Information Rights Unit
HM Treasury
1 Horse Guards Road
London
SW1A 2HQ
O Solon
020 7270 5000
xxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
www.gov.uk/hm-treasury
3 April 2023
Dear O Solon
Ref: FOI2023/04591
Freedom of Information Act 2000
Thank you for your enquiry of 7 March 2023, which we have considered under the terms
of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the FOI Act).
You asked for the following information:
“Could you please acknowledge my request is being considered.
For the meeting held on 11/1/2022 between Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP and Nextdoor ,
with purpose To discuss the company's work and investment in the UK's technology
sector.
could you please provide the following information:
* A full list of attendees, including full names and titles as well as who the attendee
represents * A copy of the meeting agenda * Meeting notes/minutes taken during
the meeting, as well as any briefing notes and papers * Any correspondence
associated with the attendees, including debriefs of the meeting via email or other
forms of communication including text and WhatsApp, dating from 01/12/2021
through to 20/1/2022.”
Following a search of our records, we can confirm that HM Treasury does hold information
within the scope of your request. We have provided the below in response to your request.
We have redacted some information under section 40(2) of the FOI Act. Section 40(2), by
virtue of section 40(3A), provides an absolute exemption for third-party personal data,
where disclosure would contravene any of the data protection principles set out in Article
5 of the General Data Protection Regulation. The first data protection principle requires the
disclosure of third-party personal data to be lawful, fair and transparent. We believe that
releasing the information would breach the first data protection principle, since it would
be unlawful and unfair to release the information.
As per your first request we can provide this attendee list:
Sarah Friar- CEO | Nextdoor
Laura Claster Bisesto- Policy Lead | Nextdoor
Jose Gaztelu- Head of International | Nextdoor
Ben Greenstone- Managing Director | Taso Advisory
Rishi Sunak – Chancellor of the Exchequer | HM Treasury
[s40 HMT]
[s40 HMT]
[s40 HMT]
There was no meeting agenda, meeting minutes or readout created for this meeting. The
briefing provided to the Chancellor by HMT officials for the meeting is included at Annex
A.
After the meeting a thank-you email from Nextdoor was sent to the Chancellor. We have
provided this at Annex B.
If you have any queries about this letter, please contact us. Please quote the reference
number above in any future communications.
Yours sincerely
Information Rights Unit
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Annex A
07/01/22 – Briefing for the Chancellor for his meeting with Sarah Friar.
Briefing for CX meeting with Sarah Friar (Nextdoor CEO)
[11/12th] January 2022
Attendees:
External: Sarah Friar, Nextdoor CEO
Meeting Objectives
• You met Sarah Friar, Nextdoor CEO, at the CEO dinner on your visit to San Francisco.
• A follow-up meeting has been arranged for you to meet again on the [11/12th] January.
• The aim is to build on the positive engagement and momentum created during the US
trip and reassure Sarah Friar and Nextdoor of the pro-innovation, risk-based, and
proportionate approach being taken with regards to the UK’s Online Safety Bill.
Likely Points Raised by Other Attendees
• Nextdoor have expressed support for the policies you have announced as CX that show
the UK is open for business, including the expansion of support for R&D, Listings reforms,
and Future Fund.
• Nextdoor has committed to long-term investment in the UK tech sector. However, the
Online Safety Bill is a priority issue for them, which they’re following closely. They have
an interest in making sure the rules are proportionate and allow companies like theirs to
compete with Big Tech.
If raised: Online Safety Bill
• The Bill will be taking a risk-based and proportionate approach, focusing on businesses
that provide services or tools that allow, enable, or facilitate users to share or discover
user-generated content, or interact with each other online.
• Subject to Parliamentary passage, we envisage the Bill will exclude low risk services from
its scope to ensure a proportionate and targeted approach to online safety.
o Low risk services are sites that present a lower risk of users encountering illegal
or harmful content, based on criteria such as size or the type of site. Nextdoor is
unlikely to be outside the scope as it provides user-to-user services, however, its
risk classification and actions needed to comply with the regulation remain
uncertain and subject to both risk assessments and Ofcom’s issuing of codes of
practice after Royal Assent of the Bill.
• There are expectations on companies to ensure they have systems and processes in place
that are proportionate to the risk to user safety, to mitigate risks and keep their users
safe online.
• The legislation safeguards freedom of expression, pluralism online and invaluable role
of a free press.
• The policy and legislation are owned by DCMS who are in regular contact with
representatives from across the sector and would be happy to speak to you and your
team about any concerns you have.
Speaking Points
Nextdoor
• Thank you for arranging this follow-up meeting, and for yours and Nextdoor’s
commitment to long-term investment in the UK.
• I very much enjoyed the visit to San Francisco and valued the opportunity to talk to Silicon
Valley based investors and companies, like Nextdoor.
• I place significant importance on international investment into the UK’s wide-ranging
tech sector, which is a key pillar in our long-term plan for growth.
• Question(s) to ask:
1. How has the pandemic affected Nextdoor? Has it increased the use of Nextdoor in
the UK?
2. What are your aspirations for Nextdoor’s presence in the UK going forward?
3. What are the biggest barriers to investing and expanding further in the UK?
Digital economy: Supportive policy
• As you’re aware, we have announced a range of supportive policies to incentivise
(international) investment in the UK tech sector.
• Government fiscal support for R&D as percentage of GDP is set to increase to 1.1% by
2024. This is significantly above the latest OECD average of 0.7%, and the US, Germany
and France.
• The Government has committed to all of the recommendations in Lord Hill’s Listing
Review, which will help boost the UK as a destination for IPOs and optimise the capital
raising process for large and small companies on UK markets.
• And ‘The Future Fund: Breakthrough’ launched on 20 July 2021, a £375m co-investment
fund that will increase the supply of growth-stage venture capital to UK based companies
working in capital and R&D intensive areas.
• Question(s) to ask:
1. Are there other policies that you believe would make the UK a more attractive
destination for Nextdoor and international tech investment more widely?
2. How was the process of going public in a reverse merger deal with a Special Purpose
Acquisition Company (SPAC) in the US? What would have attracted Nextdoor to go
public in the UK?
3. What has been your experience of engaging with regulators in the UK? How does
the regulatory system factor into your decision-making when expanding your
business here?
Background
Nextdoor
• Nextdoor is a ‘hyperlocal’ social networking service for neighbourhoods. The company
was founded in 2008 and is based in San Francisco, California.
• Nextdoor launched in the United States in October 2011 and is currently available in 11
countries including the UK. In the US, nearly 1 in 3 households use the app. Figures are
not available for the UK, however, its use is more limited.
• Typical platform uses include neighbours reporting on news and events in their
‘neighbourhood’, recommending local service providers, and exchanging goods and
services. Users are required to submit their real names and addresses to the website.
• Nextdoor has always had rules governing what members can publish on the site but is
dependent on local volunteers (reviewers) to enforce the guidelines without bias – which
it has received criticism for, particularly with respect to racial profiling.
• In May 2019, Nextdoor raised $123 million at a $2.1bn valuation. In November 2021,
the company went public in a reverse merger deal with a Special Purpose Acquisition
Company (SPAC) funded by Khosla Ventures that is valued at $4.3billion.
• Nextdoor acquired the UK equivalent, Streetlife, in 2017. At the time, many users moving
from Streetlife to Nextdoor commented on the lower level of privacy provided by the US
company. For example, instead of ‘John from Acton’ as displayed on Streetlife, Nextdoor
is more transparent displaying ‘John Smith from 225 Acacia Gardens’.
Digital economy: Supportive policy
Expansion of support for R&D through:
• Broadening R&D tax reliefs to cover cloud computing and data assets,
• Increasing public investment in R&D to £20 billion by 2024-25 (including funding for EU
programmes) – a 33% in real terms between 2019-20 and 2024-25 and building towards
our target of increasing public R&D investment to £22 billion by 2026-27 and economy-
wide R&D to 2.4% of GDP by 2027. This includes a substantive increase in support for
core Innovate UK funding to around £1bn a year in 2024-25 – over £300 million more
per annum than in 2021-22.
• Combined with tax reliefs, total public support in R&D is increasing from 0.7% of GDP
(2018) to 1.1% (2024/25), above the 2018 OECD average of 0.7% and of the US,
Germany and France (2018).
Listings regime reform:
• The Government has made commitments in relation to all recommendations in Lord
Hill’s report addressed to it, including undertaking a fundamental review of the UK’s
prospectus regime, and to setup a review into secondary capital raising processes.
• A consultation on the UK prospectus regime closed in September and was well received
by industry.
• These measures complement the FCA’s rules changes on Special Purpose Acquisition
Companies (SPACs), Dual Class Share Structures (DCSS) and free float requirements.
These changes bring the UK listing regime in line with international competitors, such
as New York, Frankfurt, and Singapore.
Future Fund:
• During the pandemic, the Future Fund provided £1,136.7m, unlocking funding for 1,190
firms who may not have been able to access financial support through other
government-backed schemes such as the CBILS. The Fund is now closed to new
applications.
• The British Business Bank supported around 21% of all announced equity deals in 2020
(13% from the Bank’s existing equity programmes and 11% from the Future Fund).
Future Fund Breakthrough:
• Within British Patient Capital, the Future Fund: Breakthrough launched on 20 July 2021.
Future Fund: Breakthrough is a £375m co-investment fund that will aim to increase the
supply of growth-stage venture capital to UK based companies working in capital and
R&D intensive areas (such as quantum, AI, life sciences and clean tech).
• The objective of the programme is to address the growth-stage equity finance gap faced
by innovative, R&D-intensive UK companies operating in breakthrough technology
sectors. Future Fund: Breakthrough will increase the size of funding rounds that these
companies are able to raise, by providing public investment alongside the private sector.
Online Safety Bill
• DCMS/HO have published the draft Online Safety Bill which has just completed pre-
legislative scrutiny and is being finalised before introduction to Parliament early this year.
• This online safety regime will make tech companies accountable to Ofcom for keeping
users safe.
• Platforms will have a duty of care to users and will need to remove and limit the spread
of illegal content. The largest and riskiest companies will need to take action on legal
but harmful content, such as material which relates to self-harm or suicide, or
misinformation and disinformation.
• Firms will comply with this duty by completing a risk assessment of illegal and harmful
content. If children are likely to access the platform, firms must assess the specific risk
of harm to children, such as exposure to grooming, bullying, pornography, and
promotion of self-harm and eating disorders.
• Companies will then implement proportionate systems and processes that improve user
safety. For example, by changing content moderation and recommendation procedures.
• Ofcom will have a range of powers to ensure it can understand how companies are
fulfilling their duties to users, including accessing relevant information about algorithms.
• The regulator will also have the power to fine companies failing in their duty of care up
to £18 million or ten per cent of annual global turnover.
• Senior managers will be criminally liable if regulated providers fail to ensure their
company complies with Ofcom’s information request. Currently, these will not be
commenced for at least two years after Royal Assent. However, DCMS are looking at
whether they can bring them in sooner following recommendations from the Online
Safety Bill Joint Committee.
• After Royal Assent, Ofcom will issue codes of practice setting out the steps companies
can take to fulfil their duties, based on their level of risk.
• The new regime will apply to companies that provide services to UK users, wherever they
are located.
Biography
Sarah Friar, CEO, Nextdoor
Sarah Friar is an Entrepreneur from Northern Ireland and has been CEO and
‘neighbour-in-chief’ of Nextdoor since October 2018. She was formerly the CFO
of Square, an American financial services and digital payments company based
in San Francisco and is a member of the Board of Directors for Walmart and
Slack. Sarah studied Economics, Management, and Metallurgy at Oxford
University and completed an MBA at Stanford University School of Business. She
initially worked as a mining analyst for McKinsey in South Africa. She then spent
more than a decade as a technology-focused equity analyst at Goldman Sachs
in San Francisco.
Annex B
14/01/22 – Thank-you email from Sarah Friar to the Chancellor.
From: Sarah Friar [s40]
Sent: 14 January 2022 14:01
To: [s40 HMT], [s40 HMT], [s40 HMT]
Cc: [s40]
Subject: Thank you from Nextdoor
Hi [s40 HMT], [s40 HMT] Thanks so much for your help in organising Tuesday’s meeting. It
is really appreciated. Please see below a quick note to the Chancel or that I’d be grateful if
you could pass on:
Dear Rishi,
I’m emailing further to our meeting on Tuesday to say thank you for taking the time to meet
with me and the team.
It was great to have another opportunity to talk you through our work at Nextdoor, our
commitment to the UK, and the policy conversations we’re watching closely.
I look forward to your next visit to the United States. We’d be delighted to host you at
Nextdoor, and I’l be very pleased to organise a session for you with female leaders in the
Bay Area or a group of Brits who are well versed in UK/Silicon Valley.
We also discussed doing more to link the UK and the Valley, perhaps starting with expats on
either side. I’l look forward to working on that with you, if it would be helpful. Please don’t
hesitate to be in touch.
Sarah
--
Sarah Friar
she | her | hers What I'm reading now and for a deeper dive on the neighborhood this. Nextdoor
[s40 HMT]
