Virtual Venture Crawl 2021 breaks all records
The biggest and best practical entrepreneurship event in London, Venture Crawl, took place on 10 March 2021.
Hundreds of entrepreneurially curious students took part this year's virtual event. Through digital video conferencing, this year's event connected them to the diversity, passion and purpose that drives entrepreneurs locally.
Students from 17 universities across London connected to over 10 live sessions showcasing entrepreneurs and spaces for entrepreneurs across the City. Loughborough students had virtual tours of Barclay’s Eagle Labs, Plexal, The Trampery on the Gantry and Hackney Bridge. Incredibly, all the visits were to organisations located less than 200 metres walk from the Loughborough University London campus!
Alongside the visits, students had the chance to attend virtual networking sessions and access over 80 entrepreneurial resources. They could do all of this through the event’s mini-site venturecrawl.co.uk
Exploring other ecosystems for entrepreneurs, virtual Venture Crawls also took place in Birmingham, Manchester and Chicago on the same day.
Delivery of the event is a partnership between Loughborough Enterprise Network and Loughborough University London’s Future Space team.
Hayley Jones, Loughborough University London's Student Enterprise Advisor, said:
"With 2021 going virtual we wondered if we could pull off Venture Crawl this year. With a great deal of creative thinking, we were able to deliver a great day of networking and connecting with the entrepreneurial eco-system in London. Our students were able to experience a live crawl across our local eco-system. They got the opportunity to find out about entrepreneurial activity all around us, connect with the community and pitch 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.
In the final activity, Venture Crawl's celebrated university pitch competition was hosted from Loughborough University London's Future Space providing a fitting end to the day. Judges included last years Venture Crawl pitch winner Emi Tanimura, Gary Stewart of FounderTribes, Indie Gordon of Foundervine and Folu Fabowale-Makinde of Monzo.
Ben Cole, Head of Future Space said:
"It might have been a slightly different event this year but Venture Crawl 2021 still rocked. We had a blast showing students around the eco-system on our doorstep. The final pitch event was better than ever. Bringing together over 750 entrepreneurially curious students with the entrepreneurial eco-system in London really is my best day at work."
To find out more about the activities, take a look at #VentureCrawl on Twitter.
Loughborough is one of the country’s leading universities, with an international reputation for research that matters, excellence in teaching, strong links with industry, and unrivalled achievement in sport and its underpinning academic disciplines.
It has been awarded five stars in the independent QS Stars university rating scheme, named the best university in the world for sports-related subjects in the 2020 QS World University Rankings and top in the country for its student experience in the 2018 THE Student Experience Survey.
Loughborough is in the top 10 of every national league table, being ranked 4th in the Guardian University League Table 2020, 5th in the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2020 and 8th in The UK Complete University Guide 2020.
Loughborough is consistently ranked in the top twenty of UK universities in the Times Higher Education’s ‘table of tables’ and is in the top 10 in England for research intensity. In recognition of its contribution to the sector, Loughborough has been awarded seven Queen's Anniversary Prizes.
Specialising exclusively in postgraduate-level study, Loughborough University London is based on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and offers cutting-edge master’s and PhD degrees, as well as business collaboration, research and enterprise opportunities.
The seven specialist institutes at Loughborough University London include: Design Innovation, Digital Technologies, Diplomacy and International Governance, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, International Management, Media and Creative Industries, and Sport Business. Close industry partnerships with a wealth of leading businesses and creative organisations means teaching and learning is informed by real-life challenges and driven by true industry pressures.