Bottlenecks & Switching Traps

The UK is the world’s third largest tech ecosystem and is one of the best places in the world for international founders to build. However, the UK visa system is turning founders with great potential away.

Every year, Antler receives around 10,000 applications from aspiring founders looking to build in the UK. Around a fifth are based outside the country, and many are among the best founders we meet. Time and time again, we can't back them because they can't get a visa.

Our new report, Bottlenecks & Switching Traps, analyses a decade of Home Office data on visa applications, grants and extensions of stay, alongside Antler's own founder pipeline and a six-country cost comparison, to show where the system breaks down.

The Key Takeaways

• The Endorsement Bottleneck: In April 2023, the number of organisations allowed to endorse Innovator Founder applicants was cut from 69 to 4, and only 3 of them accept open applications. Applications have since fallen 48%, from 488 in 2022 to 256 in 2025.
• The Problem Isn't Demand: The Home Office has approved more than 80% of Innovator Founder decisions both before and after the cut, so the squeeze happens at endorsement, before anyone applies. Meanwhile, Global Talent, a route without the same bottleneck, has seen grants rise 446% since 2020.
• The Switching Trap: Successful switches from a sponsored work or study visa onto a founder route have fallen 92%, from 425 in 2021 to just 35 in 2025. Switches from the same visas into Global Talent now outnumber them by almost 100 to 1.
• The Hidden Costs: The Home Office says an Innovator Founder visa costs £1,357. The real cost for a solo founder is £6,462, almost five times the headline fee, rising to £11,400–£12,500 with a family. The equivalent route costs €449 in France and €75–€100 in Germany.
• The Fix: Antler is calling for a "Venture-Backed Founder Visa" that lets British Business Bank-backed VCs endorse founders directly, lower costs and less gatekeeping for Innovator Founder, and the same freedom for sponsored employees to start a company that other visa holders already have.

Read the full report here.