SETsquared Partnership has been ranked #3 leading start-up hub in Europe

The SETsquared Partnership has been ranked as the 3rd leading start-up hub in Europe and the top entry from the UK and Ireland by the Financial Times and Statista’s Special Report on Europe’s Leading Start-Up Hubs.

The report ranked 125 start-up hubs across 21 European countries using data and feedback from alumni and independent experts, including investors, and it also examined the success of emerging companies.

SETsquared is recognised for its unique collaboration model across six research-intensive universities and the quality of its place-based support for deep tech start-ups, alongside the scale, expertise, and capabilities that the six universities bring across the South and South West regions.

Professor Jonathan Knight, Vice-President for Enterprise at the University of Bath who is a member of the SETsquared Executive Board, says:

‘I’m delighted that the FT has ranked SETsquared third amongst start-up hubs across Europe, and the top entry from the UK and Ireland. This is an extraordinary achievement for this partnership of six Universities across the South and South West. The outcome will come as no surprise to those who are familiar with the outcomes that SETsquared has produced over the last few years. SETsquared is a powerful force for innovation, speaking on the global scale, and there is much more to come.’

Andrea Kelly, Centre Manager at the University's SETsquared Bath Innovation Centre who leads the SETsquared business acceleration and incubation services and activities for start-ups and spin-outs, says:

‘This is fantastic news, and high praise for all my colleagues across the SETsquared partnership. My team and I are excited to build on this affirmation and continue to nurture founders, foster collaboration and keep building our ecosystem where businesses can flourish.‘

Marty Reid, Executive Director of SETsquared, says:

‘It’s fantastic to be recognised as one of the top three start-up hubs in Europe. It’s a testament to the expertise and hard work from teams across our business acceleration centres and universities and to the culture of collaboration across the ecosystems that we are part of.

We don’t offer cookie-cutter-style acceleration. Our portfolio of support is really built around the diversity of start-up’s needs, bringing together networks of mentors, advisors, and business connections to get ventures investor-ready or engaged in their target markets. We hope this ranking shows the enormous potential of regional ecosystems working together to build the globally leading companies we need to take on our biggest challenges.‘

With six business acceleration centres and a range of sector-based innovation and investment support programmes, SETsquared’s mission is to turn innovation into thriving business. Since 2002, it has supported over 5,000 entrepreneurs working in the most challenging fields of science and technology to raise £4.4bn in investment.

The report, compiled alongside Statista and Sifted, rated each start-up hub based on data and feedback from its alumni across six categories, including mentoring and training development, infrastructure, legal assistance, business development, networking, and funding. Independent experts, including angel investors, VCs, entrepreneurs and academics, also added their evaluations and additional scores were awarded according to the most successful start-ups to have emerged from each hub.

SETsquared ranked in the top three start-up hubs in Europe