Hatch’s mission is to provide support for underrepresented founders through our unique programmes designed by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs.
Our vision is to help build an equitable society with an inclusive ecosystem where everyone has access to the power of entrepreneurship, and in doing so; encourage a fair economy, strong communities, and a better world.
Let's take a look back...
The first Hatch Incubator programme was established to support young entrepreneurs in the London borough of Lambeth into sustainable livelihoods.
More than nine of 10 startups will fail within their first decade without sufficient support.
To level the playing field, Hatch partnered with bigger organisations such as J.P. Morgan to lessen the financial barrier many founders face, especially in the startup years.
From the beginning, Hatch has had a big impact on the businesses it’s supported.
The businesses that went through Hatch’s first Incubator programme had a business survival rate of 95% after their first year and reported an average increase in turnover by 30% after six months and an increase in their customer base of over 56%.
Alongside young entrepreneurs, Hatch has always believed in providing support for founders from all underrepresented communities due to their increased socioeconomic barriers.
In 2014, our cohorts reflected this mission, with 65% of entrepreneurs from black and minority ethnic groups, and 60% identifying as women. Of which, 92% of their enterprises have had a strong social impact.
How about now?
Since 2014, we’ve supported more than 6,700 UK entrepreneurs to flourish, building a vibrant network of partners, funders and investors who share our vision in the process.
This year we delivered support to 744 founders from underrepresented communities, such as founders frome black and minority ethnic groups (71%), women and people of marginalised genders (80%), and young people (26%).
We are also trying to expand our reach to all parts of society with need, reflected through 16% of founders this year reporting that they live with a disability, and 27% being based outside of London.
The majority of founders we support run a business that has some form of social or environmental mission, and every programme is co-designed with the founders who are on it, meaning every cohort is tailored to allow them to tackle their most pressing business challenges.
How do we provide support?
Starting a business is hard, made even more so when there is little access to expertise, funding and networks.
Across all of our support programmes, when we asked founders about the areas of knowledge and expertise that they felt had seen the biggest improvements before and after completing a Hatch programme, these were:
The founder having the ability to manage their wellbeing, up by 120%
The founder feeling they now had the skills and ability to lead their organisation effectively, up by 115%
Having the skills and knowledge to measure and communicate their organisation’s impact, up by 77%
One of the ways we support entrepreneurs is through our cohort programmes, which provide tailored support for founders at every stage of their entrepreneurship journey, from the idea stage, to start-up stage, through to growing and scaling an organisation or business.
Change and improvement were at the heart of our team’s activities last year, ensuring that we continued to evolve our offer of support in line with our programme principles. We focused on increasing the accessibility of our programmes, deepening our impact, and continuing to ensure our delivery was led by our founders’ needs by co-designing the content with participants in each cohort.
Another way we support these founders is through our community programmes, which help businesses at different levels learn vital skills, such as how to source funding, and deepen a business’s impact.
This year was about listening to our founders’ needs and expanding the depth and reach of our community programmes. The founders we work with have such a wealth of knowledge and experience to share, and we’re proud that we’ve been able to provide more opportunities for them to share that expertise back with our community through panel discussions and through the peer mentoring programme.
See what our graduates have to say!
