A wellness startup for postnatal depression, a chemical trading platform and an online tutoring business are among the startups joining the 2022 cohort of London Business School‘s (LBS) hugely successful, and oversubscribed Incubator programme.
- The LBS Incubator programme helps cultivate ideas and capitalise on startup potential with the help of the School’s specialised support services
- The 2022/23 cohort includes a chemical trading platform, wellness services for postnatal depression, an online tuition startup and more
- Now in its 13th year, the Incubator has supported 120+ alumni founders who in turn have gone on to raise more than £130m+ in funding
Now in its 13th year, and having supported more than 100 alumni with turning their ideas into commercial businesses, the 2022 LBS Incubator programme saw applications from degree students and graduates from a wide range of LBS programmes. This cohort consists of 11 startups and 15 alumni founders, of whom 60% come from a BAME background and one in three are women.
“We’re thrilled to be announcing the latest LBS alumni joining the LBS Incubator programme for 2022/23,” said Jane Khedair, Executive Director, Institute of Entrepreneurship and Private Capital (IEPC). “For 13 years, the Incubator has provided incredible support for our degree students and graduates, while maintaining a fundamental role in showcasing what LBS, its staff, its partners and its courses have to offer the wider entrepreneurial and business community. The quality of applications continues to grow each year and we’re excited to see just how far this year’s cohort can go.”
About the 2022/23 cohort
The 11 startups selected for the 2022/23 LBS Incubator Cohort include:
- CX: A chemical trading platform co-founded by Angel Sun from the MBA 2022 programme
- D-one: A valuation tool co-founded by Mohamad Baki (Executive MBA Dubai 2019)
- Food of Gods: A startup specialising in spices from around the world founded by Prerna Baruah (Executive MBA graduate 2020)
- Learn from Heroes: An online tutoring business founded by Jomy Mangalathu (EMBA London 2022)
- Lotus Kids: A platform for connecting UK families with postnatal Asian-origin care resources, founded by Wouter Mayeur (EMBA London 2021) and See-wan Lam (MBA 2009)
- Maternally: Online well-being services for postnatal depression founded by Ramzi Qannati and Vijaysarathi Kallam (both EMBA Dubai 2019 graduates)
- Movmenta: IOT specific to running shoes founded by Xavier Segri and Ofir Dagan (EMBA London 2022)
- Popp: A web3-enabled NFT membership platform for brands founded by James Cochrane-Dyet (MBA 2022)
- Remigos: A platform building complete immigrant experience from settling in to finances for international students, founded by Sarthak Doshi (MBA 2022)
- Sona Chandi: Specialist in well-being sleep products originating from India founded by Aditi Arya (Masters in Management 2019)
- Swizzle: The UK’s first alcohol recommendation and delivery app for beer, wine and spirits, founded by Capucine Codron and Guillaume Jacomin (MBA 2022)
As a testament to the entrepreneurial drive of these founders, Angel Sun’s CX recently received a £500,000 Innovate UK grant and Swizzle founders Capucine and Guillaume have raised £230,000.
A robust application process
Each application was robustly reviewed by a Selection Committee comprising the Incubator Chair, the Executive Director of the Institute of Entrepreneurship and Private Capital, a VC investor and 3 private angel investors. As part of this process, each cohort member was required to set out a clearly defined cultural and staffing policy to ensure diversity and inclusion, in line with LBS’ own Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging policy.
Invaluable support
For 2022, 27 applications were shortlisted and selected to pitch and 11 characteristically innovative and diverse teams made the coveted list. These teams will now be given invaluable access to LBS experts, mentors, entrepreneurs and Incubator partners to take their startups from ideation to market.
The 2022 cohort can lean on these resources to develop and strengthen their business plans, learn more about the startup ecosystem and scaling process, gain funding, and tap into the wider LBS network.
The Incubator programme also benefits from the financial support of Santander alongside a range of global firms, such as Amazon Web Services, Dropbox, Shoosmiths and Stripe, who each provide pro-bono support to pass on their learnings to the next generation of entrepreneurs.
The LBS Incubator legacy
LBS has been teaching entrepreneurship since the late 1990s and is well-known for its promotion of innovation and startup ventures, as well as its insights into financial markets. Complemented by its exceptional teaching of the key instruments that drive today’s financial sector.
Since its LBS Incubator launch, the faculty has received hundreds of applications from some of the best and brightest LBS students, across a diverse range of backgrounds. All with innovative and impactful ideas that address some of today’s and tomorrow’s most pressing, evolving challenges. From the future of work to financial literacy, sustainability, the future of healthcare and more.
Incubator alumni Roleshare, for instance, is an innovative job-sharing platform that’s at the forefront of the trends we’re seeing within employment and the modern workplace. The brand matches people to share jobs in a way that helps boost well-being, work-life balance, gender equality and economic growth. So much so, Roleshare has been recognised by the World Economic Forum as a pathway to economic transformation. Similarly, LBS Incubator-backed Little Steps Financing is making childcare more accessible for working parents through its financing solution.
Fineazy is an AI-powered chatbot that helps empower more informed financial decisions and provide automated financial literacy to African markets; GrubClub Pets is reducing the environmental impact of livestock farming through its insect-based pet food; while Immunie and Skin Analytics are leading healthtech solutions providing immunisation and health data management digital solutions on the blockchain, and leading-edge skin cancer detection respectively.
The wider network of LBS and IEPC staff, alongside both internal and external partners, have mentored and funded more than 120 startups who themselves have leveraged their time and knowledge from taking part in the incubator to go on and raise more than £130m in funding.
Enterprise software company and former LBS Incubator cohort member, Workscope raised a $1.2 million Seed round in August, for example, while one of last year’s cohort start-ups, Earnr, raised £650K Pre-Seed in December.
Featured Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash
