Apply
Founder Institute Image

London is a great place to build a startup, but most of the early-stage entrepreneurs we speak to are not aware of the local resources that are available to help them.

With applications for the London Founder Institute now open, we are excited to release an updated version of the London Startup Ecosystem Canvas, which is currently in v4 below! This version was developed by the London Founder Institute and local leaders Mercedes Bankston and Richard Cristina and Paul Weeden.

While this has been in development for several years, more input is needed. Please leave your comments on this collaborative Google document to help us complete the list. There are definitely omissions on this current version. 

Are you looking to build a startup in London? Then apply to the London Founder Institute today!

Text version included below, for ease of searching:

Startup Stages


There is no one right way to build a technology company, but for the sake of simplicity we have outlined a basic, common, sequential framework.

1. Idea Stage

This is where new entrepreneurs get inspired, learn best practices, develop skills, validate ideas, and begin to build their team and product.

A. Inspire

  • Startup Media: Centralized local information, listings, and news. (i.e. startup blogs/ publications/ lists/ FB groups/ newsletters, Startup Digest)
    1. Angel News
    2. Meet Up: Tecnoprenuers
    3. Meet Up: London Startup Founder 101
    4. Meet Up: Silicone Roundabout
    5. Meet Up: Entrepreneurs in London
    6. Startup Digest
    7. Startups.co.uk  
    8. Tech London
    9. TechCity News
    10. Techworld
    11. UP London
  • Inspirational Events: Open, inclusive, beginner startup events (i.e. Startup Weekend, idea fairs, and inspirational meetups)
    1. DevelopHer
    2. HackerNest London
    3. Innovation Forum
    4. London Open Coffee
    5. London Tech Week
    6. Minibar
    7. Mobile UX London
    8. Product Tank
    9. Re-Work
    10. Silicon Roundabout
    11. Startup Grind
    12. Startup Weekend
    13. Supper Tribe
    14. TableCrowd Dinners
    15. Tech City
    16. TedXLondon
    17. The Business Show
    18. The Next Women
    19. The JS Roundabout
    20. The London Lean Startup Group

B. Educate

  • Best Practices: Beginner knowledge-sharing events. (i.e. beginner events that serve to educate more than inspire, like 1 Million Cups, Startup Grind, Startup Founder 101, etc).
    1. Girls in Tech
    2. London Startup Grind
    3. Startup Founder 101
    4. Startup Britain
    5. Startup Direct
  • Training & Feedback: Skill & Idea development. (Ex. bootcamps and comprehensive training programs, like Founder Institute, General Assembly, Lean Startup Machine, code camps, etc)
    1. Creative Business-NFTS
    2. Decoded
    3. Escape the City
    4. FFWD
    5. Founders and Coders
    6. Founder Institute
    7. Forward Partners
    8. General Assembly
    9. Hipsters, Hackers & Hustlers
    10. Le Wagon
    11. Makers Academy
    12. Mind The Product
    13. NOVA Tech Startup Programme
    14. Skills Matter
    15. Startup Next
    16. The Centre for Entrepreneurs- NEF Fast Track Programme
    17. The Entrepreneurial Refugee Network
    18. The Iron Yard
    19. The Startup Leadership Program

C. Validate

  • Team Formation: Resources for teaming up. (i.e. events or other resources that facilitate early-stage recruitment and cofounder matching)
    1. AngelList
    2. CoFounder Dating
    3. Co Founder Lab
    4. FoundersNation
    5. InternAvenue
    6. Unicorn Hunt
    7. Work in Startups
  • Build First Product: Hackathons & resources to build. (i.e. hackathons and other builder-focused events and resources)
    1. Hackathon.com (directory)
    2. Hackathons & Jams UK
    3. Women Who Code

2. Launch Stage

In this stage, entrepreneurs establish and formalize the company, develop the product, get feedback from customers, and prepare for the next step.

A. Start

  • Establish: Law firms & banks for startups
    1. Baker McKenzie
    2. Barclays
    3. Bird & Bird
    4. Bristows
    5. Brown Rudnick
    6. Dentons
    7. DLA Piper
    8. Fieldfisher
    9. General Standards
    10. HSBC
    11. JAG Shaw Baker
    12. Kemp Little
    13. Linkilaw
    14. Linklaters
    15. Lloyds
    16. Macfarlanes
    17. NatWest
    18. Norton Rose Fulbright 
    19. Olswang
    20. Orrick
    21. Osborne Clarke 
    22. Pinsent Masons
    23. RBS
    24. Santander
    25. Seed Legals
    26. Silicon Valley Bank UK
    27. Taylor Wessing
    28. TLT
  • Workspace: Co-working and flexible workspaces (note: “official” office space goes in 3.1.a. Infrastructure)
      1. Accelerator London
      2. Bathtub2Boardroom
      3. Campus London
      4. Central Working (run Google Campus)
      5. Digital Greenwich
      6. EDSPACE
      7. FreeOfficeFinder
      8. Greenhouse
      9. Here East
      10. Hoxton Mix
      11. Hubble
      12. Huckletree
      13. Impact Hub
      14. Imperial Incubator
      15. Innovation Warehouse
      16. Interchange
      17. Kitchenette
      18. Level39
      19. London Rise
      20. London Office Space
      21. MeWeHub
      22. Ministry of Startups
      23. Plexal 
      24. Rainmaking Loft
      25. Runway East
      26. TechHub
      27. The Boutique Workplace Co
      28. The Collective
      29. The Office Group
      30. The Trampery
      31. WeWork
      32. WhiteBearYard
      33. Workspace

B. Develop

  • Formalize: Accounting, development and HR for early-stage startups.  
    1. Alexander Rosse
    2. Amity
    3. BDO
    4. Blick Rothenberg
    5. CBW
    6. Deloitte
    7. DNS
    8. EY
    9. Glazers
    10. Grant Thornton
    11. KPMG
    12. Moore Stephens
    13. PwC
    14. RSM
    15. Shaw Gibbs
    16. Stocker Accounting
    17. Target Accounting
  • Prepare for Seed: Incubators and advanced mentorship. (i.e. advanced knowledge sharing, later stage events and resources for startup TEAMS, Startup Next, etc)
    1. Antler
    2. Centre for Fashion Enterprise
    3. Cinnamon Bridge
    4. Early Metrics
    5. Emerge Education
    6. Founders Factory
    7. GCHQ
    8. Ignite
    9. In Residence by JP Morgan
    10. JLAB
    11. LMarks
    12. London City Incubator
    13. MassChallenge
    14. Seedcloud
    15. Startup Manufactory
    16. The Young Foundation
    17. The Bakery
    18. Whyable

C. Launch

  • Seed Accelerators: Seed funding mentor programs (Techstars-style programs that provide funding)
    1. Activate Capital
    2. Barclays Accelerator
    3. Bethnal Green Ventures
    4. Collider
    5. Entrepreneur First
    6. Fintech Innovation Lab
    7. Ignite Accelerator
    8. Oxygen Accelerator
    9. Pfizer Health Care Hub
    10. Pi Labs
    11. RedBull Amplifier
    12. RebelBio
    13. Seedcamp
    14. Seedrs 
    15. Startup Bootcamp
    16. Techstars London
    17. The Founders Factory
    18. The Grocery
    19. Wayra
  • Pitch & Demo: Show local startups for investment (i.e. demo days for companies seeking seed investment)
    1. Firestartr
    2. Ibis Capital
    3. Pitch@Palace
    4. TechHub Tuesday Demo Night 
    5. The Pitch

3. Growth Stage

Here, a startup proves their utility, receives recognition, and scales up. This usually requires funding, angels, VCs, and ways to connect them to startups.

A. Recognition

  • Investor Networking:  Connect professional investors with founders. (i.e. events or groups that facilitate connections with professional investors)
    1. Cleantech Innovate
    2. Connect London
    3. Europas
    4. F6S
    5. Fast Growth Icons
    6. Finovate
    7. Gust
    8. Innovate Finance
    9. London TechWeek
    10. Pitch@Palace
    11. Propteq Europe
    12. The Europas
    13. UK Angel Investment Network
    14. Web Summit
  • Major Media: Mainstream local business press. (i.e. major local or regional publications that frequently champion local businesses)
    1. BBC
    2. City AM
    3. Evening Standard
    4. Financial Times
    5. Metro
    6. Telegraph
    7. TechCrunch
    8. The Guardian
    9. The Independent
    10. The Times
    11. Wired

B. Funding

  • Angels / Micro-VCs: Seed-stage investors
    1. 24 Haymarket
    2. Angel CoFund
    3. Angels Den
    4. Astia
    5. Beacon Capital
    6. Connect Ventures
    7. Craigie Capital
    8. Crowdcube
    9. Clearly Social Angels
    10. Downing
    11. EC1 Capital
    12. Ecomachines Ventures
    13. Episode1
    14. Faber Ventures
    15. Frog Capital
    16. Forward Partners
    17. Hoxton Ventures
    18. JamJar Investments
    19. Kinetic Investments
    20. LCIF
    21. Mustard Seed
    22. Notion Capital
    23. Passion Capitall
    24. Piton Capital
    25. Playfair Capital
    26. Silicon Roundabout Ventures
    27. True Start
  • Venture Capitalists: Series A and beyond
    1. Abingworth
    2. Accel Ventures
    3. Advent Life Sciences
    4. Amadeus Capital
    5. Atomico
    6. Balderton
    7. Benthal Green Ventures
    8. Blossom Capital
    9. Dawn Capital
    10. Distill Ventures
    11. DN Capital
    12. EC1 Capital
    13. Eden Ventures
    14. Eight Roads Ventures
    15. Episode 1
    16. Fuel Ventures
    17. Highland
    18. Index Ventures
    19. InMotion Ventures
    20. Intel Capital
    21. Kennet
    22. Lakestar
    23. MMC Ventures
    24. Northzone
    25. Notion Capital
    26. Octopus Ventures
    27. Passion Capital
    28. Saffron Hill
    29. Scottish Equity Partners
    30. Spark Ventures
    31. Wellington Partners

C. Growth

  • Infrastructure: Office space, HR, local business insurance. (i.e. office space/ HR/ insurance providers for capital-rich companies to grow and scale)
    1. Association of British Insurers
    2. CBRE
    3. Colliers
    4. Cushman & Wakefield
    5. Here East
    6. JLL
    7. Lloyds
    8. Sherpa
  • Expansion: Growth accelerators/consultants. (i.e. programs and business consultants for capital-rich companies to grow and scale)
    1. BBC Worldwide Labs
    2. Incubus
    3. Upscale

4. Success Stories

Successful homegrown companies that have raised significant institutional funding, employ a large workforce, or have achieved liquidity.

  1. ASOS
  2. Blippar
  3. Carwow
  4. Deliveroo
  5. DueDil
  6. Farfetch
  7. Funding Circle
  8. GoCardless
  9. Handy
  10. Improbable
  11. Just Eat
  12. King Digital
  13. Moo
  14. OneFineStay
  15. Prodigy Finance
  16. Property Partner
  17. Qubit
  18. Ratesetter
  19. Reevoo
  20. Revolut
  21. Rightmove
  22. Secret Escapes
  23. Shazam
  24. Skrill
  25. SwiftKey
  26. TransferWise
  27. Zoopla

Supporters


To facilitate the steps, every ecosystem needs strong supporters.

1. Evangelists

Successful local founders who lead the ecosystem & frequently mentor newbies.

  1. Alban Remy
  2. Alessandro Hatami
  3. Alex Chesterman
  4. Andrew Humphries
  5. Bernhard Niesner
  6. Brent Hoberman
  7. Chris Gledhill
  8. Chris Morton
  9. David Butress
  10. Eileen Burbidge
  11. Eric van der Kleij
  12. Errol Damelin
  13. George Coelho
  14. Gemma Godfrey
  15. Jimmy Wales
  16. John Spindler
  17. Jose Neves
  18. Mercedes Bankston
  19. Nic Brisbourne
  20. Paul Weeden
  21. Petar Savic
  22. Peter Read
  23. Richard Cristina
  24. Sherry Coutu
  25. Simon Lavers
  26. Soline Kauffmann-Tourkestansky
  27. Sila Nur Isik
  28. Steven Hess
  29. Taavet Hinrikus
  30. Tony Kypreos
  31. Tom Hulme

2. Government

Public organizations that facilitate local economic development

  1. Enterprise for London
  2. Global Entrepeneur Programme (GEP)
  3. Innovate UK
  4. London First
  5. London and Partners
  6. TechCity
  7. Tech London Advocates

3. Talent

Major local business or tech universities and employers that attract and retain local talent.

  • Local Universities (universities with prominent technical or business programs)
    1. Brunel University London
    2. City University of London
    3. Goldsmiths University of London
    4. Imperial College
    5. King’s College London
    6. London Business School
    7. London School of Economics
    8. UCL
    9. University of West London
  • Local Employers (Major technical employers, like Microsoft or Google or large local companies)
    1. AstraZeneca
    2. Aviva
    3. Barclays Bank
    4. BP
    5. BT Group
    6. Canonical
    7. Diageo
    8. Expedia
    9. GlaxoSmithKline
    10. Google
    11. HSBC
    12. Lloyds Bank
    13. Prudential
    14. Tesco
    15. Unilever
    16. Virgin Media
    17. Vodafone

 

*  *  *

Learn more about the Startup Ecosystem Canvas here, and leave us your thoughts on the London Canvas on this collaborative Google document (This is just a DRAFT, and more input is needed!)

Are you looking to build a startup in London? Then apply to the London Founder Institute today

Related Insights

More insights
Founder Institute Image
Startup Ecosystem Canvas

South Carolina Startup Resource List: 100+ Accelerators, Incubators, Investors, and more

By Askshay Kumar on Jan 04, 2023
Founder Institute Image
Startup Ecosystem Canvas

Pittsburgh Startup Resource List: 500+ Accelerators, Incubators, Investors, and more

By Dustin Betz on Jan 04, 2023
Founder Institute Image
Startup Ecosystem Canvas

Georgia Startup Resource List: 240+ Accelerators, Incubators, Investors, and more

By Askshay Kumar on Sep 12, 2022

Are you ready to apply to the world's largest pre-seed accelerator?

Apply to the Program