Trailblazing Entrepreneurs: 6 Startups to Watch from LSE

I know we had a deal—one business a week.

But I hope you’ll forgive me, because this week I have to tell you about three amazing businesses. And three more next week.

They are the six finalists of the LSE Startup of the Year 2024.

Working with LSE founders over the last four years, I’ve been continually amazed by their incredible achievements and how they carry LSE’s values into their entrepreneurial journeys post-graduation. LSE Generate, the School’s Entrepreneurship center, is on a mission to support LSE entrepreneurs worldwide, and it doesn’t limit its support to recent graduates. Being part of the team has given me the chance to work with an incredible range of founders, from current students to an LSE grad from the '80s, working around the globe.

You might be surprised to learn that LSE produces one of the highest numbers of alumni entrepreneurs among UK universities, with 11% of graduates starting their own business.?

You might be even more surprised that the ventures founded by LSE founders raised over $30bn in venture capital (follow Houghton Street Ventures for more data and stories about LSE entrepreneurship).

This year’s Startup of the Year finalists represent the great variety of businesses LSE founders build, which is why I just had to tell you about them. Starting with three of them this week.

Uman4Uman

When Haja Isatu Bah first moved to Europe, she realized that, like many women in her home country, Sierra Leone, she experienced period poverty. 93% of women there start their period without any knowledge of menstrual hygiene and 2 out 5 girls skip school when on their period. Unfortunately, this is a very common problem with period poverty affecting 500 million women globally.

On a mission to change that, Haja created Uman4Uman, a social enterprise offering sustainable, durable, and affordable reusable period pads and educational programs. The product only costs 9 dollars and lasts for three years, and her programs have equipped thousands of women with knowledge about their bodies and health.

Currently, Haja is expanding beyond Sierra Leone into the Mano River Union, so if you have any connections there - let her know.

Tyred

You can often hear me talk about how the founders need to get their hands dirty, and Lancelot Hoare is doing just that. Literally.

At this year’s Selection Day for our accelerator, he jumped out to go fix one of the judges’ bikes parked outside the venue.

Alongside his brilliant team, he is working on growing tyred, an on-demand micromobility repair service. Starting with bikes and expanding into other micromobility means of transport, such as wheelchairs.

The proposition is super straightforward - if you have a puncture or any other problem with your bike and need a mechanic - they will come to you. No bringing your bike for a shop anymore!

Or if you manage a big building with lots of bikes parked, they can offer on-site B2B services, as well. They have a fleet of mechanics roaming around the city to support you when you need them the most.

If you have a bike, manage a fleet of bikes, or a building in London - do reach out to them.

Flare

In his pitch, Daniel Parekh-Hill told us a beautiful story about his entrepreneurship journey.?

Back at LSE (many winters ago), he started Kickstart Global on a mission to help student entrepreneurs from across different universities. Since then, the program supported thousands of student founders across London, the UK, and beyond.

A fun fact is that I originally got connected to LSE Generate through someone I met while mentoring on Kickstart.

Daniel didn’t stop there; he then built a solution to help students understand their student loans. And then he went to Entrepreneur First where he met Alex Hooper. And together, they started Flare - Future Delivery.

Flare is an e-commerce infrastructure company. As a customer, you can order in advance, which can be essential for things like baby clothes, furniture, and more. As a business, you gain visibility and can manage your stock and cash better. This is a win-win, and it also leads to reducing waste, which is a big problem in e-commerce.

I remember the early days when we were yet to see how this actually works. And now we know that it does so spectacularly. Flare’s clients see great order volume come through the platform and a significant increase in revenue.

So if you run an e-commerce store and are not yet a Flare customer - do reach out.

I’ve had the pleasure of working with the founders of these amazing businesses across a few different programs and had a chance to accelerate them alongside Tim Deeson, Ruben Portz, Rosie Turner, and the wonderful LSE Generate team. And it’s been an absolute pleasure seeing them grow day by day, month by month, year by year.

If there is something you think you can help these founders with, just get in touch.

And next week, I will tell you about the other three amazing startups in this year’s final.

See you then for another edition of Small Business Fridays,

Lisa