TAKEOFF Seed Fund Launches in Malta

In Malta there is no shortage of good ideas for innovative products and services, nor is there a lack of talented people capable of taking these ideas to market. What is often missing is the practical support and initial funding necessary to take the innovations to a stage where they can attract investment or the […]

UK Tech-out Fund (TSF) Announces Up To £1M Loans to Spin-outs

Local Partnerships has launched a fund to provide public sector spin-outs with access to loans to invest in technology to improve health and social care services. The loans, which will range in value from £250,000 to £1 million, will help spin-outs gain access to finance that they would otherwise be unavailable to them in the […]

Cambridge University sells stake in pharma spin-out for $5.3M

Cambridge University has pocketed millions of pounds on a seed investment it made seven years ago in a company that makes “test tube patients” for drug research. The university made £3.17m, more than 30 times its original investment, after selling its stake in Horizon Discovery, which grows batches of cells containing tailored DNA.

Isis Innovation, University of Oxford seed funded company, NaturalMotion, sold for $527m

Isis Innovation worked with Zoology researcher Torsten Reil to protect his intellectual property, develop a business plan, and introduce first-round investors. The company was spun out in 2001. US social games company Zynga has now finalised the acquisition of Natural Motion for more than $527m, one of the largest transactions ever involving an Oxford spin-out. […]

Two UCD Research Receive €150,000 each From ERC POC Awards

UCD researchers are the most successful Irish based researchers in the latest round of European Research Council (ERC) ‘top-up’ funding or ‘Proof of Concept’ awards. Two of the three Irish based researchers who were awarded one of the thirty-four grants announced by the ERC [today] are based at University College Dublin: Professor Frederic Dias, UCD School of Mathematical Sciences; […]