Cambridge Enterprise and ideaSpace launch new home for startups
The co-working space and founder community, co-located with Cambridge Enterprise at the Entrepreneurship Centre in West Cambridge, will remain focused on creating a community where founders can work to grow their venture and be supported in their development as entrepreneurs and leaders.
ideaSpace West, one of three ideaSpace sites across Cambridge, aims to create the ideal community for early-stage ventures emerging from the University alongside startups from the wider ecosystem.
The space is designed to cater to a diverse range of startup needs, providing an effective and supportive community and enabling a free flow of ideas and innovation.
It is fitted out to respond to new hybrid operating requirements with different working areas, collaboration spaces, digitally equipped meeting rooms and a social & event space to promote connectivity.
ideaSpace became part of the Cambridge Enterprise family in 2023 – a natural evolution for both organisations which allows each to harness the strengths of the other.
ideaSpace and its companies can now leverage Cambridge Enterprise’s commercialisation expertise, knowledge and networks direct. In return, ideaSpace West provides Cambridge Enterprise with the ideal starting point for new ventures. The union brings the communities together and paves the way to ever greater collaborations between the University and its portfolio ventures.
Beyond the physical transformation, ideaSpace West is a symbol of Cambridge Enterprise’s ongoing commitment to fostering innovation, collaboration, and entrepreneurial spirit at Cambridge West.
Joining current and new members, ideaSpace West will also be the home to the recently launched Founders at the University of Cambridge initiative, which is announcing the first cohort for its accelerator programme in the coming weeks.
This first programme will support 10 companies from the University community to take forward their ideas via early stage investment and extensive support leveraging a global alumni network.
ideaSpace welcomed its first member in 2010. It has been home to over 1100 members, including Chris Mitchell of Audio Analytic, Scott White and Richard Price of Pragmatic, Alexandra Grigore, Toby Norman, Tristram Norman and Dan Storisteanu from SimPrints, and Joe Parry from Cambridge Intelligence.
Steve Brierley joined ideaSpace in 2018 after he founded Riverlane. Since then, he has successfully grown the company to 100 people, raised over £38 million in funding, and has recently been awarded an OBE for his services to Quantum Computing.
He said that ideaSpace was a fantastic place to start the company, adding: “You get an almost instant network of people willing to share their experiences of doing the same and I’m still in close contact with many of the people I met there.
“I would often ask a fellow founder over coffee about the problems I was trying to solve or ideas I had for business development. That could be from grand plans to things as simple as recommendations for a good accountant – it all helps and adds up to a significant advantage.”
Ben Hartley, Head of ideaSpace, said: “ideaSpace has built a reputation of helping founders and entrepreneurs to grow and build their businesses by providing a unique community to connect to and a great space to work which will create the perfect environment for these emerging and ambitious ventures.
“The union between ideaSpace and Cambridge Enterprise joins together two pivotal segments of the Cambridge innovation ecosystem. Both organisations are fostering a more collaborative and self-sustaining environment for startups, founders, and entrepreneurs in Cambridge.
“Our new home in Cambridge West embodies this shared vision and we can’t wait to see what the innovators passing through our doors will create.”
• PHOTOGRAPH (from left): Diarmuid O’Brien, CEO at Cambridge Enterprise; Caroline Hyde, Head of Ecosystem, Initiatives and Partnerships at Cambridge Enterprise; and Ben Hartley, Head of ideaSpace. Image courtesy Cambridge Enterprise.