“Connecting Capital to Creativity: Reimagining London’s Funding Future”
Dame Julia Hoggett at the Entrepreneurs’ Spring Lunch

The Worshipful Company of Entrepreneurs welcomed members, guests, and distinguished visitors to its annual Spring Lunch at the Walbrook Club on Tuesday 10th March—held, as tradition dictates, on the Tuesday before Mothering Sunday. Against the backdrop of a bright but brisk spring day, the occasion once again combined conviviality with intellectual substance, bringing together Freemen, Liverymen, Members of the House of Lords, journalists, and leaders from across the business and financial communities.

This year’s keynote address was delivered by Dame Julia Hoggett, Chief Executive of the London Stock Exchange plc, who spoke under the theme “Connecting Capital to Creativity: Reimagining London’s Funding Future.” Her remarks offered a compelling and highly personal perspective on the role of capital markets in enabling entrepreneurial ambition—and the urgent need to ensure that the UK remains a global leader not only in starting businesses, but in scaling them.

Dame Julia traced her own journey to the London Stock Exchange back to a pivotal moment in 2020, when the market capitalisation of Apple surpassed that of the entire FTSE 100. This stark comparison crystallised a central challenge: how to ensure that the UK’s capital markets are structured to support the growth of globally significant companies. At the heart of her response is a simple but powerful philosophy—that stock exchanges exist to convene, bringing together those who have capital with those who need it, in service of real economic outcomes.

Throughout her speech, Dame Julia emphasised that behind every financial instrument lies a real business: people creating products, solving problems, generating employment, and contributing to the wider economy. The task for institutions such as the London Stock Exchange, she argued, is to ensure that this human dimension is never lost amid the technicalities of markets and regulation.

Central to this vision is the concept of a “Funding Continuum”—a more coherent and accessible journey for founders seeking capital. While the UK performs strongly in producing start-ups and has made significant strides in scaling companies, Dame Julia highlighted that structural challenges remain, particularly in mobilising domestic capital to support long-term growth.

She outlined a series of reforms and initiatives—collectively described as “Five Fingers and a Glove”—designed to address these challenges. These include modernising listing rules, improving access to high-quality research, unlocking pension fund investment, reforming corporate governance, and strengthening the ecosystem for private companies. Together, these measures aim to ensure that the UK is not only a place where great companies begin, but where they choose to grow, scale, and remain.

Particular attention was given to PISCES (the Private Intermittent Securities and Capital Exchange System), an innovative new market mechanism designed to provide liquidity for private companies without requiring full public listing. By enabling periodic share auctions, PISCES offers benefits to founders, early investors, employees, and institutional capital alike—representing a significant evolution in how capital can flow through the economy.

The strong alignment between Dame Julia’s vision and the mission of the Worshipful Company of Entrepreneurs was evident throughout. Her remarks resonated especially with the Company’s Scale-Up Capital initiative, which seeks to connect high-growth businesses with investors in a curated and supportive environment. Dame Julia expressed her enthusiasm for the forthcoming Scale-Up Capital event at Paternoster Square on 5th June, where these principles will be put into practice.

As the Company continues to champion entrepreneurship and enterprise, the Spring Lunch once again demonstrated its unique ability to convene influential voices and foster meaningful dialogue. Dame Julia’s address served as both a call to action and a note of optimism: that with the right structures, culture, and collaboration in place, the UK can continue to be a home for ambitious, world-leading businesses.

The event concluded, as is customary, with a toast to the Worshipful Company of Entrepreneurs—celebrating its enduring commitment to those who dare, create, and succeed.