The application process

The Greenhouse

Applications for Cohort 8 will open on the 13 January! To stay in-the-loop on sign up to the Undaunted newsletter. Keep scrolling to learn more about the programme, eligibility criteria and what we look for in applications to The Greenhouse.

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What are we looking for?

Inspiring and intelligent solutions

Teams will have a breakthrough idea that has the potential for significant climate impact and commercial growth. We are interested in tech that supports either adaptation to the inevitable impacts of climate change or mitigation of climate change through the reduction or removal of greenhouse gases.

We support a broad range of technical solutions that cut across many industries such as (but not limited to): agriculture, fashion, the built environment, transport, energy and greenhouse gas removal (including carbon dioxide removal) and financial innovation.

Passion and commitment

We love to support people who are passionate about innovation that tackles climate change, who are looking to learn and are 100% committed to achieving their vision. We expect applicants to have a clearly thought-out idea, a good understanding of how their technology or product will work (you don’t necessarily need to have a working prototype yet), and ideally at least one founder working on the idea full-time.

We’re proud of the innovation community that we’re building, and it’s really important to us that the startups on The Greenhouse fully engage with us and our programmes – from application and selection, through the programme, to graduation and beyond.

Diversity

At The Greenhouse, we recognise the positive value of diversity in innovation and in society – we strive to uphold equality and aim to challenge discrimination. We welcome and encourage questions and applications from people of all backgrounds. You can come from any university (or none at all) and have any kind of educational or professional background.

We recognise that we have an under-representation of women, Black and other minority ethnic groups, and disabled persons in our startup portfolios, and encourage more applications from people who identify as part of these groups.

Eligibility criteria

If you are not sure of your eligibility or have questions, please email us.

While we may make exceptions to the eligibility criteria listed here, this is rare and would be considered on a case by case basis.

The startup must be a legal UK entity, or register as a UK entity immediately upon selection

You must be a UK-based team, with your headquarters registered in the UK (or be willing to register in the UK upon selection). The Greenhouse is open to UK-registered companies – founders don’t need to be based in London – but would need to be available to travel for regular in-person activities in London during the twelve-month programme.

Each team will ideally have more than one founder.

In most cases, we expect companies not to have raised significant commercial investment.

You must have the time to fully commit to the programme. 

The Greenhouse is a hybrid programme, which means some of the activities are held online and some in-person. Participating teams need to be able to attend occasional coaching sessions, workshops and other required activities at our headquarters in White City, at the Imperial campus in South Kensington or at the Royal Institution in Mayfair.

If your team has already participated in an ‘accelerator’, or similar innovation programme, you may still be eligible for The Greenhouse. However, we ask that you think carefully as to whether you will benefit from the educational elements of the programme before applying.

The application process

Selection for The Bootcamp

Teams will be assessed on the basis of their application forms and submitted pitch decks, and scored against the following criteria and the quality of their application:

  • Climate impact / relevance
  • Strength and uniqueness of innovation / IP
  • Potential to scale / Likelihood of market success
  • Team capability
  • Overall suitability for The Greenhouse

We will also assess each application on the basis of how much the team is likely to benefit from our support.

The Bootcamp
The two-day Bootcamp is focused on developing teams’ business models via presentations and peer-reviews. It gives us an opportunity to get to know teams better than we would in a traditional interview process, whilst providing them with an opportunity to learn and network. We expect the startup founder(s) to attend the Bootcamp in-person. We do not normally conduct interviews as part of the Bootcamp selection process, though in certain circumstances we may choose to do so.

The final selection of up to 15 startups for The Greenhouse will be made following completion of the Bootcamp.

Selection for The Greenhouse

The selection for The Greenhouse will be made based on the startup’s application form, their interactions and engagement at Bootcamp and the outputs from the Bootcamp process. Offers will be contingent on a fully engaged and committed approach to The Greenhouse, which will need to be maintained throughout the programme in order to remain a participant.

While we do not normally conduct interviews as part of the selection process, in certain circumstances we may choose to do so.

The selection panel is formed by Alyssa Gilbert, Jim Shaikh and Nicole Bachanova from the Undaunted. We generally also involve others from the British cleantech ecosystem.

Supported by

The Greenhouse programme is supported by the Greater London Authority via the Mayor of London; HSBC UK, through the bank’s global Climate Solutions Partnership; and the Inflexion Foundation.

HSBC logo
Mayor of London logo
Inflexion logo

We conduct thorough due diligence to ensure that our supporters and partners are committed to reducing their environmental impact. Whilst we are aware that HSBC currently finances a number of industries that significantly contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, we know they have a strategy in place to help their customers reduce their emissions and to reduce their own – for more information please visit the HSBC Climate Strategy webpage.

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