A business accelerators set up by universities in Leeds, Sheffield and Manchester has raised more than £200m from investors.
Northern Gritstone is expected to begin deploying capital and making investments in innovative start-ups in the coming weeks having attracted investment from local authority pension funds, high net worth individuals, institutional investors and real estate investors active in the tech and science ecosystem of the region.
The group hopes to £500m overall, and has closed an initial raise of £215m which it will use to support the commercialisation of science and IP-rich businesses originating from the three universities.
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It is targeting exciting emerging sectors such as advanced materials, health technology, cognitive computation and AI. Businesses likely to be backed will combine attractive returns for shareholders with wider positive, societal and economic impact, including supporting Levelling Up and high-skilled job creation in the north of England.
Chairman Lord Jim O’Neill said: “The strong endorsement of Northern Gritstone we’ve seen from investors is testament to the huge scale of the opportunity in northern England’s world class science and innovation hubs and the spin outs they are producing. By investing in Northern Gritstone, asset managers are directly buying into the brightest prospects for Britain’s future economy.
“Today marks a significant milestone as Northern Gritstone continues to build its investor base allowing the company to deliver its philosophy of Profit with Purpose which underpins all we seek to do.”
Chief executive Duncan Johnson added: “There is rightly huge excitement about the innovative, science-led spin outs emerging from our leading research universities and the ecosystems they support, and this has been reflected in our conversations with investors so far. We are greatly encouraged by both the size of our first close, and also the range and quality of investors that the Northern Gritstone proposition has attracted.
“Whilst fundraising will continue, this first close and the backing that Northern Gritstone has received from investors so far, allows us to begin making our first investments shortly. It also importantly enables us, alongside our friends and colleagues in the wider northern venture ecosystem, to accelerate the development of a northern innovation hub to rival the UK’s Silicon Fen and ultimately Silicon Valley.”
