The programme in more detail
The Greenhouse
A thriving community focused on helping climate innovators to have impact
Teams on The Greenhouse are encouraged to iterate rapidly, experimenting, testing and refining their propositions, whilst working with leading experts and practitioners across climate and fundamental science, engineering and entrepreneurship.
Teams also have access to the world-class facilities and technical resources available at Imperial. This focus and setting is unique to Undaunted and in parallel strengthens both the science behind the proposed climate solutions, and the underlying business proposition, establishing a foundation for commercial success.
The programme has been designed to increase the value of your business so that you are in a position to raise investment by the end of your 12 months with us. Startups undertake The Greenhouse journey with the aim of raising a minimum of £100k by the end of the 12-month period – sufficient funds to maintain the business for a further 12-months.
Our holistic programme of support takes place over twelve months, part-time, and is based on three pillars:
Core skills and knowledge
Two-day Bootcamp to develop the core commercial proposition (part of the selection process that takes place prior to the programme).
A programme that embeds the core entrepreneurial skills and knowledge required for teams to accelerate their development and raise investment via:
Masterclasses
- Customer discovery
- Pitching
- Assessing climate impact
- Sales
- UN Sustainable Development Goals – targets and policy
Workshops
- Grant writing
- Business growth – scaling and space
- Safeguarding mental health
- Marketing
Webinars
- Financial Modelling
- IP Essentials
- UK Company Officer Essentials
- Accounting
- Working with VCs
- Funding your business
- Essentials of R&D Tax Credits
- Essentials of Carbon Markets
- MVPs, Prototyping and Manufacturing
Founder support
1-2-1 business coaching and mentoring from our Greenhouse team who have over a decade of commercialisation and innovation experience.
1-2-1 personal/team coaching from experienced and qualified coaches.
1-2-1 Business mentorship delivered by business mentors with wide-ranging and relevant experience and backgrounds.
Technical mentorship from Imperial academics.
Early engagement and networking opportunities with active climate innovation investors and funders linked to the Greenhouse, Undaunted and Imperial.
Access to a thriving climate innovation community comprising academic and technical expertise, and Undaunted alumni startups at different stages of their entrepreneurial journey.
Business support
Up to £20k in equity-free grant funding – we don’t take equity from our founders.
Access to office space, meeting rooms, labs, technical resources, facilities, social and networking events, and scale-up space across Imperial and the White City Innovation District, including: Scale Space; the Advanced Hackspace; Imperial Enterprise Lab; Imperial White City, South Kensington and Silwood Park campuses.
Direct access to leading experts including at CO2RE (the national Greenhouse Gas Removal Hub) for those working on GGR, and the Centre for Climate Finance and Investment for those working on financial innovation.
Access to subsidised (50%) internships.
Recruitment support from Imperial Careers Service.
The Greenhouse startup journey
Application
A startup’s Greenhouse journey starts at the application stage when we ask you to complete an application form and send on an (optional) pitch deck. We provide a number of Q&A webinars though the application window so that you can meet The Greenhouse team and ask questions directly. The applications submitted by the deadline are reviewed and ranked by a panel of experts. We aim to provide brief feedback to every applicant so that they can continue with the development of their idea. Find out how to apply.
Bootcamp
The Greenhouse
Approximately 10 – 15 teams will then be invited to join the next cohort of The Greenhouse programme takes place over twelve months part-time, and is divided into two six-month sprints interspersed with a mid-point review:
Germination Phase: customer discovery and value proposition
Teams are provided tools with which to conduct a deep dive on their hypothetical market and customer segments during this six-month sprint phase.
The insights obtained from this detailed review are used to develop an understanding of the customer needs, the wider value chain and iterate on the proposed product or market fit. The ultimate aim is to develop an evidenced value proposition and identify a target market segment.
This phase is supported by both intensive coaching to help startups iterate their business and technology models, and more formal support through masterclasses and workshops.
Teams will receive an equity-free grant upon commencing this phase. Progressing from the Germination Phase to the Propagation Phase of The Greenhouse is subject to a mid-term review.
Propagation Phase: deployment
The Propagation phase focuses on more specialist skills (such as pitching) and commercialising the business model. Teams are supported to take part in trials, tests and pilots with customers and end-users and use the results to further iterate their propositions and develop their commercial model. In parallel teams are developing investment plans and actively fundraising to support the business after leaving The Greenhouse.
This period also lasts up to six months and is supported by business mentoring from experienced professionals, who help and advise the startups as they execute their commercialisation strategies.
The phase culminates with a Demo Day with investors, held in the prestigious Royal Institution lecture theatre.
Progressing from the Propogation Phase will be subject to a review, and a positive outcome will result in graduating from The Greenhouse. Teams will receive the second equity-free grant on commencing this phase.
Graduation and Demo Day
The final months of the programme are focused on developing multi-year plans for life after The Greenhouse and preparing for the Demo Day Graduation Pitch Event.
Demo Day is a large-scale public event held on the historic stage of the Royal Institution theatre in Mayfair, London. Teams pitch their businesses to an audience of approximately 200 investors, funders and colleagues from across Undaunted’s climate ecosystem, including members of the public. The event is live-streamed and so reaches a wide audience in the UK and abroad.
Take a look at the highlights videos from some of our previous Demo Days below, to get a flavour of what it’s all about!
Alumni programme
After graduating, our startups join a thriving climate innovation community.
As our community of accelerator alumni grows we are increasing our scale-up support service to help companies flourish during the crucial follow-on stages of their development once they leave the programme.
We work closely with Imperial’s Institute for Deep Tech Entrepreneurship and the Imperial Business School to translate their ground-breaking research in this area into practical support for climate startups.
We engage thoughtfully with our startups and wider community to understand the barriers they face and amplify these in wider political and industrial arenas: we are founding members of Cleantech for UK, an initiative that aims to supercharge UK innovation. We are also founding members of the Climate Tech Policy Coalition, which represents cleantech startups in the policy space.
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.
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.