London Social Ventures

Only one week to go until our next Impact Meet-up! 🎉 Our Impact Meet-ups bring together London’s vibrant impact ecosystem — a space to connect with fellow members of the LSV community, including social entrepreneurs, programme partners, and others driving social change across the city. Each Meet-up features insights from experts on key topics in the social venture space. Next week, we’re excited to welcome Raheem Manan from the Growth Impact Fund, who will be speaking on “Your Social Venture Funding Journey: Exploring Your Options and How to Access Them.” There'll also be refreshments kindly supported by Mishcon de Reya LLP. If you’re a university social entrepreneur or someone interested in supporting them, we’d love for you to join us. 👉 Express your interest here, and we’ll be in touch with more details: https://lnkd.in/eZ44Sp2K

💡 From Sparking Ideas to Building Ventures — and Now, Validating Them At London Social Ventures, we’ve spent the past year helping early-stage founders and researchers turn ideas into impact through our Spark and Build programmes. We’ve learned a lot about what helps ventures take off, where they get stuck, and how to design support that bridges the gap between early ideation and sustainable growth. Our latest blog shares those lessons and introduces the next step in that journey: LSV Validate. A new programme focused on testing assumptions, engaging stakeholders, and building traction before ventures move on to our later-stage Catalyst programme. 🔗 Read the full piece: https://lnkd.in/eyqpwwtH 🚀 We’re now looking for 10 ventures to join the first cohort of LSV Validate, launching this January. Do you want support to validate your social venture’s market and identify a clear path to impact? 👉 Express your interest here: https://lnkd.in/e2QcXR4g Reach out to us for more information, or to recommend a social venture from your university for LSV Validate. #SocialVentures #ImpactInnovation #UniversityEntrepreneurship #LSVValidate #SocialImpact #StartupSupport David Miller Dr Vicky McGuinness Claire Renwick Lucy Nicholson Richard Taylor Amy McDonnell Andy Colley Wenming Ji Justine Kenyon FRSA Anthony Crowther 🎧 Carl Thomas

📣 Register your interest: Practical training for university staff who support social ventures! LSV have partnered with ImpactU to develop a new training offer for those supporting university social ventures. This training will give participants: ✴️ Clarity on the unique challenges and opportunities of social ventures vs traditional start-ups. ✴️Practical social venture support tools to help founders validate ideas, explore markets, and design impactful business models. ✴️Knowledge of key frameworks like Theory of Change, impact measurement & funding models. ✴️Confidence in supporting early-stage entrepreneurs. ✴️A peer network to share real-world challenges and solutions with colleagues across the UK. 👩💼 Who it’s for: enterprise, TTO, and KE professionals supporting student or researcher-led social ventures. 📝Learn more about the training offer, give feedback and register your interest here: https://lnkd.in/dcJy_MAW #SocialImpact #KnowledgeExchange #UniversityEnterprise #TechTransfer #HigherEdInnovation

Why do so many university social ventures struggle to grow? Despite being rooted in research and purpose, many face funding gaps, fragmented support, and tough barriers to reaching the market. One way forward is through stronger ecosystems. London Social Ventures, in collaboration with The Social Investment Consultancy (TSIC) is developing the structures and impact frameworks that provide founders with the support they need to transform their ideas into ventures that deliver tangible change. This blog explores how universities, when supported in the right way, can become powerful drivers of social innovation. Read it here 👉 https://lnkd.in/eJDb2bQe #SocialImpact #UniversityVentures #ImpactMeasurement #TSIC

Delighted today to join Grow London Local this morning at the University of East London, Royal Docks Centre for Sustainability (RDCS) within the TerraDock - Sustainable Business Incubation Centre. Connecting with like-minded founders and entrepreneurs from across East London and beyond, building connections, knowledge exchange and offering support amongst a community with similar goals and interests. Our very own Sayema Monnan was in the room and great to be supporting at London Social Ventures! Lots of specialised advice was on offer, including through the business support managers. Brilliant opportunity for so many conversations, networking amongst inspiring founders and connecting with university-led ventures. Always a privilege to partner with supporters of the London ecosystem that enable these early-stage start-up social ventures to scale their impact, through such purpose-driven collaborations and support their future growth! #LondonSocialVentures #RoyalDocks #Socialventures #Innovation #GrowLondonLocal #LondonUniversities #Partnerships #Collaboration

Last week we officially launched the Adult Social Care Impact Launchpad at the Digital Care Summit 🎉 Together with our programme partners Care City, we led an interactive session exploring the journey of research-backed ideas from universities to real-life care settings. You can read more about our learnings from the session in this new blog on our website: https://lnkd.in/eJwkX4Y4 The Impact Launchpad is all about supporting that journey - moving from research-backed innovations into practice to create real impact in adult social care across London. We also announced our first two exciting pilots: 🔹 Dementia Awareness for South Asian Communities – led by Faiza Gul Durrani (Queen Mary University of London), developing a culturally appropriate toolkit to reduce stigma, improve understanding, and support families to make informed choices about dementia. 🔹 Storysharing® in Care Homes – led by Dr. Nicola Grove (University of East London), bringing structured storytelling into care homes to strengthen communication, connection, and agency for older adults and people with communication challenges. What’s Next? Over the coming months, we’ll be working with both teams to test, adapt, and refine these approaches directly in community and care home settings — capturing learning that can inform adoption across the sector. We’ll be sharing updates, stories, and insights along the way. 👉 Read more about the pilots and our launch here: https://lnkd.in/eJwkX4Y4 NHS England Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) Digital Care Hub Rainmaking David Miller Gail May Rix Inclusive Research Institute #ImpactLaunchpad #SocialCare #ResearchToPractice #DementiaAwareness #Storysharing #InclusiveInnovation #LondonSocialVentures