Northern Gritstone secures £215m investment

Northern Gritstone, the new investment business focused on university spin-outs in the north of England, today announces a first close of £215m having seen strong interest from investors in its proposition.

The company, chaired by Lord Jim O’Neill and led by Chief Executive Duncan Johnson, is expected to begin deploying capital and making its first investments in innovative start-ups over the coming weeks.

Jim added, “Today marks a significant milestone as Northern Gritstone continues to build its investor base allowing the company to deliver its philosophy of Profit with Purpose which underpins all we seek to do.

Northern Gritstone has attracted funding commitments from a broad and diverse base of investors encompassing local authority pension funds, high net worth individuals, institutional investors and real estate investors active in the tech and science ecosystem of the region.

These include Greater Manchester Pension Fund and West Yorkshire Pension Fund as part of Northern LGPS, M&G, Columbia Threadneedle, Lansdowne Partners, and Bruntwood as well as Andrew Law, the CEO of Caxton Associates, and Keith Breslauer, Managing Director and founder of Patron Capital, both in a personal capacity.

Cllr Ged Cooney, Chair of Northern LGPS said, “Northern LGPS is pleased to support Northern Gritstone which we see as well positioned to deliver us appropriate risk adjusted returns whilst providing a significant catalyst to economic growth in the North of England utilising the talent from its world class universities.”

With plans to raise £500m overall, having hit this initial fundraising milestone the company will continue to welcome further backers over the coming months.

Having launched in July 2021, Northern Gritstone was founded by the Universities of Leeds, Manchester and Sheffield to support the commercialisation of science and IP-rich businesses originating from these three research-led institutions.

Commenting, Northern Gritstone Chief Executive Duncan Johnson said, “There is rightly huge excitement about the innovative, science-led spin outs emerging from our leading research universities and the ecosystems they support, and this has been reflected in our conversations with investors so far.”