Grow your startup with the Hatchery incubator programme

Full Job Description

The Hatchery is UCL’s equity free incubator, providing co-working space, resources and support to help your startup succeed.

About The Hatchery Programme

The Hatchery is a 2-year incubator programme for UCL students and recent graduates, located at BaseKX, UCL’s dedicated entrepreneurship hub in King’s Cross.

New cohorts join the Hatchery twice a year, in spring and autumn. (Our next cohort will start in October 2026).

Starting with an 8-week induction programme, Hatchery members have access to a range of benefits to help drive their startup’s growth.

If you have an innovative solution that you want to push toward commercial reality, we’re committed to helping you make that happen.

Induction Programme

For the first 8 weeks of the programme, you’ll attend a series of workshops and induction sessions. These will set you up with essential entrepreneurial skills and help you connect with your cohort and other Hatchery founders.

Each week you’ll attend two in-person workshops - one on a Monday lunch time and one on a Thursday evening - as well as at least one online session.

All sessions are compulsory, and only startups who can commit at least one team member to attending all sessions are eligible for the programme.

Hatchery Benefits

Throughout your 2-year membership of the Hatchery, you’ll receive continuous support, tailored to your startup’s needs, including:

• regular workshops: access to specialised workshops and training events to hone your business skills
• professional advice: access to one-on-one meetings with experienced entrepreneurship advisors across a range of areas including sales, intellectual property, legal support and marketing
• dedicated mentorship: personalised guidance from a dedicated mentor invested in your success
• funding: when you’re ready to start fundraising, you’ll gain access to the Hatchery’s wide investor network
• networking: opportunities to connect with subject matter experts, founders, investors and mentors through various events
• facilities: access to up to four hot desks for your team in our dedicated co-working space at BaseKX, and ability to book meeting rooms and host events in our event space for free
• interns: opportunities to employ fully funded interns to support your startup.

The Hatchery gave me so much more than just practical support to grow my business. Being surrounded by an ambitious community of founders kept me accountable, inspired and constantly learning. I also loved the team and the space - they made it feel like there was always someone in your corner.”

Maahika Singh, BA Geography (International Programme), Founder & CEO of Empower Sounds Media

Key Dates

Applications close: Monday, 31 August 2026.

Interviews (in-person): 16 and 17 September 2026.

Induction programme launch day: Thursday, 15 October 2026.

Induction programme final day: Thursday, 3 December 2026.

Eligibility

You can apply to the Hatchery if you’re a current UCL student or graduated from UCL within the past 2 years.

Your company must be registered as a legal entity with Companies House before you apply.

At least one team member must commit to attending all induction programme sessions.

How to apply

Applications are currently closed. To be notified when applications open for our next spring cohort, please complete our expression of interest form.

There are 3 steps to the application process:

Step 1: Attend A Group Information Session

Before applying, we recommend you attend one of our online information sessions. At these, you can find out more about the Hatchery and whether your business is at the right stage to benefit from the programme.

Dates will be added here when new sessions are announced.

Step 2: Complete The Online Application Form

When applications for the next cohort open, the application form will be available here.

To understand the information you’ll need to provide in the form, you can download the application questions (Word). We recommend you review this before starting your application.

Step 3: Attend An Interview

If you’re shortlisted, you’ll be invited to showcase your vision and passion to our panel of experts at an in-person, 30-minute interview.

You’ll need to deliver a 5-minute presentation which should cover:

• Problem - What problem are you solving?
• Solution - How does your product/service address this problem?
• Team - Who are you? Why are you the right person/people to solve this problem?
• Motivation - Why you want to be part of the Hatchery and what you’re looking to gain from taking part.

One of the best things about being part of the Hatchery is being surrounded by other UCL entrepreneurs. We ask each other questions, we signpost each other to different bits of support. Having that community is game-changing.

James Della Valle, MSc Architecture graduate and co-founder of BoxxDocks

Hatchery Alumni

BatFast Cricket

Brainpool.AI

Double Dutch

Dr Will's

Enthuse

Flair

In2ScienceUK

Oslr

Oxford Heartbeat

Ricebrother

Stasher

UniBuddy

You can apply to the Hatchery if you’re a current UCL student or graduated from UCL within the past 2 years.

Your company must be registered as a legal entity with Companies House before you apply.

At least one team member must commit to attending all induction programme sessions.

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