Recently, we caught up with one of Better Future’s delivery partners, Sustainable Ventures, about the work they are doing with us.
Sustainable Ventures, founded in 2011, is the home of Climate Tech. They offer a full-service ecosystem empowering sustainable startups to scale through community, investment, innovation and workspace.
They believe in the power of commercial innovation to tackle climate change and are on a mission to develop 1000 sustainable startups by 2025.
They have been involved with Better Futures since its inception in 2017. Under Better Futures, They have been responsible for:
- The business and commercialisation 1:1 and 1:many support for early stage Climate Tech SMEs. To date, they have supported c. 250 climate tech SMEs with tailored support.
- The overall recruitment process of Better Futures across Delivery Partners. To date, they have sourced 700+ SMEs.
Why did they choose to support Better Futures?
Better Futures wholly aligns with Sustainable Ventures’ aim to use commercial innovations to tackle climate change. The programme allows Sustainable Ventures to support early stage, but highly promising Climate tech SMEs who often lack the skills, networks and confidence to bring their ideas to market or grow them quickly. Through Better Futures +, Sustainable Ventures also have the added goal to support underrepresented founders who often face higher barriers.
Over the years, Sustainable Ventures have supported some impressive startups, such as Airex (smart airflow control), who following their support, successfully received £2m+ of investment and £300k of grants, and Bundlee (baby clothes rental, who after their support successfully received £677k of investment and £55k of grants.
Working in this programme with our highly valued partners, like Imperial College, Imperial College Consultants (ICON) and West London Business (WLB), Sustainable Ventures have been able to provide a holistic suite of support to startups, such as technical support and connections to partners. The close relationship with the GLA has allowed Sustainable Ventures to keep in close contact with the Mayor of London’s priorities and use this knowledge to better support the startups.
What sort of SMEs have Sustainable Ventures worked with so far, and how have they benefited from the expertise and services Sustainable Ventures provided them?
Sustainable Ventures have worked with a range of early-stage Climate Tech SMEs, from the idea stage through to Series A fundraising. The main sectors they have supported are Future Energy, Building Technologies, Transportation, Circular Economy and others.
The support they provide is always tailored to the needs of the individual SME. The support starts with a gap analysis (Innovation Plan) that identifies their main areas of development, key challenges and how Sustainable Ventures can support them. SMEs are then assigned an Innovation Advisor. By the end of the support the SMEs are challenged in their business thinking and have progressed in their development.
SMEs also have access to 1:many support (e.g. webinars, workshops, networking) giving them an exposure to a range of experts and other like-minded SMEs.
The benefits of Sustainable Ventures support are showcased in some testimonials:
- “The feedback was bespoke to our needs and helped us with issues we are currently facing.” Goldmine
- “The one-on-one support sessions with our Innovation Advisor were the most helpful as she provided insightful and personalised advice to help support our business.” Diode
- “Having someone consistently talk through the business and get me to tackle some of the harder challenges was a really valuable exercise.” Nula
- “The one to ones were excellent - my main requirement was having someone to discuss challenges with and they helped a lot.” Skenario Labs
Have Sustainable Ventures worked in conjunction with any of the other Better Futures partners?
Throughout the programme, Sustainable Ventures work closely with Better Future partners in the programme. Sustainable Ventures’ main area of collaboration is through cross-referral of SMEs. All the SMEs they support are informed of the other services offered through the Better Futures programme partners. Through SMEs’ own tailored gap analysis (Innovation Plan), Sustainable Ventures identify the main areas of development and challenges for them. This allows Sustainable Ventures to make even more targeted recommendations of partner services.
Sustainable Ventures’ close collaboration has been in place since the start of Better Futures, where they collaboratively, through their collective knowledge and expertise in the space, designed a suite of services aiming to support early-stage climate tech SMEs with their most pressing technical, business and commercial needs. Through their monthly meetings, they also keep the consortium updated on current trends and needs of the SMEs in the space.
How have the SMEs that Sustainable Ventures have worked with progressed after ‘graduating’ from the programme?
- Sustainable Ventures continue to be in close contact with many of the SMEs that have been supported through the programme. Some of the ways they do so include:
- Continuing to provide support through other Better Futures opportunities, either from Sustainable Ventures or partners. For example, after they graduated from Sustainable Ventures support, some SMEs went on to work with an Imperial College intern.
- Keeping updated with their company developments and sharing through their networks.
- Continuing to participate in Sustainable Ventures’ 1:many support and getting to engage with new experts and new SMEs who are participating in the programme.
Sustainable Ventures also continue to track their success; the impact of the programme is evident by the following:
- In Better Futures, 56% of the SMEs have increased and 15% have maintained their employees since joining the programme. After 6 years of running the programme, Sustainable Ventures have accomplished an impressive survival rate of 90%. The SMEs have raised a total of £126M of equity and £23M of grants*.
- In Better Futures +, 53% of the SMEs have increased and 23% have maintained their employees. After 2+ years of running the programme, Sustainable Ventures have accomplished an impressive survival rate of 98%. The SMEs have raised a total of £63M of equity and £3.5M of grants*.
* These numbers represent the total value of funding received in the lifetime of the SME, rather than since they joined the programme.