Students explore the City’s vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem as part of Venture Crawl 2020

Loughborough University London collaborated with 15 other London universities to run ten buses to explore London's start-up network first-hand and meet top entrepreneurial leaders.

For the 2020 London Venture Crawl, students from 16 universities across London took the classroom outside. Loughborough students visited Barclay’s Eagle Labs, Containerville, and Workable. Exploring other ecosystems for entrepreneurs, Venture Crawls also took place in Birmingham, Manchester and Chicago on the same day.

Hayley Jones, Student Enterprise Adviser, said:

“Venture Crawl this year was again about getting our students visiting, networking and connecting with the entrepreneurial eco-system in London. Meeting and mingling with the network that supports the eco-system is a two-way process. The day connects accelerators, maker and co-worker spaces and of course entrepreneurs to our students and in turn our students back to them. Our students got to pitch themselves to investors, gain free access to innovative co-worker spaces and learn how to access maker facilities for rapid prototyping of their ideas. Doing all this in just one day is why Venture Crawl is so special.”

Venture Crawl is designed to give students the opportunity to connect to real-world businesses, be inspired by the UK’s vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem, and gain skills in self-confidence, creative-thinking, resilience and leadership. VIP passengers hop on board the buses to share their stories and stimulate conversations, peer-to-peer learning and idea sharing. The students took part in behind-the-scenes tours of leading brands, talks and activities and attended a major ‘pitch-off’ event at the end of the day, bringing together almost 400 students.

Ben Cole, Head of Strategic Projects, said:

“Venture Crawl 2020 broke all records with more students, universities, cities and parts of the entrepreneurial eco-system involved than ever before. Hosting the evening event bringing 350 of London’s most entrepreneurially curious students together really is the highlight of my year.  Loughborough may not have won the pitching crown this year – but we will be back!”

Notes to editors

Watch a video of Venture Crawl 2018: https://youtu.be/oh9Rp7-Z9Ug

Universities involved in Venture Crawl 2020:

• Loughborough University London
• King’s College London
• Birkbeck, University of London
• London South Bank University
• London College of Fashion
• Brunel University London
• University of Greenwich
• Imperial College London
• University of East London
• Queen Mary University of London
• Regent's University London
• London School of Economics
• City University
• University of Westminster
• London Metropolitan
• Royal Holloway