Northern Gritstone is a UK-based investment company focused on providing growth capital to innovative businesses in the technology and life sciences sectors. It aims to support the scaling of companies with strong intellectual property and high growth potential, particularly those emerging from leading universities and research institutions in the North of England.

Northern Gritstone

Northern Gritstone is a ground-breaking new investment company based in the north of England, founded by the Universities of Leeds, Manchester and Sheffield, three of the UK’s leading educational research establishments. 

It intends to be one of the largest investors into academic spin-outs in the UK dedicated to financing companies in some of the UK’s fastest growing sectors such as advanced materials, energy, health technology and cognitive computation.

Northern Gritstone has invested in Re:course AI, an early-stage deeptech company from the North of England, which is driving innovation in healthcare and life sciences. 
 
Founded by Scott Martin and Maksim Belousov, Re:course AI’s standardised training can improve the speed and consistency of diagnosis and treatment to support healthcare professionals around the world at a time that they are facing increasing time pressures and cost constraints. 
 
The $4.3 million seed funding has been led by Par Equity, with GMC Life Sciences Fund By Praetura Ventures, Rob Wood (founder of STEM Healthcare) and the founders of Current Health also investing.
 
Read more about our latest investment here: https://lnkd.in/eUiKdSqf 

#DeepTech #Healthcare #Innovation

Our CEO Duncan Johnson welcomed Jonathan Reynolds MP and Chi Onwurah to our portfolio company Imperagen’s offices in Manchester last week, along with Andrew Wilkinson, CEO of the University of Manchester Innovation Factory. During the visit, Founder and CEO of Imperagen, Andrew Almond, discussed with Jonathan and Chi Imperagen’s efforts to accelerate the development of enzyme biocatalysts and improve the sustainability of chemical manufacturing. 
 
It was encouraging to hear Jonathan and Chi’s passion for backing start-ups and businesses in the region and discuss the important role that university spinouts can play in driving this. We look forward to working closely with them as we continue to grow our portfolio.
 
Read more about our investment in Imperagen here: https://bit.ly/3qkFVqH
 
#ProfitWithPurpose #AcademicSpinouts #Innovation

Our newest portfolio company Slingshot Simulations is a fantastic example of the innovative northern companies that Northern Gritstone was created to support. It also marks our first investment in a spinout from the University of Leeds, another significant milestone for our business. 
 
We made our investment as part of a £3 million Series A round, alongside Mercia Asset Management PLC and the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund. It will help Slingshot to increase its application offerings and bring its #DigitalTwin technology to a wider range of sustainability-focused businesses. 
 
With endorsements from Digital Economy Minister, Paul Scully, and the Digital Twin Consortium, we are excited by the opportunities that this investment can generate for Slingshot and the wider technology ecosystem in the north of England.
 
Read more about the investment here: https://lnkd.in/efiwJDZY

#ProfitWithPurpose #LevellingUp #Innovation

Northern Gritstone has invested in QV Bioelectronics, the creator of a revolutionary Electric Field Therapy (EFT) implant, GRACE, for the treatment of brain tumours. The company’s cutting-edge technology aims to target dividing cancer cells within the brain, without affecting healthy cells.
 
We have made the investment as part of a £2 million Pre-Series A funding led by the Science Angel Syndicate and Fink Family Office. The funding will allow QV Bioelectronics to support expanded pre-clinical studies for the GRACE implant and take it one step closer to clinical trials. 
 
Read more about our latest investment here: https://lnkd.in/esCkwj-u
 
#ProfitWithPurpose #Innovation #LevellingUp

The new year brings another appointment to the Northern Gritstone team as Andy Naylor joins us as an Investment Director. 
 
Andrew brings over 17 years’ experience of working with spinouts and growing technology businesses. As part of our investment team, he will play a key role in identifying further funding opportunities as we build on last year’s momentum and support more #innovative companies in the North of England.
 
Read more about our latest news here: https://lnkd.in/enQBWd-R 
 
#ProfitWithPurpose #AcademicSpinouts

Phlux Technology is a fantastic example of the exciting new generation of science and technology businesses in the North of England turning research into reality.” – Duncan Johnson, Chief Executive Officer at Northern Gritstone commenting on our latest investment. 
 
Founded at The University of Sheffield and breaking new ground with its unique approach to infrared sensors, Phlux Technology is exactly the type of business that Northern Gritstone was created to support. It uses its research into the semi-metal element, Antimony, to dramatically improve the sensitivity and range of its sensors in LIDAR (light detection and ranging) systems, while reducing the cost of manufacture.
 
Northern Gritstone has invested as part of Phlux’s £4m seed funding round, along with Octopus Ventures, The Foresight Williams Technology Funds and Innovate UK.
 
Read more about our new investment here: https://lnkd.in/eBxcJT9J
 
#AcademicSpinouts #Innovation #DeepTech

Excellent to welcome Alliance Manchester Business School student Himanshu Bansal to Northern Gritstone's office today. Best of luck in your VC career! #investing

Huge congratulations to Iceotope Technologies Limited on winning in both the Innovation in Energy Tech and Judges’ Award categories at the prestigious Pantokrator #CONNECT22 Awards.
 
Since their inception in 2009, the awards have recognised leaders in sustainable technology and the innovations that will play a vital role in the energy transition and meeting net zero carbon goals.
 
In July, Iceotope became one of Northern Gritstone's first investments. Based at The University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, the company’s technology reduces the energy and water required to cool data centre servers, helping to facilitate net zero emissions for the fast-growing data centre industry.

#AcademicSpinouts #ProfitWithPurpose

It’s good to see the UK government formally recognise advanced manufacturing, life sciences, digital technology and green industries in the #AutumnStatement as key priority growth sectors. These are precisely the areas in which Northern Gritstone is backing start-ups and spinouts in the North of England which will drive growth, regeneration and create high-quality jobs over the coming decades.
 
Since the £215m first close of our fundraise six months ago, Northern Gritstone has invested in Opteran, using cutting-edge research on insect behavioural patterns to build the operating system for autonomous machines, Iceotope Technologies Limited, providing a novel solution for data centres to reduce their environmental impact through precision immersion cooling, and Imperagen, developing the world’s fastest enzyme engineering platform for drug discovery.
 
#AcademicSpinouts #ProfitWithPurpose #Innovation

Our Chief Executive Officer, Duncan Johnson, recently sat down with John Morgan from Times Higher Education to discuss Northern Gritstone’s aim to address the major imbalance within the UK economy by funding innovation in the north of England and helping to create businesses that will power the economy for generations to come. 
 
Duncan not only highlights the progress we have already made through our investments in Opteran, Iceotope Technologies Limited and Imperagen, but also shares his thoughts on what is to come as we aim to expand our portfolio in the coming years. 
 
This growth will be key to delivering on our mission of #ProfitWithPurpose by creating world-class businesses and well-paid jobs in the north of England.
 
Read the full article here [paywall]: http://bit.ly/3UFOD0e
 
#AcademicSpinouts #Innovation

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