You've read what the £100,000 Startup Race is.
This page is about how you get a seat.
Fifty UK founders. Fifty-two weeks of revenue, read from their own accounting software and ranked in public every Monday. Certified investors can watch all of it, from the first week to the last.
This is the first cohort. There's nothing to watch yet. The founding investors are the people who make there be something to watch, and they'll be the first angels in the UK to use follow-on evidence at a first cheque.
To find out more
Why we ask you to certify before we show you anything
Most websites want your email address so they can sell you something. We want a signed statement so we're allowed to show you something.
The law is specific about this. A company that isn't authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (we aren't, and we don't need to be for what we do) may only communicate about specific investment opportunities with people who have first signed a prescribed statement confirming they are a high-net-worth individual or a self-certified sophisticated investor. Signed first, shown second. There's no clever way round the order, and we haven't looked for one.
If you're a member of Archangels, Equity Gap, Apollo, TRICAPITAL or any other angel group, you've signed this exact statement before. It's the entry ritual of the whole asset class. Every deal you've ever been shown at a syndicate dinner arrived because you'd signed it.
Rory Sutherland likes to point out that the things which make a process slightly inconvenient are often what make the outcome better. A club with an application form has better dinners than a bar with an open door. The four minutes you spend certifying are what guarantee that everyone watching the same league table as you has skin, experience, or both.
And if the statement doesn't describe you, this isn't for you. We'd rather say that plainly than help anyone talk themselves through a form.
Why we ask you to certify before we show you anything
Most websites want your email address so they can sell you something. We want a signed statement so we're allowed to show you something.
The law is specific about this. A company that isn't authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (we aren't, and we don't need to be for what we do) may only communicate about specific investment opportunities with people who have first signed a prescribed statement confirming they are a high-net-worth individual or a self-certified sophisticated investor. Signed first, shown second. There's no clever way round the order, and we haven't looked for one.
If you're a member of Archangels, Equity Gap, Apollo, TRICAPITAL or any other angel group, you've signed this exact statement before. It's the entry ritual of the whole asset class. Every deal you've ever been shown at a syndicate dinner arrived because you'd signed it.
Rory Sutherland likes to point out that the things which make a process slightly inconvenient are often what make the outcome better. A club with an application form has better dinners than a bar with an open door. The four minutes you spend certifying are what guarantee that everyone watching the same league table as you has skin, experience, or both.
And if the statement doesn't describe you, this isn't for you. We'd rather say that plainly than help anyone talk themselves through a form.
What you can see now, and what waits behind the door
Before you certify, you can see this page, the illustrative league table below, and a short memo describing how the Race works.
After you certify, you can see the rest: the full investor memo, the weekly figures once the Race is running, the eight-milestone board for every founder, and the specific terms of each of the three positions described below.
You'll also be able to book a call, if a written page leaves questions.
We're telling you what's behind the door so that you know the door is worth opening.
Three ways to be in the room
There are three positions for certified investors. You choose after you certify, and you can change your mind.
Fund the prize
The £100,000 investment in the winner isn't ours. It's built from individual commitments of £5,000 or more from certified investors, each of whom ends up holding shares directly in the winning company, in their own name, with no nominee and no fund in between. The Startup Race Ltd puts in £10,000 of its own on identical terms.
The commitment is made by letter before the Race starts and is deliberately non-binding; the only document that binds anyone is a subscription agreement for a named company, signed after the Race has finished.
Founding investors also get first look at the finishers who didn't win, the right to go alongside a Golden Buzzer when one is pressed, and first claim on the £1,000,000 Race when it runs. Ten to twenty people.
Nobody has done this before, which is either the reason to do it or the reason not to, and you'll know which you are within a minute of reading that sentence.
Watch
A seat in the stands for the full fifty-two weeks. You see every founder's weekly revenue, every milestone cleared, every ranking change. You commit nothing at entry, and there's no fee for the first cohort of observers.
Some of the best investors we know will watch for a year before they do anything, because a year of watching is what turns a maybe into a yes, or into a clean no.
If you'd rather see the first cohort's numbers before you back the mechanism, this is your door, and there's no shame in it.
Buzz
Between the twelfth and fortieth weeks, an investor who has seen enough can make a founder an offer larger than the prize itself, with that founder's consent. If it's accepted, the founder leaves the Race and takes the investment.
This exists because an angel at one of our early pitches said he wouldn't wait twelve months for a founder he'd already decided on. He was right, so we built the door. It's a position for two to four people per Race, and it's the only one of the three that involves a large cheque.
None of these is a queue for the others. Watchers can fund the prize later; funders can Buzz; a Buzzer may have started out watching. The one rule that holds across all three is the one above: certification first.
What happens after you certify, in order
- You complete the statement (one of two, depending on which applies to you) and a short identity check. This is the same anti-money-laundering step every syndicate runs.
- You receive the full investor memo and access to the illustrative table. Nothing else happens unless you want it to.
- If you'd like to talk, you book a call with James Shoemark. It's a conversation, not a pitch; most of it is you asking questions.
- You tell us which of the three positions you'd like, or that you'd like to keep watching.
- If you choose to help fund the prize, you sign a Commitment Letter. It says in terms that it isn't legally binding, and it lists the circumstances in which you can step away.
- The Race starts only when two things are both true: enough signed Commitment Letters exist to fund the prize, and fifty founders have pledged to run. If either isn't true by decision day, nothing happens, no money moves, and every commitment dissolves.
- Fifty-two weeks later, the winner is known. Only then does anyone sign anything that binds them, and only for that one named company.
At every step from 2 onwards you can stop, and we'll stop too. Your certification stays valid for twelve months; we'll ask you to renew it before anything is signed.
The people who argued with it
Three objections that changed the design, from people who had no reason to be polite.
Margaret
A member of a numerous Scottish syndicates, read our memo and asked why we'd only run two races before this one, and if that was so, why we didn't say so. So we do. The £1,000 Race in 2020 and the £10,000 Race in 2022 were tests of one variable each.
Covid interrupted the racing, and we put those years into an accelerator instead: 1,086 founders applied, 76 were taken on because of what they'd already done rather than how they pitched, and we invested in seven of them for the same reason. This is the third race, at the scale where the investment is worth an angel's attention.
Margaret also pointed out that a 2007 American study isn't Scottish data. It isn't. It's the largest study of angel returns anyone has run, and until someone does the Scottish equivalent it's the best evidence available, which is what we say whenever we cite it.
Tofig
An angel weighing up the commitment, asked the two questions everyone eventually asks: what if the gap between committing and paying is too long, and what if every founder fails? The answers are structural. The Commitment Letter is non-binding and carries exit conditions; nothing you sign before the Race can be enforced against you. And if the field fails, the letter's cancellation condition applies and no investment is made. We'd rather lose a race than push capital into a company that hasn't earned it.
Andrew
An investor at a pitch in Perth said, simply, that he wouldn't wait a year for a founder he'd already made his mind up about. Nor would we. The Golden Buzzer is his objection turned into a position.
What this isn't
It isn't a fund. Nobody's money is pooled, nobody manages anyone's capital, and each investor contracts directly with the company they back.
It isn't a promise of returns. We have never made an investment through a Race before; the earlier races paid cash prizes. The founders who won them grew revenue quickly (the 2022 winner by forty-four times in a year), and revenue growth is not an investment return. We say so because it's true and because an investor who can't tell the difference shouldn't be in the room.
It isn't for everyone who qualifies. If you want passive, hands-off fund investing, guaranteed outcomes, liquidity inside three years, or a portfolio built in a single afternoon, there are better uses of your time. The prize goes into one company. You don't choose its sector. You commit before you know which company it is. We think a year of evidence is worth those constraints; you may not, and that's a reasonable position.
Questions investors ask
Why do I have to certify before you show me anything?
Because the law requires it. The Startup Race Ltd isn't authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (and doesn't need to be for what it does), so it may only communicate about specific investment opportunities with people who have first signed a prescribed statement confirming they are a certified high-net-worth individual or a self-certified sophisticated investor. Signed first, shown second. If you're a member of an angel group, you've signed this exact statement before.
What can I see before I certify, and what waits behind the door?
Before you certify: this page, an illustrative league table and a short memo describing how the Race works. After you certify: the full investor memo, the weekly figures once the Race is running, the eight-milestone board for every founder, the specific terms of the three positions, and the option to book a call.
What are the three positions for certified investors?
Fund the prize: help build the £100,000 investment in the winner through a non-binding Commitment Letter, ending up holding shares directly in the winning company.
Watch: a seat in the stands for the full fifty-two weeks, committing nothing at entry, with no fee for the first cohort of observers.
Buzz: between the twelfth and fiftieth weeks, make a founder an offer larger than the prize itself, with that founder's consent. You choose after you certify, and you can change your mind.
Does signing a Commitment Letter bind me to invest?
No. The Commitment Letter says in terms that it isn't legally binding, and it lists the circumstances in which you can step away. Nothing you sign before the Race can be enforced against you. The only document that binds anyone is a subscription agreement for one named company, signed after the Race has finished and the winner is known.
What happens if the Race doesn't fill, or every founder fails?
The Race starts only when enough signed Commitment Letters exist to fund the prize and fifty founders have pledged to run. If either isn't true by decision day, nothing happens, no money moves, and every commitment dissolves. If the field fails during the Race, the Commitment Letter's cancellation condition applies and no investment is made.
What isn't the Startup Race?
It isn't a fund: nobody's money is pooled, nobody manages anyone's capital, and each investor contracts directly with the company they back. It isn't a promise of returns: no investment has been made through a Race before, and revenue growth is not an investment return. And it isn't for everyone who qualifies: the prize goes into one company, you don't choose its sector, and you commit before you know which company it is.
Who runs it
The Startup Race was co-founded by James Shoemark, Michael Clouser, and Dan Drummond (Heriot-Watt, First in Economics), who met at a founder and investor event in Edinburgh in 2015.
James Shoemark, Co-Founder and CEO, is a Level 3 LeanStack coach trained by Ash Maurya. He has coached over a thousand founders and graduated seventy-six startups through accelerator programmes since 2014.
Mike Clouser, Co-Founder, is a former venture capitalist and academic entrepreneur at Cornell and the University of Edinburgh. He brings the investor's side of the table: what an angel needs to see before writing a cheque, and why standard diligence keeps missing it.
In ten years, we believe every startup will have a track record before it has a term sheet.
Take your seat
Two steps. Your contact details first, so we can send you a copy of what you sign; then the statement itself, which takes about three minutes. Everything from there is sequenced; you set the pace, and you can stop at any point.
For the questions a written page can't answer, you can book a call with James Shoemark, once you've signed the statement.
For how the Race works and why it exists, read the short memo. The full memo, with the terms, is provided after you certify.
Certified investors only
Communications about specific investment opportunities are made by The Startup Race Ltd only to individuals who have signed a current statement under Article 48 (certified high net worth individual) or Article 50A (self-certified sophisticated investor) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005. The statement is in the form prescribed by law, is signed and dated by you, and is valid for twelve months. It is completed after you express interest and before any such communication is made to you.
In broad terms, a high-net-worth individual has had an annual income of £100,000 or more, or net assets of £250,000 or more excluding their home and pension, in the last financial year. A self-certified sophisticated investor has, in the last two years, been a member of a business angel network for at least six months, made two or more investments in unlisted companies, worked professionally in private equity or in financing small and medium-sized businesses, or been a director of a company with annual turnover of at least £1 million. The statement itself, which you will see when you check whether you qualify, is the wording that counts.
The Startup Race Ltd is not authorised or regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. We do not give investment advice or make recommendations, and we do not manage or hold investors' money.
Risk warning. Investing in early-stage companies places your capital at risk. You may lose all of the money you invest. Such investments are illiquid, rarely pay dividends, and usually require a long holding period. Tax reliefs depend on individual circumstances and may change; SEIS relief, where available, reduces the loss but does not remove it. Seek independent professional advice before investing.
The Startup Race Ltd. Registered in Scotland, company number SC536976.
Registered office: Orchard Brae House, 30 Queensferry Road, Edinburgh, EH4 2HS.
© Copyright The Startup Race 2026 | Finding Neo's Since 2016