Northern Gritstone

It was a game of two halves, before the actual game of two halves ⚽   Yesterday Northern Gritstone held its third annual AGM & Investor Day at The University of Sheffield.   Our keynote speakers focused on growth, capital to support growth, and the importance of research and innovation from our universities   “Private capital is an engine for growth and a force for good across all parts of the country. Getting the capital matters” Thank you Michael Moore, Chief Executive of the British Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (BVCA) for highlighting the importance of growth for all regions in the UK and that we have the ingredients to galvanise growth -  the universities, the entrepreneurial mindset and the pension fund capital.   Louis Taylor, CEO of the British Business Bank, highlighted the Bank’s values and strategy, including growth for smaller businesses in deprived areas of the UK.    The second half saw the CEOs of six early-stage science and technology companies highlight how their companies can improve our lives – whether our health outcomes or the security of our data. Thank you to:     Amanda Smith from Pencil Biosciences Limited a biotech company developing an innovative non-CRISPR gene modulation platform technology that can edit the DNA in any cell   Sheena Macpherson from adsilico Limited a computational medicine company aiming to define, disrupt and dominate the in-silico trials industry through its end-to-end platform  David Rajan from Opteran, which has developed natural intelligence software to enable robots and autonomous vehicles to move around like nature (insects for example)   Nick New from Optalysys which is creating a unique technology that can process data whilst still encrypted James Trenholme from Cavero Quantum which has developed secure quantum-safe software-based cryptographic keys Andrew Almond from Imperagen which is reimagining every step of the enzyme engineering process to develop the world’s fastest and most scalable enzyme-engineering platform   Thank you Sheffield 💛 Our venue for 2025 is Manchester 💜 See you then.  Photography by Laure Divisia-Astill

"Keir Starmer's in-tray: what UK businesses need now". Thank you Richard Parris at startups.co.uk for including Northern Gritstone's Duncan Johnson among the voices of academic and business leaders in his latest piece. The North needs well-paid high-skilled jobs. We have world-class universities and their spinouts are attracting more investing. That's the right direction. So what else does the North need for its science and tech communities to thrive? Better rail services to connect the innovators, entrepreneurs and investors of Leeds, Manchester and Sheffield. Right direction, but quicker. Read the full article https://bit.ly/4bzhXxg #profitwithpurpose

📢 Portfolio news. Northern Gritstone has invested in Cavero Quantum, a spin-out from the University of Leeds.   Imagine a world in which all of our data (internet communications, web browsing, medical data…) are visible to anyone because of quantum computing. The world needs a scalable, universal and unbeatably secure system !   Cavero Quantum has developed a new passwordless encryption technology for secure key generation and authentication. It is compatible with legacy hardware, requires little bandwidth and has the potential to be secure against cyber attacks by quantum computers.   Founded by Professor Ben Varcoe and Dr Frey Wilson, Cavero now begins commercialising its technology with James Trenholme as CEO and Andrew Wallace as Chair. Northern Gritstone is investing alongside Foresight Group. Frey and James were also part of the inaugural cohort of the NG Studios Deeptech Labs accelerator program. To see their pitch to investors and entrepreneurs, follow this 🔗 https://bit.ly/3RKLixC   To read more about the investment deal, go to our website News https://bit.ly/3VZyTrY #profitwithpurpose #deeptech

Creating a new UK investment narrative. Thank you to Cyrus Kapadia, Chief Executive of Lazard UK, for referencing Northern Gritstone is his recent opinion piece in The Telegraph. Cyrus believes that the narrative on private capital investing into the UK needs to become far more positive for good reason - the UK has many strengths and its economy is sorely in need of investment for growth. He highlights the opportunity stemming from the UK's entrepreneurial combination of innovation and research underpinned by its world-class universities. We couldn't agree more. World-class universities are part of the backbone of UK innovation. We invest in and support spinouts from three of these (the Northern Triangle of Leeds, Manchester and Sheffield) precisely because they represent an untapped innovation seam. Since Northern Gritstone's inception, investment into early-stage science and technology-enabled businesses in the North of England has increased tenfold to £300 million (sources: Beauhurst and Northern Gritstone) And that's the narrative for investing into the UK that we believe in. Ambitious founders creating the world-class companies of tomorrow stemming from the world-class science and technology in the North's universities today, for the benefit of UK plc. To read Cyrus' article, go to [paywall] https://lnkd.in/ej_-2-GN #profitwithpurpose

Wonderful news that Professor Shearer West has been appointed as Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Leeds, one of Northern Gritstone's three founding universities and an important strategic partner. We look forward to working with Professor Shearer when she takes up her post.

🏃🏽♀️ On the journey to a Silicon Valley of the North. Thank you Henry Knapman and J.P. Morgan Private Bank for inviting Northern Gritstone to their ‘University spin-outs: Connecting to Capital’ discussion at Mansion House this week. Duncan Johnson joined fellow panellists Karin Immergluck, Andrew Williamson, Priya Guha MBE, Kerry Baldwin, David Rajan, Christopher Harris to give his perspectives on universities in the Northern Powerhouse region and the evolution of a spinout culture.   Duncan’s key takeaways   🎯 There is an increasing focus from the university leadership teams and UKRI on spin-out and other commercialisation activity, aligned with … 🧠 …a generational shift in career path aspirations amongst more junior academics, driven by personal commercial AND purpose and impact motivations 🫱🏽🫲🏽Senior leadership teams are actively pushing for collaboration with local ecosystems. Universities, hospitals, science and technology parks are working together to build the critical mass of activity needed for ecosystem success   The research intensive universities within the Northern Powerhouse are: 🔬 Leeds, Manchester and Sheffield 🔭 Liverpool & Newcastle 🧪York, Durham & Lancaster The annual R&D income across these institutions is c.£1.1 billion (source HESA).   This is something to celebrate and build on. #profitwithpurpose University of Leeds The University of Manchester The University of Sheffield Newcastle University University of Liverpool University of York Lancaster University Durham University

At the end of the last millennium, when the world was fretting about the Millennium Bug (remember that?), Hamish Mair launched Ct Private Equity Trust Plc.   Had you invested £1 back in 1999 with the trust, it would be worth £12.50 today. This makes Hamish one of only a handful of investment managers to have outperformed Warren Buffet over this long period. ⭐   We are proud to have CT Private Equity Trust as as one of Northern Gritstone's shareholders from the very start of our journey and Columbia Threadneedle's backing for our profit with purpose investment philosophy. #profitwithpurpose

🏃🏾♀️ "We're looking to make sure that businesses on the start line are absolutely ready for the journey." Thank you Thierry Heles for inviting Duncan Johnson and Miles Kirby onto the Global University Venturing podcast to discuss the NG Studios Deeptech Labs partnership that is catalysing a Northern tech ecosystem. The full episode is available wherever you get your podcasts, or click on one of these 👇🏾 Apple Podcasts: https://lnkd.in/eYeMAJc2 Spotify: https://lnkd.in/e6n4BZVv Audible: https://lnkd.in/eqF4eQAg Amazon Music: https://lnkd.in/e6BYp3Qx #profitwithpurpose Northern Gritstone #deeptech

Thank you to Jane Wakefield for inviting Duncan Johnson to take part in the UKTN podcast, and for being such an engaging host on the topic of ambition and support for tech startups in the North of England. ➡️ li.sten.to/s6ep9 🔗 #profitwithpurpose #capital+++ #uktech #deeptech

For the past 20 years, Keith Breslauer and PATRON CAPITAL ADVISERS LLP have been at the forefront of the wider purpose and impact that investment businesses can and should have. Northern Gritstone is privileged to have the benefit of Keith's knowledge, experience and drive in this area as an independent member of its Purpose & Impact Committee. Over three days this week, Keith has paddled 87.5 miles across the Channel and along the Normandy beach heads, alongside members of the Royal Marines. Keith has undertaken this journey as a supporter of RMA Paddle Group, marking the 80th anniversary of the D-Day Landings and the enormous sacrifice that the Royal Marines and other Allied servicemen made, at the same time as raising additional funding for the great work the RMA - The Royal Marines Charity undertakes. That has been their purpose.   Thousands of brave men, from different nations, made that journey 80 years ago, including many teenagers. It is hard to imagine how they must have felt.   Well done Keith and the team for your grit in making that journey in their memory. We are proud to have you as a member of the Northern Gritstone family. 💜 #profitwithpurpose