How Undaunted Helps European Companies Accelerate

July 19, 2023

Thursday marked the second to last day for the Burch group, and it did not disappoint! In the morning we visited Undaunted, a company that supports innovations to mitigate climate change through knowledge exchange and collaboration. Undaunted’s core focus is to uplift startups, and sustain the root of the company: the founder. That is why, unlike most investors, they usually do not take a share of the products/company.

Within Undaunted, there are a few programs to support robust innovation. The largest one, the Grantham Institute, is centered around research policy public engagement. The majority of these reports and outreach are focused on speeding the growth of climate solutions, transforming and growing London’s economy, and learning and adapting from emerging technology. A smaller program that Undaunted operates is the Greenhouse Flagship Program. This program focuses on giving companies one-on-one support and mentorship with climate experts without taking any equity. Each year they select 30 companies, divided into two cohorts. Other than these specific events, Undaunted hosts various networking activities to create community and strengthen the different sectors. The company also holds internships that create direct talent pipelines.

To achieve its mission, Undaunted partners with the Imperial College and Royal Institution, and works with other companies through an accelerated program.; this network is referred to as an ecosystem. To incentivize corporations for partnership, Undaunted has membership offers corporations can opt into. These types of programs allow companies to thrive. Naked Energy, a small energy startup, worked on developing a new photovoltaic (PV) solar incubator. However, they needed additional help with grand funding and incubator support. Undaunted assisted them in getting a private investment, and further funding from the accelerator program.

Regarding financing projects, there is a mix of both private, such as sponsorships from HSBC UK, and public, such as public programming money. Combined types of financing are common in similar European projects, as it allows for a diverse range of partners to collaborate, thus creating a cluster and promoting knowledge exchange. After a very informative presentation, we wrapped up our meeting with a Q&A session.

About the Author

This article was written by Sanjana Venkatraman, Class of 2025, majoring in Environmental Science.