The London-based Higher Education Institute has just announced that applications are now open to join their ‘Startups in Residence’ initiative. The incubator programme is now in its fourth year and has previously supported five startups in their early growth stages, raising over £250,000 in seed funding.

Their legacy of exciting startups have grown through the programme, yielding significant results in terms of business growth and capabilities. Lucas Shorvon is Co-Founder of fashion trend forecasting and consultancy AllEyes, which was the Startup in Residence during 2020, alongside tech companies Pet Instincts and Tabled.

He said: “The Startup in Residence programme has been amazing, especially throughout the pandemic! We have access to experts in multiple fields as and when we need them. We also have the full support of the College and access to some amazing business students. Even without being physically together, we have felt part of the community and healthy ecosystem.”

The social impact marketing agency Bright/Shift successfully applied for the scheme during 2019 - its founder Toby Stewart added: “The Startup in Residence programme was instrumental in helping to get Bright/Shift off the ground. Pearson College London offered a strong foundation and base from which we could grow our team, access specialist mentors and gain access to all the support we needed in order to turn into a revenue-generating business.”

The Startup in Residence scheme is immersed within the College’s innovative bubl platform, an inclusive and technology-enabled ecosystem, designed to support and grow entrepreneurs, student projects and early-stage startups. The unique scheme links employers to students through data-driven technology. By submitting business challenges to a diverse range of students, companies will not only gain solutions to their immediate concerns but also engage with the future talent of their sector.

By using the Chrome-enabled video Q&A channel, companies can work with current students to discover a wide variety of proposed solutions to specific challenges. This unique function enables businesses to engage with students in real time, no matter their location.

There is a range of exclusive benefits for the successful startups accepted onto the scheme including:

• Mentoring to support business challenges and growth tailored to business plans
• Access to financial support for interns
• Achieving significant cost savings on recruitment
• Analytics on challenges and business feedback opportunities
• Innovative insight and fresh perspective into current and future issues within the sector
• Free access to the employer/student community on the College’s bubl platform
• Opportunities to work with diverse talent
• Authentic leadership development opportunities for staff
• Collaboration opportunities with a network of industry partners

Plus, Pearson College London will take no equity stakes or fees!

They do things differently at Pearson College London - being a part of the global education business Pearson, which is a FTSE 100 company, means that industry engagement is at the heart of their DNA. It is at the core of everything that they do; it’s the key to delivering their vision of empowering the people that will change the world. They work closely with everyone from global businesses to innovative startups including L’Oréal, Tesco, Transport for London and IBM, and that's what sets them apart. 

Their mission to integrate the worlds of industry and academia for the mutual benefit of all its stakeholders - their students, industry partners and academic community, means that they are well placed to host startups and provide a foundation for the emergence of bubl. Startups involved with the scheme will have the opportunity to engage within this vibrant community, which will support with key objectives and targets in funding and growth.

For more information about the scheme, visit their website, while any questions can be directed to bubl@pearsoncollegelondon.ac.uk.