Toby Mather, CEO of Lingumi, shares his first-hand account as a startup founder who scrambled to withdraw company funds from Silicon Valley Bank UK as the crisis unfolded.
The edtech startup held most of its funds with SVB UK. Like thousands of other startups, Lingumi worried whether it would be able to pay staff and invoices. Mather recounts his rollercoaster experience of the weekend that rocked UK tech, and his amazement at the "Dunkirk-style effort" in government to save the country’s tech startups. Elsewhere on the show, Mather talks about the impact of ChatGPT in education and the “healthy” discipline the tech downturn is creating for startups.
Lingumi is a smart tutoring platform that uses AI to create interactive courses for young learners. It has more than two million users, mostly in Asia, using the platform to learn how to read and speak languages. Prior to founding Lingumi, Mather studied modern languages at the University of Oxford, and worked as an EFL teacher, during which time he began developing the idea for Lingumi.
What is UKTN | The Podcast?
Each week, Jane Wakefield sits down with some of the key movers and shakers from the UK tech ecosystem for the UKTN Podcast. Learn growth strategies from both seasoned and up-and-coming founders, hear market sentiments from investors, and understand the tech policy affecting businesses across the country.
The UKTN Podcast provides insight into the most influential people in the UK’s innovation economy, exploring their personal and professional journeys and hearing their views on the hottest tech topics of the day.