IMPACT REPORT LSE GENERATE ACCELERATOR
MARCH - SEPTEMBER 2020
FOREWORD 2020 was the year none of us could have predicted. We had planned to launch LSE's first accelerator with a physical co-working space in Camden close to campus. Two days before our launch, the UK began a lengthy lockdown to contain the pandemic. Like many, we had to quickly adapt and pivot to launch our 6-month accelerator program virtually. Our cohort spanned 15 different nationalities and many founders had no choice but to fly home before borders closed. Through a period of extreme uncertainity, they continued to adapt and in some cases utilised their expertise to solve for problems arising from the pandemic. Our startups tackled everything from clean water provision to crowdedness in supermarkets. Our starting mission was two fold to drive measurable business growth and to nurture entrepreneurial leaders who will create long term impact through their ventures. During the course of our virtual accelerator, our founders hired more 35 employees and contractors which included LSE Interns from the first ever LSE startup internship program sponsored by Santander.
2020 will be remembered for many things; for Generate it will be the astonishing ability and ambition of our LSE entrepreneurs to create, empower each other and scale mission-driven businesses with staggering potential in the midst of a global crisis. Impressive, much?! I am fiercely proud of my team for curating a phenomenal infrastructure of support for these innovators and nurturing them every single step of the way. I cannot wait to observe how communities in every corner of the globe are impacted as a result of this acceleration programme! LJ Silverman, Head of LSE Generate
They launched 12 minimum viable products and raised over £650k in equity and non equity funding. The program culminated in a joint demo day with Imperial university attended by 365 people from 28 countries. Keeping momentum during a pandemic that was the greatest test of entrepreneurship and founder resilience we did not plan for. The virtual world came with its challenges but also its silver linings. Our technology mosaic of Zoom, Slack and Notion enabled us to remain connected and engage with alumni founders, investors, academics and mentors globally to build a truly international LSE entrepreneurial family. We are thankful to everyone that has supported our ventures along the way and of course to our cohort who are a special breed of socially driven, intellectually rigourous and ambitous entrepreneurs. It has been an honour to support them and their game-changing missions over the past 6 months. Next time, we hope to do it in person so our most commonly used phrase "you're on mute" becomes a thing of the past. Sincerely, Kajal Sanghrajka LSE Accelerator Director
Launching Europe’s first impactdriven university accelerator was already an achievement; launching it online during lockdown has been tremendous. The energy and creativity of our entrepreneurs is inspiring and their commitment and ingenuity is incredible. Professor Julia Black, Chair of the LSE Generate Advisory Board
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The LSE Generate Accelerator For the LSE's first accelerator, we had over 90 applicants with a 15% acceptance rate. We looked for early stage companies with well-researched businesses, traction, UN SDGs alignment and leaders who had passion and commitment to their missions.
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LSE FOUNDED START UPS
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SDGS TARGETED
60%
FEMALE FOUNDED COMPANIES
37
£682K
PEOPLE HIRED BY OUR COMPANIES
IN INVESTMENTS RAISED
(SINCE MARCH 2020)
(SINCE MARCH 2020 EQUITY AND NON-EQUITY)
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The Accelerator in a Nutshell Our mission was to drive measurable business growth and to nurture entrepreneurial leaders. We did this through a combination of bootcamps on business fundamentals and hands-on case study based teaching through clinics from entrepreneurs. This was complemented by founder led roundtables, skillshares, investor pitching, 1:1 coaching, mentorship and an internship programme to develop leadership skills.
SAMPLE MODULES
Average rating from the cohort of 8/10 for all Accelerator Sessions
The LSE accelerator offers a perfect blend between hyping us up with lots of encouragement and an amazing network during our weekly roundtable sessions, to truly practical and useful advice through workshops, 1-on-1 sessions and skillshare sessions. This support anchors us to be bold and go forward despite the difficult terrain. - JO LIANG, FOUNDER OF CAULIBOX
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About our diverse cohort OUR FOUNDERS STUDIED:
political science, criminal justice policy, economic geography, digital innovation management, public policy, and more
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NATIONALITIES REPRESENTED
Our businesses represent a wide range of sectors:Â health and wellness, food and beverages, artificial intelligence, fashion, sustainability and education.
1 GAME OF 116 HOURS OF TWO TRUTHS COHORT AND A LIE ENGAGEMENT
1 10,000+ GOAT SLACK VISIT MESSAGES
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THE COHORT
1001 STORIES
ALXEDO
A luxury D2C footwear brand with a social purpose; we create beautiful statement shoes whilst lifting marginalised communities out of poverty and into business Tereza Pigova
We are a sustainable water company, offering a smart water purification system Kai Werthmann & Samuel Sellmann
ATLAS
CAULIBOX
A community platform for solving challenges while building in-demand skills Lusine Mehrabyan
A digitally-enabled reusable lunchbox scheme that rewards good behaviours Jospehine Liang, Mingqiao Zhao
CROWDLESS
GAÏA
Provides live data on the crowdedness of supermarkets so that you can choose the best place and the best time to visit Yohan Iddawela. Alex Barnes & Sebastian Müller
A sustainability startup that helps you to find zero-waste alternatives to toiletries and say goodbye to plastic in your bathroom Claire Monari
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G.APP17
A digital platform that facilitates strategic partnerships between businesses and nonprofit organisations through the UN SDGs Alice Troiano
KAYTEA
GROUNDED
We make functional drinks without the cr*p Bryn Ferris & Gabriel Bean
LUGO
Bringing tea back to the limelight by making it fun and relevant for a new generation of consumers Kevin Tang
Providing crowdsourced data for curable diseases Darvy Cana, Michael Bryan, Hasan Tuhtamishev
PETAL APP
OCAFI
PROJECT HAPPY NOTE
VALIDAPP
A personalised gift series over a 3-month period with behavioural science to help your loved one create a positive ritual Anthea Kolitsas
Uses AI-powered data-driven applied forensic linguistics techniques to verify school applications and coursework with the aim of detecting fraudulent applications Lan Yin
A mobile app that helps people to build a happy and healthy relationship with food Aidana Orynbassar
Coffee farming and green coffee sourcing company that stands for transparent, sustainable and fair trade relationships to make farming worthwhile Niklas Kuegler
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DRIVING MEASURABLE
GROWTH From business model innovation to customer discovery and entrepreneurial finance, our business fundamentals covered varied topics to support founders in the early stages of business growth to achieve tangible results. Since March 2020
ÂŁ682K
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MVPs Launched
37
Investments raised (equity and nonequity)
165+ New B2B customers
New people hired
50,000+ New B2C customers since March 2020
750+ signups for prelaunch B2C companies
The wealth of knowledge from the accelerator bootcamps and clinics has allowed me to make informed business decisions. Because of this support and guidance, I was able to pivot and launch my business successfully in a short amount of time during self-isolation. Kevin Tang, Founder of KAYTEA
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NURTURING ENTREPRENEURIAL
LEADERS
Our founders are impact-driven and ambitious leaders. One of our goals was to build on these leaderships skills with hands on experiences. During the accelerator program, founders hired and managed LSE interns, delivered skillshares on their areas of expertise and led their peers in roundtable sessions to keep each other accountable for their businesses.
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Skillshare topics delivered by our cohort
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Hours of founder led learning
10
Interns hired through our internship programme supported by Santander
The accelerator programme has helped our company as we prepare to officially launch our subscription box service. We’ve leveraged the expertise of the network to develop a complex business model for our MVP, and we’ve grown our online following by over 300% thanks to our intern.
The realisation that all work done for a startup, no matter how small, is in some way critical to its continuation and operation was something that I initially found rather daunting. However, this pressure and the autonomy has made me more confident in the work I produce.
Claire Monari Founder of Gaïa
Kitty Rae Thompson Intern at Gaia and Caulibox
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GROWING
THE LSE ENTREPRENEURIAL COMMUNITY
The virtual LSE Generate Accelerator brought together investors, experts, academics, mentors and founders from around the world, many of whom were LSE alumni.
30+
Industry-leading mentors and experts to support the cohort
100
Professional connections made through the accelerator
10
Professional service partners
The accelerator team has been incredibly generous with their time and opening up their network. There’s a growing sense of an LSE entrepreneurial community. Rich Serunjogi, CEO & Founder of Business Score
Working with LSE Generate has been vital to launching our effort to foster entrepreneurial efforts that make a positive difference through LSE Public Research Partners*. Our company partners gain pivotal information and analysis to help grow their businesses. In turn, they offer our students energising pathways to develop their abilities as researchers and public problem-solvers. Dr Paul Apostolidis, Deputy Head of Department for Education LSE *The LSE Public Research Partners programme offers firms and other organisations valuable opportunities to connect with LSE’s highly motivated students and world-leading research culture.
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MENTORSHIP
30+ experts and mentors supporting our cohort
Cedric Mutz
Investor, Emerald Ventures
Ash Thaker
Data Strategist, Deccan Value Investors Fund
Magda Posluszny
Investor, Speedinvest
Indy Sangha Founder, Tailster.com
Jessica Vollman CEO, Fluent City
John Lee Allen Venture Partner FundRx
Patrick Ryan Co-Founder, Odin
Peter Harrington CEO, Venture Simulations
Rishi Raja
Head of Client Strategy, Streetbees
As a guest lecturer and mentor, it was gratifying to advise such a carefully curated group of founders. It was wonderful to be a part of such an exceptional global community of entrepreneurs and experts.
Rani Nagpal
Chief Marketing Officer, B12
Rani Nagpal, Strategic Growth Advisor, B12
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FEMALE FOUNDERS Only 1/3 of all entrepreneurs in the UK are female and we are proud to have 60% female founded startups in the accelerator. We are committed to continuing the development of female entrepreneurship at LSE through training, events and networking opportunities.
We had 269 registrations for our female investors and female founders panels
elle
SE
LSE Generate Accelerator and elleSE
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OUR EVENTS At the midpoint of the Accelerator we held a showcase for our ventures to highlight their businesses and how they adapted during the pandemic. The Accelerator culminated in a Demo Day in collaboration with Imperial for 25 ventures from both universities.
Attendees: 365 people from 28 countries
Innovation: The LSE and Imperial Demo Day was run on the Hopin platform and ended with a face off challenge to test entrepreneurial and leadership skills.
Fantastic event so far major kudos to both universities for pulling this all together in these challenging times
Glad to be joining from Houston, USA ... fantastic initiative by both organizations
Peter Ptashko
Matt Bell
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We couldn't have done it without... LSE Generate accelerator team - Kajal Sanghrajka (LSE Accelerator Director), Caroline Mei (Operations and Community Manager), Bhavisha Badiani (Design and Marketing). Generate: LJ Silverman (Head of Generate), Alix Richards (Finance), Alice Eddie (Communications)Advisors: Kiran Arokiasamy (Program Advisor), Veronika Kapustina (Investment Advisor), Jon Lo (Tech Advisor) Founders - Tereza Pigova, Kai Werthmann, Samuel Sellmann, Josephine Liang, Claire Monari, Kevin Tang, Lusine Mehrabyan, Alice Troiano, Hasan Tuhtamishev, Alex Barnes, Sebastian MĂźller, Yohan Iddawela, Lan Yin, Michael Bryan, Darvy Cana, Bryn Ferris, Gabriel Bean, Niklas Kuegler, Aidana Orynbassar Anthea Kolitsas, LSE Interns - Aneta Pavliukevic, Kitty Thompson, Tan Puay Leng (Pearlyn), Aleksandra Furmanek, Sharon Zheng, Mae Parayre, Richa Udayana, Madhur Dixit The Accelerator family - James Lo, Davide Turi, Patrick TrĂźmpi, Anna Boon, Alice Regester, Anna Nicholson, Yogesh Patel, Devon Smiley, Hannah Power, Akmal Asghar, Anshey Bhatia, Ash Thaker, Cedric Mutz, Chris Smoak, David Schreiter, Delia Lloyd, Dipesh Sanghrajka, Dylan Itzikowitz, Indy Sangha, Jamie Qiu, Jane Murray, Jaron Soh, Jason Burchard, Jessica Vollman, Koby Yogaretnam, Madeleine Evans, Matt Dowling, Matteo Scarabelli, Mevish Aslam, Michelle Olschewski, Mitan Sachdev, Natalie Tucker, Nishit Ruparelia, Oli Strong, Parita Doshi, Peter Harrington, Philip Salter, Rani Nagpal, Raphael Nerz,Rich Serunjogi, Richard Hughes-Jones, Samuel Ofori, Alex Balderstone, Shanil Shah, Simon Davies, Yota Trom, Yves Terrier, Patrick Ryan, Magda Posluszny, Rishi Raja, John Lee Allen, Gudmundur Eggertsson, Susie Meier, Savitri Tan, Kirsty Macdonald, Matt Stafford, Alex Green, Julia Black, Sebastian Dovey, Nikki McCulloch, Kartik Varma, Hannah Leach, Paul Apostolidis, Dr Grace Lordan, Rajesh Agrawal, Ben Mumby-Croft, Camille Reltien, Sarah Ranchev-Hale, Euan Bell, Victoria Nicholl, Elizabeth Watson, Alae Ismail, Eleni Assargiotis, Dan Eastmond, Farid Tejani, Jenny Chong, Marcus Love, Manuel Antunes, Joanna Jensen, Dana Endundo Ferraira, Kerim Baran, Bryan Janeczko, Alessandro Masante, Tarquin ScaddingHunt, Maxxwell Firth, Tarig Hilal, Simon Morley LSE Internship Program Sponsor - Santander Service Providers- Business Score, InCrew Talent, Freelancer Club, LawBite, Seed Legals, Telic, BBS&Co, TrueLeads, Legal Sidekick
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