MassChallenge UK and the JPMorgan Chase East London Business Booster Finale
LONDON (April 5, 2017): MassChallenge UK, in partnership with the JP Morgan Chase Foundation, has completed its first East London Business Booster which supported approximately 70 small businesses over the last six months. Participating entrepreneurs received more than 1,500 hours of support from top mentors, networking events, and access to high energy, tailored workshops with industry experts. The programme included in a recruiting event where the participating businesses pitched their businesses to prospective talent and a finale event today at JP Morgan’s Canary Wharf offices.
MassChallenge and JPMorgan Chase partnered on the East London Business Booster with the shared goal of empowering East London entrepreneurs across a diverse range of backgrounds. The programme drew inspiration from elements of the MassChallenge global programme, but tailored to supporting businesses from this locality. Additional community partners including Get Set for Growth, Greater London Enterprise, and Allia, also participated in this programme. Already the East London Business Booster has created 0.8 additional jobs per company that participated sparking local economic benefits. MassChallenge will continue to monitor this and expect this number to accelerate as these businesses grow.
MassChallenge was built on empowering entrepreneurs to make an impact on their communities and the world, said Mike LaRhette, President of MassChallenge. Were fortunate to have a partner like the JP Morgan Chase Foundation who shares the aim to create a healthy and collaborative ecosystem overall, and not just in well-served communities like Silicon Roundabout. This is crucial, because we believe that London will thrive as a result of the collective power of the wider community of entrepreneurs who live and work here every day.
Hang Ho, Head of Philanthropy for Europe, Middle-East and Africa at J.P. Morgan said: Were committed to helping our local community and the success of small business is crucial to that community. Through this new programme, we hope to empower a new set of entrepreneurs across East London and help their small businesses thrive”.
The participating businesses came from a variety of industries and backgrounds, and were based in East London in the boroughs of Hackney, Redbridge, Barking and Dagenham, Newham, Lewisham, or Tower Hamlets, where both MassChallenge UK and JP Morgan Chase are based. In addition to unique programming, participants received free office space for three months at MassChallenges co-working space in Tobacco Dock.
About MassChallenge
MassChallenge is the most startup-friendly accelerator on the planet. No equity and not-for-profit, we are obsessed with helping entrepreneurs across all industries. We also reward the highest-impact startups through a competition to win a portion of several million dollars in equity-free cash awards. Through our global network of accelerators in Boston, the UK, Israel, Switzerland, and Mexico, and unrivaled access to our corporate partners, we can have a massive impact – driving growth and creating value the world over. To date, 1,211 MassChallenge alumni have raised over $1.8 billion, generated over $700 million in revenue, and created over 60,000 jobs. For more information, please visit masschallenge.org.
Top MassChallenge UK partners include: JPMorgan Chase Foundation, GCHQ, BCG The Boston Consulting Group, IBM, Satellite Applications Catapult, ViiV, Technology, Taylor Wessing, Crowdcube, Digital Catapult, Tobacco Dock, Eversheds, School of Management Fribourg, Interchange, APCO, Hubspot, UK Business Angels Association, Angels Den, and Tech City UK.
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