We don’t immediately see nurses as entrepreneurs, but they are well-positioned to solve healthcare challenges. Nurses work closely with patients and understand hospital processes, making them ideal innovators in the sector.
Andreia Trigo, Enhanced Fertility founder
26 March 2025
King's support for start-ups is driving economic growth and job creation
A new analysis by Universities UK (UUK) has revealed that by 2028, around 27,000 new start-ups could be established at UK higher education institutions, with a projected turnover of £10.8 billion.
According to the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), the past decade has seen a surge in university-supported start-ups, driven by institutions expanding business incubators and embedding enterprise education into their programmes.
Key findings include:
- 38,750 companies have been launched with university support since 2014.
- Student start-up turnover across the higher education sector has increased by over 750% from 2015 to 2023, while external investment in student start-ups has risen by almost 350%.
- 64,384 people were employed by start-ups that emerged from universities in the 2022-23 academic year, marking a 177% increase over the last decade.
These figures were released as part of UUK’s Unis Start Up the UK campaign, which highlights the crucial role universities play in economic growth and innovation. The campaign calls for sustainable funding for universities to ensure that talent and emerging companies remain in the UK.
King’s is a leading hub for start-up success
The Entrepreneurship Institute at King’s College London, which supports students, staff and alumni in developing entrepreneurial skills and launching and scaling their ventures, was recently ranked the fourth-best university start-up hub in the UK by the Financial Times. Having celebrated its 10th anniversary this month, the institute has backed over 160 ventures and more than 300 founders, who have collectively:
- Generated over £103 million in revenue
- Secured more than £107 million in investment
- Created over 1,300 jobs
Among the successful start-ups emerging from the Institute are Blitzo, a sustainable delivery company providing instant pickup and delivery services within 60 minutes, and Enhanced Fertility, which offers at-home fertility testing kits to speed up infertility diagnosis for both men and women.
Enhanced Fertility founder and King’s graduate Andreia Trigo highlighted the crucial role universities play in supporting experts to innovate and develop real-world solutions.
Alongside supporting start-ups and providing opportunities for businesses to scale, King’s Entrepreneurship Institute offers skills training and peer support networks. This includes the Women Entrepreneurs Network, which is designed for all King’s students, staff and alumni who identify as women or non-binary and wish to develop entrepreneurial skills, share knowledge, and engage with a supportive community.
The tech space is still heavily male-dominated, and so much needs to change. We need to see women in business to understand that we can do it too. We also need equal opportunities to access funding. There’s still a lot of gender and cultural bias; in 2021, all-women founding teams raised only 1.1% of capital.
Andreia Trigo, Enhanced Fertility founder
Globally recognised for excellence in healthcare education and research, King’s is committed to advancing medical technology innovation. In 2019, the university partnered with Guy’s and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust to establish the London Institute for Healthcare Engineering (LIHE). Located within St Thomas’ campus and led by the School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, LIHE combines King’s research expertise, NHS clinical knowledge, and industry leadership to pioneer start-ups and SMEs to accelerate the development of MedTech solutions, a rapidly growing sector that is transforming patient care and driving economic growth.
"Universities provide a foundation for economic growth through the knowledge exchange they conduct and the graduates they educate. Few people realise that they also work closely with businesses to help them grow. Using their equipment, resources, and expertise, they support start-ups, generate their own spin-out companies, and provide practical assistance to help businesses from the wider economy thrive.”
Vivienne Stern MBE, Chief Executive of Universities UK
Universities offer an ideal environment for launching and growing start-ups, and at King’s we have built a thriving community where aspiring entrepreneurs can connect and access a wealth of complementary skills and expertise. Through our support, including mentoring, funding, and a diverse founder’s community, we empower students, staff and alumni across King’s, to develop key entrepreneurial skills to start and scale their ventures successfully. This is reflected in our business survival rate, which is twice the national average.
Julie Devonshire OBE, Director of the Entrepreneurship Institute
Universities UK (UUK) campaign, Unis Start Up the UK, highlights the incredible student start-ups emerging from universities and the essential work universities are doing to support them. The campaign, which spotlights Blitzo and Enhanced Fertility, emphasises the significant role these start-ups play in driving economic growth both nationally and locally by creating jobs, attracting investment, and equipping entrepreneurs with essential skills through incubator hubs.
Find out about King’s Entrepreneurship Institute:
Related departments
- King’s Entrepreneurship Institute
- London Institute for Healthcare Engineering
- School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences
- Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine
- King’s & London
- Faculty of Natural, Mathematical & Engineering Sciences
- King’s alumni
- Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care