Digital entrepreneurs who have secured £500,000 of seed-stage investment have taken up accommodation in Keele University’s latest business facility.

Moneyshake aims to disrupt the online price comparison industry and recently moved into the Smart Innovation Hub*. The move coincided with the official launch of its vehicle leasing comparison service in partnership with industry giant MoneySuperMarket.

The company currently employs four members of staff and is looking to expand significantly within the next 12 months. The founders turned down accommodation options from across the UK in order to base the business at Keele.

“Keele University is a perfect fit for us,” said Eben Lovatt, Moneyshake’s CEO. “The ecosystem is conducive to start-ups like ours, and it means that we can stay local to Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire. We want to give local people the opportunities that weren’t available for us a few years ago, and to prove that there are no limitations to growing a business in this area.

“Through our partnerships with schemes such as Barclays Eagle Labs, we were offered accommodation all over the country, including rent-free options. However, we declined them all in order to be part of the ever-growing business community at Keele.

“We wanted to be located in the heart of an environment full of like-minded individuals, with access to the skills, talent and expertise available within an innovative university, and Keele’s Smart Innovation Hub ticked all of those boxes and more. We’re absolutely delighted that we’ve been able to base ourselves at Keele, and we’re looking forward to growing alongside the University.”

The Smart Innovation Hub offers a unique opportunity for new and innovative businesses and entrepreneurs to grow through collaboration with Keele University’s sector-leading academics and talented students.

Situated at the heart of Keele University’s campus and co-located alongside Keele Business School, the facility has been designed to support the creation and growth of new businesses and encourage more innovation-led business growth. By providing collaborative workspaces alongside office spaces, meeting rooms and social spaces, it aims to stimulate a new more intuitive approach to business and innovation development.

Dr Nick Gostick, Director of the Smart Innovation Hub, added: “To have an exciting, dynamic and growing company such as Moneyshake moving onto the campus is testament to what we are trying to achieve here at Keele.

“The University, and its Science and Innovation Park, is constantly evolving to meet the needs of the local community and beyond. Through the accommodation, bespoke incubation provisions and business support programmes that the Smart Innovation Hub is able to offer, we will now be able to support and work collaboratively with even more local businesses, enabling their growth and bringing more high-value jobs to Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire.”

For more information about the accommodation and support opportunities available at Keele University, please visit www.keele.ac.uk/business.

The Keele University Science & Innovation Park Smart Innovation Hub (Ref: 32R17P01691) / Innovation Centre 6 has been part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund as part of the England Growth Programme 2014-2020, the Midlands Engine and Staffordshire County Council with support from the Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Local Enterprise Partnership.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) (and in London the intermediate body Greater London Authority) is the Managing Authority for European Regional Development Fund. Established by the European Union, the European Regional Development Fund helps local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support innovation, businesses, create jobs and local community regenerations. For more information visit https://www.gov.uk/european-growth-funding.