Oxford Seed Fund invests in Noise-Cancellation Tech and Fraud Protection Software
Circadian, cyber security software, and Sanctum Technologies, noise cancellation for airplane cabins, are The Oxford Seed Fund’s newest investments. Added to a growing portfolio of high growth ventures including Onfido and Go1, the fund is in its fifth year of providing seed funding to ambitious Oxford-founded start-ups. “The Oxford Seed Fund couldn’t be more excited […]
University of Strathclyde awards £25k in funding as six start-up businesses share prize money
THE entrepreneurs of tomorrow have gained a step up in the business world after winning a share of £25,000 in vital start-up funding. Six were selected as finalists in the University of Strathclyde’s PropTech innovation challenge, sponsored by leading Scots businessman Shaf Rasul – who was named the university’s resident entrepreneur in February. He sponsored […]
Rainbow seed fund & University of Birmingham back promising technology spinout Linear Diagnostics
Rainbow Seed Fund, an early-stage venture capital fund focused on building technology companies from the UK’s research base, announced today an investment into University of Birmingham spinout Linear Diagnostics. The investment was match-funded with an award from the University of Birmingham’s Spinout Investment fund and the company received a total investment of £300,000. The investment will enable Linear […]
Batteries and robotics first in line for Innovate UK BEIS £1bn innovation fund
The Autumn Statement initially outlined the development of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF) – a new cross-disciplinary fund to support collaborations between business and the UK’s science base. The four-year fund will be managed by Innovate UK and research councils, and will cover a broad range of technologies, from healthcare and medicine to satellites and […]
Oxford University’s Spybiotech raises £4m in seed funding to tackle pandemics
An Oxford University company developing a biological superglue to tackle diseases and pandemics has won £4m of early-stage backing from Google’s venture capital arm GV and Oxford Sciences Innovation (OSI), allowing it to spin out into an independent business. Spybiotech has developed a molecular superglue which it believes can be used to create vaccines more quickly […]
Imperial College innovative projects receive funding thanks to new Excellence Fund
In her March 2016 President’s Address, Professor Alice Gast highlighted the importance of excellence in teaching and research. She dedicated £1 million per year to reward excellence while promoting courageous and innovative ideas in research and teaching. This is part of Imperial’s strategic commitment to invest new funds to pursue new and risky ideas. The Excellence […]
Academics to the rescue: University innovation and venturing surges ahead in 2016 in UK
With the relentless barrage of bad news surrounding Brexit, it is perhaps not surprising to hear that the amount of equity finance invested in startups in the UK dropped in 2016. A recent report from equity specialists Beauhurst showed that equity finance into startups declined by 12% in 2016 compared to 2015[i]. There is however, […]
U Cambridge, University College London, and Imperial College London share in first investments from Apollo fund
Stevenage-based Apollo was established in January 2016 by AstraZeneca – now headquartered in Cambridge – GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson Innovation and the technology transfer offices of Imperial College London, University College London and the University of Cambridge. It supports the translation of ground-breaking academic science from within these universities into innovative new drug discovery programmes […]
Campus Capital signs university startup deal with University of Manchester
A venture capital firm has signed a partnership deal with the University of Manchester to identify and back early-stage companies with the potential to become the technology stars of the future. Campus Capital will invest sums from £50,000 to £200,000 into promising businesses both on campus and off campus across the Manchester city region. The […]
SEP Venture Capital donates to University of Strathclyde Entrepreneurs Fund
Venture capital firm Scottish Equity Partners has made a “significant” donation to a fund which invests in business ventures by members of the University of Strathclyde’s community. SEP has made the gift to the Strathclyde Entrepreneurs Fund, which provides early stage investment in companies and ventures run by the University’s staff, students and alumni. [wpipa id=”14035″] The fund has supported […]