues are not directly covered in the agreement and so in some measure we’ll have to wait for the proverbial shoe to drop. 

 

 

 

 

Rishi Sunak has rolled out additional measures to support businesses in the UK as we enter lockdown 3 (the virus strikes back) including extension of the furlough scheme and additional grants for a number of sectors. 

 

We do wonder whether they may look to extend or even forgive some of the debt that businesses have taken out via the CBILS and Business Bounceback loan schemes launched last year and which, as another punch to the gut for a number of businesses, have repayments starting in the next few months, no doubt just as they try to figure out how to cope with the fall in cash flow driven by the most recent lockdown. 

 

 

 

 

As of writing this, it looks like Joe Biden will assume the office of the President of the United States in mere weeks and as it stands looks set to control both houses (albeit narrowly) as the Georgia runoffs conclude. 

 

We look forward to seeing how they approach controlling the pandemic at home and abroad as well as their approach to reconciling the bridges burnt on the global stage under Trump’s maverick style of government. 

 

 

 

 

Far be it for us to try and second guess what else is in store, for all we know a mutant giraffe may lay waste to Asia (we went as absurd as possible please don’t blame us if this happens) but we think 2021 is going to be a year of challenges, rebirth and hope as we turn corners with vaccines, Brexit and global politics. 

 

But the next few months will be harsh and will test us all immensely.

 

For founders and early stage ventures there will be struggles and opportunities magnified by our circumstances, from home working to education to eComm and beyond. 

 

The future’s not written yet but let’s all learn the lessons of the past year and make sure 2021 is bigger, better and balanced for us all.