SETsquared named UK’s top startup hub

The SETsquared Partnership, a unique enterprise collaboration between six universities including the University of Exeter, has been named top startup hub in the UK and Ireland by the Financial Times – and third best in Europe.

The South West-based business incubator received the accolade in a Special Report on Europe’s Leading Start-Up Hubs by the Financial Times and Statista.

SETsquared, a collaboration between the universities of Exeter, Bath, Bristol, Southampton, Surrey and Cardiff University, provides a wide range of support programmes designed to help turn ideas into thriving businesses.

Based at Exeter Science Park, it supports tech-based businesses throughout their lifecycle, from idea through to investment and scale-up and develops entrepreneurial thinking for students, academics and businesses.

With six business acceleration centres and a range of sector-based innovation and investment support programmes, SETsquared has helped more than 5,000 entrepreneurs raise £4.4bn in investment and created 15,600 jobs with an estimated economic impact of £15.7bn since its inception in 2002.

The Financial Times report, compiled alongside Statista and Sifted, 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.