Hundreds of stakeholders gathered at the Accelerator to celebrate its 15th anniversary and unveil it’s newly refurbished ground floor space.
Date: 27 September 2018
Students, staff and businesspeople came together on Tuesday 25 September 2018 to celebrate the 15th anniversary of Accelerator, London Metropolitan University’s specialist business incubator, and to unveil the new ground floor space for the first time.
Based in Hoxton, the Accelerator works with London Met students, staff and graduates of up to five years to help propel business ideas into a reality. The team host a range of different programmes to suit the client’s needs.
Toby Kress, Head of Accelerator, said: “I’m really proud of all the Accelerator team have achieved since its inception in 2003. Over the years, the Accelerator team has worked with businesses to create thousands of jobs, millions of pounds of revenue and profit, and, most importantly, supported hundreds of students to achieve their dream.
“Seeing everyone come together to celebrate the space was just the cherry on top. Thank you to everyone involved for their hard work and continued support of what we do.”
The celebrations saw around 250 stakeholders visit the Accelerator to see the newly refurbished ground floor space for the first time. The space is designed to adopt a more agile approach and encourage collaboration and unity between the businesses who are based at Accelerator.
The furniture inside the space was designed by Furniture and Product Design BA graduate, Herb Palmer, who has since launched his own business.
One of the key challenges start-up businesses in London face is cost of desk spaces. Accelerator aims to combat this by offering desks for a fair and affordable rate. Benefits of working at the Accelerator include flexible contracts, access to a well-connected network, funding advice, PR support and much more.
“Accelerator is a place where the community actually does matter. It's one big family. People help each other out, no matter what you need, more often than not there'll be someone who can help. You have lots of flexibility depending what size space you need and you’re in the hub of Tech City and the people are great,” said Nick Miller, founder of Buzzhire, one of the start-ups based at Accelerator.
Dan Somers, CEO of Warwick Analytics, another start-up based at Accelerator, commented: “Accelerator is a unique place. The team here have created an environment conducive for sharing and exchanging ideas and solutions, with regular networking and facilitation from meeting investors, corporates and each other.”
