Venture Crawl 2022 Went Global!
Students from universities all over the world took part in the annual event on Wednesday 9th March.
Over 1046 student entrepreneurs visited Venture Crawl earlier this month, a live online and global event, which explored a diverse entrepreneurial eco-system in London, and provided students with 100+ top innovation resources and 15 live sessions across the globe! Venture Crawl traditionally involves students touring across London to visit some of London’s most successful high growth companies as well as the accelerators, incubators and investors. This years event however was hosted with a twist – the event presented opportunities for students to virtually engage with content from 30 universities, live stream workshops and attend an in person Pitch Off, which was hosted in Europe’s biggest innovation space – Plexal.
See image below of the live engagement across the world:
The pitch off saw universities putting forward a pitch champion to compete for the biggest prize of all – the pride of being named Venture Crawl champion 2022!
Jack Vernon who represented Loughborough University said:
"It was both a pleasure and an honour to represent Loughborough at Venture Crawl. Even though it was nerve-racking to pitch my business in front of a large audience, the experience itself was highly valuable to help build my confidence and get the word out about my business Fitness By Science. The Venture Crawl event itself was an amazing opportunity to network with like-minded people which is extremely important as starting your own business can feel like a lonely place at times. Definitely recommend it to anyone who is thinking of starting a business or who already have a business to attend this event as it provides you with so many opportunities. Cant wait for it next year!"
As part of the crawl, students from Loughborough University visited Plexal and heard from a panel of Here East CEO’s on how their businesses are responding to the climate emergency. Over lunchtime in the Here East Yard students sampled Evolve’s electrified skateboards. Finally, students learn’t how #VentureCrawl celebrates founders of all backgrounds, with students learning about the One Tech programme in an exclusive investor pitch hosted by Workable.
Venture Crawl, Jenna Davies from Birkbeck University London said:
“My highlight of Venture Crawl 2022 has got to be the Pitch Off at Plexal to wrap up the day - what a powerful group of finalists! Being joined by a live audience in the room as well as online was super special and it was a pleasure to be part of such a brilliant event.”
Ben Cole Head of Loughborough University London’s Future Space said:
“For Loughborough, this year’s crawl just had to focus around the Here East Eco-system. When we first started Venture Crawl in 2018 the only way to see the diversity of London’s eco-system was to jump on a bus and travel. The rapid development of Here East and Plexal means that we now have some of London’s most innovative high growth companies as well as the accelerators, incubators and investors that supported them to scale right on our doorstep. We are so excited to once again be showcasing this to our students with our in person events, but also with the global partners who now contribute to making Venture Crawl the biggest practical entrepreneurship event of its kind.”
30 Universities were involved in this year's London #VentureCrawl – including: Nazarbayev University, British Council Kazakhstan, University of Surrey, DePaul University, University of Melbourne, Oxford Brookes University, University of East London, University of Edinburgh, Monash University, University of Sydney, University of Greenwich, London Metropolitan University, Birkbeck, University of London, De Montfort University, London College of Fashion, Durham University and King's College London.
Hayley Jones- Student Enterprise Coordinator
‘Venture Crawl is an opportunity for entrepreneurially curious students to get inspired and establish a network to support existing or aspiring business owners. Plus we cater for those who have innovation running through their veins but want to take this into employment. The event connects people together from a variety of backgrounds that do not normally cross paths so easily. It is this that provide Venture Crawl its strength and the collaboration that is achieved makes it the event not to be missed. Venture Crawl happens every year in the month of March so do make a note in your diary for 8th of March 2023 to get on board.’