Brighton baby loss platform receives funding injection from Virgin StartUp

The Worst Girl Group Ever (TWGGE) was founded by Bex Gunn and Laura Buckingham following their own devastating experiences of baby loss. Frustrated at the lack of wellbeing support available, Bex set up a Facebook community in 2020 which quickly attracted thousands of online members. Through the group, she met Laura, and the pair decided to launch a podcast which immediately struck a chord and gained traction with listeners around the globe.

TWGGE is now a thriving online platform offering courses, a published book, peer support and creative therapy groups that aim to support people through the storm of baby loss and onwards in their journey. TWGGE also works with companies to offer training and bespoke advice for employers, addressing the fact that 25% of employees trying to have a child will be directly affected by baby loss or miscarriage and 69% of those affected by loss said their employer didn’t know how to support them.

On a mission to ensure that no-one has to go through miscarriage or baby loss alone, Bex and Laura turned to Virgin StartUp for business advice and funding, and received a £18,000 Start Up Loan, becoming the 5,000th organisation the not-for-profit has funded through the Start Up Loan programme. The pair plan to use the funding to create new expert content on the platform, raise awareness of the support available and grow their training for UK businesses.

Bex Gunn, founder of TWGGE, explains: “As The Worst Girl Gang Ever was still just getting started, we knew that getting a traditional bank loan wasn’t the right path for us, so we looked at the Start Up Loan programme and were drawn to Virgin StartUp. We love Virgin StartUp’s passion to support businesses that want to have a positive impact in the world and because of its pledge to equally fund men and women founders. Virgin’s mission to ‘change business for good’ really resonated with us and aligns with what we are trying to do with TWGGE.

“The funding will make a huge difference to the platform, enabling us to reach more people experiencing baby loss and bring in the best experts to run peer-to-peer support and creative therapy groups. We are also excited to grow our work with UK businesses to make sure that employers are better educated to support the thousands of employees going through baby loss each year.”

Virgin StartUp will celebrate its 10th anniversary this year and is a leading business support partner of the Government-backed Start Up Loans Programme, run by the British Business Bank. Since 2013, Virgin StartUp has distributed more than £70 million to 5,000 founders around the country through the Start Up Loans programme. In 2019, the not-for-profit also announced its 50/50 pledge to equally fund men and women founders.

Andy Fishburn, Managing Director at Virgin StartUp, comments: “Bex and Laura are a great example of a women-led business that wants to make a real difference in the world. We’re delighted that they have been able to benefit from the support that we provide to founders in the UK and that they’re the recipient of Virgin StartUp’s 5,000th Start Up Loan - we couldn’t think of anyone more fitting to mark this important milestone in our 10-year history. We look forward to seeing TWGGE grow and to seeing the profoundly positive impact that their support has on the lives of so many.”

Louise McCoy, Commercial Managing Director, Start Up Loans, said: “It’s inspiring to hear Bex and Laura’s journey to entrepreneurship and I’m thrilled that Start Up Loans has been able to support them with funding for this important work.

“At Start Up Loans, we’re making progress towards getting 50% of our loans out to female business owners, which fits with our purpose of unlocking potential and providing finance to underrepresented groups. TWGGE is a brilliant example of why supporting female-led businesses is so important and we all wish them the best of luck with everything they do in the future.”

For more information about the Worst Girl Gang Ever, visit theworstgirlgangever.co.uk

For more information about Virgin StartUp, visit virginstartup.org