New fund aims to target investment into northern university spin-outs
Investment firm Northern Gritstone has announced that it has partnered on the launch of a new fund aimed at spin-outs from four north of England universities.
Northern Gritstone has collaborated with Parkwalk Advisors to launch the Northern Universities Venture Fund, a new fund offering investors access to early-stage science and deeptech investment opportunities from the Universities of Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester and Sheffield.
The fund will target investments across sectors such as quantum computing, AI, engineering biology, semiconductors, healthtech and clean technology.
Duncan Johnson, CEO of Northern Gritstone, said “I am convinced that the UK’s first trillion-dollar business will emerge from investing into UK university science and technology.
“The launch of Parkwalk’s Northern Universities Venture Fund is a way to bring untapped innovation from the North of England to a broader investor base.”
The fund will be managed by Parkwalk Advisors, a university spinout investor with over £500m of assets under management.
Moray Wright, CEO of Parkwalk Advisors, said: "This collaboration brings together two of the UK’s leading forces in university commercialisation.
“Parkwalk’s expertise in venture capital and deep tech, combined with Northern Gritstone’s unrivalled university partnerships, means we can offer investors access to an exceptional and underexploited pipeline of innovation,"
Northern Gritstone recently announced further fundraising of £50m from leading institutional investors including Aviva and Fulcrum Asset Management, bringing its total capital commitment to £362m.
The latest collaboration with Parkwalk aims to offer a new investment channel, specifically for high net worth individuals
Lord Jim O’Neill, chair of Northern Gritstone, said " The North’s universities are home to some of the most exciting science and technology coming out of the UK.
“This collaboration with Parkwalk is an opportunity for investors to support what are potentially the next generation of global companies and to support regional growth to the benefit of the UK"
Northern Gritstone announced at the start of this year that it had led a £4m seed investment into robotics software company BOW, a spin-out from the University of Sheffield.
The firm offers a software platform which aims to handle the complexities of robotics and allow developers to “focus on innovation” instead of technical challenges.
Analysis released last year from Beauhurst found that both the University of Leeds and the University of Sheffield had placed in the top rankings for investment into university spin-outs in 2023.
Based on the number of equity deals secured by the spin-out companies, both institutions came in the top 20 of all UK universities.
The University of Sheffield placed fourth on the list, with 17 equity deals, while the University of Leeds placed 13th, with 11 equity deals.