Impact Report 2024–2025 Launch into the Entrepreneurship Institute’s Impact Report charting our 2024-25 journey and our 10th year as King’s dedicated hub of entrepreneurship. 1
Cover photo: Dr 'Mfon at a King’s Start-up Accelerator workshop
1. About us
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2. A year of Innovation and Impact
5
3. Highlights from the year
6
4. Enriching Students through Entrepreneurship
10
5. Extracurricular student engagements by Faculty
12
6. Developing new ideas
14
7. Starting and Scaling Ventures for People & Planet
16
8. King’s Start-up Accelerator
18
9. King’s Spinout Accelerator
21
10. Diversity & Inclusion
22
Gender
23
Disability
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Ethnicity
25
11. Wider Ecosystem Impact
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ENTREPRENEURSHIP INSTITUTE IMPACT REPORT
About us King’s vision is to make the world a better place. Since 2015, the Entrepreneurship Institute (EI) has created a thriving community of problem solvers equipped with entrepreneurial skills to positively disrupt systems, build diverse teams and drive forward new solutions. In our 10th year, we’ve seen 4,462 engagements by students, alumni, staff and externals in entrepreneurial activities, curricular and extracurricular. On 664 occasions, we supported the King’s community to take their ideas further, exploring real-world solutions to some of the world’s biggest challenges. Since 2015, we have supported 10,000+ to become more entrepreneurial, equipping them with entrepreneurial mindsets for success beyond university. 175+ ventures supported by the EI have collectively raised £150.8m in revenue, £121.8m in investment and employ 1,493 people. Hosted in King’s Business School, the EI continues to advance King’s vision, nurturing knowledge and ideas from across the university. We are contributing to a society of pioneering leaders, creative problem solvers and innovative thinkers, who can tackle the challenges of today and tomorrow. 3
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ENTREPRENEURSHIP INSTITUTE IMPACT REPORT
2024-2025: A year of Innovation and Impact
33,051
members in the EI's digital community
£47m+
generated in revenue by 175+ early-stage King’s ventures
4,462
engagements by students, alumni, staff and externals in curricular and extracurricular EI activities
1,712 individual students participated in extracurricular EI activities
305
individual students enriched on the curriculum
£
£
£65,574
awarded to future entrepreneurs
£14m+
raised in investment by 175+ early-stage King’s ventures
337.5
hours of extracurricular enrichment activity delivered by the EI team
153
664
occasions saw us supporting ideas
40%
increase in space usage at the EI hub
33
investors and corporate partners introduced to 37 King’s ventures and spinouts
paid entrepreneurial work opportunities provided to current students 5
5
Highlights from the year 2024 - 2025
Change our City Challenge
This selection highlights just some of the 85 extracurricular events and programmes delivered by the EI this year. Each activity supports the King’s community to explore their entrepreneurial potential; empowering students, staff and alumni to be the changemakers of tomorrow, equipped with 21st century career skills that can be applied to any sector and any future.
42 students worked in 11 teams to tackle some of London’s biggest challenges Read more
Our work directly supports King’s Vision 2029, to make the world a better place.
August 2024
September
October
Welcome to King’s 813 engagements at events with new students
London Demo Day 5 King’s entrepreneurs pitched to an audience of 500+
Read more
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ENTREPRENEURSHIP INSTITUTE IMPACT REPORT
Enterprise Award 523 students and staff embarked on a year-long programme to develop their entrepreneurial mindset
Idea Factory 90 attendees attended bootcamp workshops, 10 finalists pitched to an audience of 100+, with 5 winners receiving a share of £9,000 Read more
November
December
January 2025
Open Pitch Night 30 students and alumni took to the stage to present their ideas in 90 seconds Read more
King’s Investor Breakfasts 19 investors connected with 21 ventures across five breakfasts
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Women Entrepreneurs Network Retreat 98 women entrepreneurs from King’s, other UK universities and our local business community attended workshops and interactive sessions on all aspects of building a venture
EI’s 10th birthday 100+ guests celebrate our special milestone
Read more
February 2025
Read more
March
Venture Crawl 42 King’s students visited innovation hotspots, plus 100+ guests from 10 London universities attend the Pitch Off Read more
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ENTREPRENEURSHIP INSTITUTE IMPACT REPORT
April
King’s Festival of AI 171 attended an EI panel on AI venture investment
King’s Spinout Accelerator 10 ventures from cohort 1 graduate after 12 months on the programme Read more
May
June
July 2025
King’s Start-up Accelerator Validation Fund launched 9 awardees receive up to £400 towards their idea development
17 ventures from cohort 8 graduate after 12 months on the programme
Read more
Summer Internships begin 14 students worked in start-ups founded by King’s alumni as part of our widening participation approach
Read more 9
Enriching Students through Entrepreneurship
We are delivering standout entrepreneurial experiences for students, enriching their journey at King’s and boosting their career readiness for success beyond university. Across King’s, students are developing key entrepreneurial skills, gaining a competitive edge in today's changing workplace.
1,712
individual students participated in an EI extracurricular activity
305
individual students enriched on the curriculum
8.82
average hours of extracurricular enrichment activity delivered per individual student
“The most valuable lesson I learned during the Enterprise Award was the importance of adopting an entrepreneurial mindset, not just to start a business, but as a way of thinking creatively and proactively in any situation. This mindset encourages resilience, problem solving and adaptability, which are crucial skills in today’s fast-changing world.”
“I was able to network and explore opportunities I never previously considered for my future! I am already applying what I learnt in my professional and academic life.” Anonymous, BA English student (Faculty of Arts & Humanities) and Venture Crawl attendee 2025. “We established a new course four years ago modelled on the iGEM project where students work in a team to design a synthetic biology project and then generate proof of principle data in the lab. During the course they take part in workshops delivered by the Entrepreneurship Institute on teambuilding, ideation, and effective presentations. We get excellent student feedback each year on this aspect on the course and we see the students’ effectively demonstrating these skills throughout the module, and hopefully they will take them into their future careers.” Dr James Garnett, Reader in Microbial Structural Biology (Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine).
Aadithya Sreekanth, MBBS Medicine student (Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine) and Enterprise Award awardee 2025.
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FIGURE 5.0
Extracurricular student engagements by Faculty
600
450
300 233
150
122 99 57 36 9
45
36
24
12
0 Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care (NMPC) 12
Faculty of Dentistry, Oral & Craniofacial Sciences (FoDOCS)
Other
The Dickson Poon School of Law (Law)
ENTREPRENEURSHIP INSTITUTE IMPACT REPORT
Faculty of Arts & Humanities (A&H)
Total extracurricular student engagements Total repeat student engagements (students attending >1 extracurricular EI activity)
598 600
450 412
313 300
271 252
150 97 79 44
50
63
0 Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN)
Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine (FoLSM)
Faculty of Natural, Mathematical & Engineering Sciences (NMES)
Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy (SSPP)
King’s Business School (KBS)
13
Developing new ideas
In times of unprecedented change and uncertainty, the world needs more innovative thinkers to challenge the status quo and put forward new ideas.
664
occasions saw us supporting ideas
£65,574
funding awarded to 38 awardees, to launch or scale their ideas and innovative solutions
700+
members of the Women Entrepreneurs Network (WEN) LinkedIn community
98
women entrepreneurs engaged in 1,286 hours of entrepreneurial skills content at the WEN Retreat
59
members of our entrepreneurial network supported idea development through mentoring and workshop delivery
Many long-established systems and processes in sectors around the world are no long fit for purpose. The King’s community are actively using their entrepreneurial skills to solve problems and drive new innovations. These ideas are contributing to King’s Impact priorities, addressing challenges in the arts, sustainability, social justice, health and wellbeing and lifelong learning. “The initial support from the Entrepreneurship Institute truly kickstarted this journey, transforming QueryMinds from a promising idea into a growing venture with demonstrated market potential. This experience has reinforced my commitment to developing innovative solutions that address real institutional needs.” Ubaid Tanzim, Medicine MBBS alumnus (Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine), co-founder of QueryMinds, Open Pitch Night 2024 winner and Idea Factory 2025 winner. “I feel incredibly lucky to have been a part of the weekend. The speakers and attendees were a treasure trove of knowledge and ideas. It’s fantastic to have opportunities to connect as women and share the wind and challenges of entrepreneurship.” Anonymous, WEN Retreat 2025 attendee.
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ENTREPRENEURSHIP INSTITUTE IMPACT REPORT
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Starting and Scaling Ventures for People & Planet King’s entrepreneurs are creating real-world impact, speeding up cancer diagnostics, advancing mental health support, taking climate action, using technology for good and giving communities a voice.
33
new businesses registered by students and recent alumni
40
percent increase in usage of EI hub, an inclusive event and co-working space
19
investors connected to 21 King’s ventures and spinouts at five investor breakfasts
This year the EI was ranked 4th university hub in the UK amongst Europe’s leading start-up hubs (Financial Times’ Leading Start-up Hubs report). All King’s start-ups and spinouts can articulate which UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) and which One King’s Impact Challenge they contribute to. Despite the difficult economic climate, in just this year alone King’s early-stage ventures have raised £14m in investment and generated £47m in revenue. Our venture survival rate is twice the national average. All demonstrating the robustness of King’s ventures.
Since 2016, 175+ ventures have collectively generated:
£150.8m in revenue
+£47m in this year alone
£121.8m in investment
+£14m in this year alone
£11.6m in grants 1,493 jobs created
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ENTREPRENEURSHIP INSTITUTE IMPACT REPORT
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King’s Start-up Accelerator
Our flagship programme supports early-stage entrepreneurs to grow their venture, develop as a founder and supercharge their network. Of the 17 ventures on the 12-month accelerator:
86%
“Joining the King’s Start-up Accelerator gave us access to targeted resources that addressed our specific growth challenges. What I valued most were the deep dive workshops led by Experts-in-Residence, which provided focused insights on scaling our operations beyond our initial markets. These sessions challenged our assumptions and helped us refine our approach to expansion.” Dr Mmekidmfonabasi Umanah, Founder & CEO of Aimcare. PhD in Strategy, International Management & Entrepreneurship (King’s Business School). King’s Start-up Accelerator cohort 8.
launched MVPs
70%
either became revenuegenerating or experienced significant grew growth their teams
58% 41%
of founders moved to working full-time on their ventures
“The King’s Start-up Accelerator has been instrumental in Find Care Compare’s success to date. The most special thing is being part of a supportive and dynamic entrepreneurship community. I really value the kindness and generosity I have seen from fellow founders, as well as the Entrepreneurship Institute’s excellent communication of opportunities and championing of our ventures both internally and externally.” Roxanne Stevenson-Brown, Founder & CEO of Find Care Compare and King’s alumna (Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy). King’s Start-up Accelerator cohort 8.
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ENTREPRENEURSHIP INSTITUTE IMPACT REPORT
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ENTREPRENEURSHIP INSTITUTE IMPACT REPORT
King’s Spinout Accelerator
We’re committed to supporting academics and researchers to translate inventions born from ground-breaking research across King’s. King’s Spinout Accelerator supports the university's vision for innovation and facilitates knowledge exchange. Of the 10 potential spinouts on the 12-month accelerator:
100% 90%
70%
60%
secured investment or grants
are likely to spinout and raise investment within 18 months
have defined their business model and plan
grew their team and their entrepreneurial competencies
“We entered the accelerator with a vision but emerged with a refined strategy and deeper understanding of the complexities involved in the biotech landscape. One of the most valuable aspects of the accelerator was the knowledge we gained on how to approach big pharma with confidence. These insights have opened doors that we never thought possible, allowing us to gain crucial perspectives for our growth.” The Prosemble group, academic lead Dr Julien Bergeron, Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine. King’s Spinout Accelerator cohort 1.
“Participating in the King’s Spinout Accelerator has been a transformative experience for our venture. The mentorship and resources available to us have been invaluable in refining the development of our technology and in establishing our business model and commercialisation strategy.” PoMEGRANATE™ team, academic leads Dr Sara White and Dr Angela Flynn, Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine. King’s Spinout Accelerator cohort 1.
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Diversity & Inclusion
Diversity is a key driver for innovation. Diversity of experiences, backgrounds, characteristics, lifestyles, perspectives, talents and more underpin the development of new and disruptive ideas that drive change and progress. Every year we monitor the diversity of the community that are engaging with our programmes. The Equal Opportunities data shared in this section is declared by individuals engaged in our programming, at their own discretion. The results are benchmarked against overall student profiles from the King’s EDI Annual Report.
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ENTREPRENEURSHIP INSTITUTE IMPACT REPORT
FIGURE 1.0
Gender King’s College London Students
Non-Binary
Men
Prefer not to say
Women
Venture Crawl
36%
35% 64%
61%
0%
0%
0%
4%
0
25
50
75
100%
0
25
50
75
100%
75
100%
Based on HESA data, which does not collect data on ‘Non-Binary’.
Idea Factory
Enterprise Award 34%
34% 66%
53% 2%
0% 0%
0
12%
25
50
75
100%
WEN Retreat
0
25
50
King’s Start-up Accelerator founders
0%
56% 39%
90% 0%
0%
6%
15%
0
25
50
75
100%
0
25
50
75
100% 23
FIGURE 2.0
Disability
Declared a disability No disability declared Prefer not to say
King’s College London Students
Venture Crawl
11%
19%
85%
77%
4%
0
4%
25
50
75
100%
Enterprise Award
0
25
50
13%
71%
82%
11%
25
16%
50
75
100%
WEN Retreat
0
25
50
89%
17%
24
100%
11%
72%
25
75
King’s Start-up Accelerator founders
11%
0
100%
Idea Factory
7%
0
75
0%
50
75
100%
0
25
ENTREPRENEURSHIP INSTITUTE IMPACT REPORT
50
75
100%
FIGURE 3.0
Ethnicity King’s College London Students
White
Chinese
Mixed & Other
Black
Arab
Prefer not to say
Asian
Latin American
Venture Crawl 100%
100%
75
75
50
45% 26%
25
13%
11% 4%
0%
11%
2%
0%
50
44%
25
13% 6%
4%
3%
9%
10%
0
0
Based on HESA data, which does not collect data on ‘Latin American’.
Enterprise Award
Idea Factory 100%
100%
75
75
50 35% 16%
16%
11%
9%
6%
0.8%
25
21%
15% 0%
0
5%
7%
12%
0%
25 0
King’s Start-up Accelerator founders 100%
100%
75
75
50 20%
21%
6%
WEN Retreat
50
41%
25% 8%
12% 5%
0.7%
25 8%
0
50
39% 22% 11%
6%
11% 0%
6%
25 6%
0
25
Wider Ecosystem Impact
This year the EI has worked with a variety of partners across King’s, and the wider entrepreneurial ecosystem to transfer and share knowledge in the UK and overseas. Our experience and expertise as leaders in entrepreneurship, is contributing to the economy and the betterment of society, beyond academia. Highlights include: • Hosting a roundtable discussion bringing together the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, the Department for Business & Trade, Innovate UK, the UK Business Angels Association, the British Business Bank and other key players to discuss the lack of investment in UK start-ups. • Facilitating knowledge exchange visits from UK and international universities including University College Cork, Cambridge University, Stellenbosch University and the UK-Singapore Universities Alliance for Entrepreneurship & Innovation (UKSAEI). • Engaging with corporate partners, enterprise networks and government departments to advance conversations around entrepreneurship, including Google, The Centre for Entrepreneurs, Innovate UK, Department for Business & Trade, and the Royal Academy of Engineers.
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• Erika Brodnock MBE, a longstanding member of the EI community, joined the IoPPN as a new Royal Society Entrepreneur in Residence (EiR) supporting the faculty to translate world-leading research into tangible societal impact through the development of social ventures. • David Walsh, one of the EI’s Experts-inResidence joined NMES as Entrepreneur in Residence, supporting academics in the faculty to connect their innovations to wider markets, for greater impact. • Delivering a one-day training for PhD students with the Royal Society, helping them to explore the different entrepreneurial routes to commercialise their research. • Delivering a masterclass in Disruptive Thinking to NHS leaders, enabling them to question existing processes and propose new interventions. • Creating ‘Entrepreneurship in Digital Health’ a three-part interactive asynchronous course that explores disruptive thinking, growth mindset and compelling communication. This training is offered by King’s Health Partners Digital Health Academy.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP INSTITUTE IMPACT REPORT
• 17 university partners engaged in Venture Crawl 2025, collectively connecting over 40 external companies, start-ups and social enterprises with 350+ entrepreneurially-minded students, in five countries around the world. The EI team contributed to national and international discussions on entrepreneurship and enterprise education, through: • Attendance and presentations at IEEC 2024 (International Entrepreneurship Educators Conference). • Attendance at GCEC 2024 (Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centres). • EI’s Head of Communications & Engagement elected to Enterprise Educators UK (EEUK) Board of Directors.
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King’s College London Entrepreneurship Institute @kingsentrepreneurship @King’s Entrepreneurship Institute @InnovateKings ei@kcl.ac.uk 28
ENTREPRENEURSHIP INSTITUTE IMPACT REPORT