Northern universities launch new investment company
The universities of Sheffield, Leeds and Manchester are launching a new investment company to help boost the commercialisation of university spinouts and start-ups in the North of England.
The company, called Northern Gritstone, will fund spinout enterprises from each institution using external capital raised from a range of different investors.
These businesses will either be newly formed spinouts or ones historically founded by or linked to the universities.
The company also aims to be a key part of the government’s ‘Build Back Better’ levelling up agenda and ‘Plan for Growth’ in the North.
The three universities initially came together in 2018 to create the Northern Triangle Initiative and secured a £5 million award from the Research England Connecting Capabilities Fund (CCF).
By 2020, the CCF had supported around 20 commercially viable projects, substantially improving commercialisation rates across the three universities, and generating a sustainable pipeline of university spinouts.
Northern Gritstone will build on the collaboration by providing significant start-up and follow-on funding to support the Intellectual Property (IP) developed at Sheffield, Leeds and Manchester.
Northern Gritstone plans to raise up to £500 million from strategic corporate partners, institutional investors, and qualifying individuals. If successful, the financing will make the company one of the largest dedicated investors into the commercialisation of university science and technology related IP in the UK, says Sheffield University.
The aim will be to provide funding for a diverse range of companies across areas such as advanced materials and manufacturing, health and life sciences, artificial intelligence, and data sciences.
‘The combination of a globally significant cluster of highly innovative activity and large-scale investment power will drive the rapid scale-up of firms at the forefront of sectors based on technologies such as health and life sciences, AI and data analytics, advanced materials and manufacturing,’ says Professor Dave Petley, Vice-President for Innovation at the University of Sheffield.
