In the UK it's generally been that funding is decent once you're up and running but poor at the angel or earlier stages. So this tends to reinforce the class s

In the UK it's generally been that funding is decent once you're up and running but poor at the angel or earlier stages. So this tends to reinforce the class system in the UK as rich kids who are connected by going to private schools can obtain funding via various routes (including SEIS etc.) from rich friends and family whose capital gains are offset by the investments. These rich kids can fund a startup into potential angel/seed stages and if it fails all the money is written off against capital gains for their investors. I've met a few people who either worked as VC's or received good levels of early funding for their startups and they were either privately educated and connected or were Oxbridge educated. It's not everyone for sure but people at the top like to lend to people like themselves in the UK more often than not. The US is a pretty special market - 5 times the population of the UK with much more money per capita gives new businesses a large market to instantly go into and raise money against.