A beginner’s guide to Eagle Labs

Equipping founders with knowledge and skills

"We really pride ourselves on the breadth of growth programmes that we're able to provide both virtually and in-person," Corbidge says. He explains that the accelerator content leans into a range of vital themes that are relevant to startups and scaleups - such as "gaining access to international markets, navigating the UK's funding landscape and exploring themes around corporate innovation or diversity and entrepreneurship".

"We made the conscious decision to offer these programmes for free," he says. "As a startup or scaleup, funding is really important. There's no requirement for you to bank with Barclays; you just need to apply and be accepted onto a programme."

He adds that the pandemic helped to accelerate Eagle Labs' virtual-first proposition, as the team "wanted to make sure that geography wasn't a barrier for businesses trying to access support".

From the beginning, we wanted to support founders and the entrepreneurial ecosystem. While that remains true to this day, the way that we do it has evolved.

Matt Corbidge

Head of Strategy, Digital and Customer, Eagle Labs

This move seems to have helped drum up even more interest within the entrepreneurial community. Internal Barclays data has found that, collectively, the accelerator programmes received a staggering 3,836 applications from interested founders between January and December 2023 - and 2,188 people have gone on to secure spaces in the same time frame.

Improving diversity in entrepreneurship is a core goal for Eagle Labs, and these accelerators aim to make a significant difference to founders at the start of their journey. Corbidge explains that, in 2023, 54% of founders who have self-identified as diverse received support from the bank's growth programmes. "While there's more work to be done, we've made decent progress."