ABOUT US

Rooted in the North. Global in mindset.

Northern Gritstone is seizing the North of England's innovation opportunity, investing in science and technology startups solving global problems, with the potential to scale worldwide.

Since we began investing in 2022 we have become the Partner of Choice for ambitious entrepreneurs, academics and co-investors, and the share of spinout funding to the North of England has increased fourfold.

We are also helping create a regional innovation ecosystem across the Northern Arc by providing the wrap around support that founding teams need to build their companies and scale at speed. See our NG Innovation Services section.

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What we look for as an investor

We are focused on supporting visionary companies with strong intellectual property which have the ambition to positively change the world, particularly in the areas of deep technology and life sciences.

We have the patience, capital and resources to support companies from their early stages to later growth and seek to be long-term partners of the businesses we back.

When assessing new opportunities, we look for exceptional:

Teams

Technology

Business models that can deliver both profit and purpose

Market potential

We work in partnership with the four Northern Arc universities of Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield. They are some of the world’s top research-led universities and combined have more than 16,000 researchers generating $1 billion (£750 million) in research funding annually, 92% of which is of world-leading or internationally excellent. The four universities rank #1 in terms of UK spinout volume, producing the highest annual volume of spinouts with Higher Education ownership in the UK.

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Our Northern Arc university partnerships

  
    Key research and innovation metrics for Northern Gritstone universities (Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield, Liverpool) and total.
    
        Metric
        University of Leeds
        University of Manchester
        University of Sheffield
        University of Liverpool
        Total
      

    
        % Of Research ‘world leading / internationally excellent’ 3
        90%
        93%
        92%
        91%
        92%
      

        # of Nobel Prizes1
        6
        25
        6
        9
        46
      

        Annual research income £m1
        190
        288
        186
        123
        787
      

        Annual IP income £m2
        1
        3
        49
        3
        56
      

        # of annual patents filed2
        28
        59
        27
        26
        140
      

        # of annual spinouts with university ownership2
        5
        7
        2
        5
        19
      

        # Research & Academic Staff
        3,940
        5,310
        3,795
        3,325
        16,370
      

        # of postgraduates2
        11,765
        15,795
        10,245
        7,805
        45,610
      

  

Key research and innovation metrics for Northern Gritstone universities (Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield, Liverpool) and total.
Metric	University of Leeds	University of Manchester	University of Sheffield	University of Liverpool	Total
% Of Research ‘world leading / internationally excellent’ ³	90%	93%	92%	91%	92%
# of Nobel Prizes¹	6	25	6	9	46
Annual research income £m¹	190	288	186	123	787
Annual IP income £m²	1	3	49	3	56
# of annual patents filed²	28	59	27	26	140
# of annual spinouts with university ownership²	5	7	2	5	19
# Research & Academic Staff	3,940	5,310	3,795	3,325	16,370
# of postgraduates²	11,765	15,795	10,245	7,805	45,610

We also work with early-stage companies based in the North of England outside of the university spinout ecosystem, giving us one of the most exciting opportunity sets there is to invest in.

* Average of 92% of research rated as ‘world leading/internationally excellent’ by the Research Excellence Framework, which compares against 91% for Oxford University and 93% for Cambridge University.
Source: 1 – Universities, 2 – HESA, 3 – Research Excellence Framework.
All data from 2023/24 except 3 which relates to 2021 and is the latest data available.

By backing founders and entrepreneurs to create the businesses of tomorrow from the world-class science and technology that exists in the North of England today, we seek to deliver attractive returns to shareholders and create a world-class ecosystem that is part of the UK’s Innovation Cluster Diamond, from Cambridge, to London, Oxford and to the Northern Arc.

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What drives us -
Profit with purpose

When assessing new opportunities, we look for exceptional:

Teams

Technology

Business models that can deliver both profit and purpose

Market potential

—
What we look for as an investor

We are focused on supporting visionary companies with strong intellectual property which have the ambition to positively change the world, particularly in the areas of deep technology and life sciences.

We have the patience, capital and resources to support companies from their early stages to later growth and seek to be long-term partners of the businesses we back.

—
Shareholders

Northern Gritstone is an independent business owned by its management team, a series of blue chip institutions, several of the largest local authority pension funds in the North of England as well as a number of high net worth individuals. Northern Gritstone’s founding university partners each have a small shareholding.

All our investors are committed to Northern Gritstone’s core philosophy of profit with purpose.

| Northern Gritstone 2023 Investor Day Highlights

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Governance

Northern Gritstone Limited (“NGL”) and its subsidiary entities, together (the “Group”) recognise the importance of sound corporate governance. The Group operate the following governance committees:

Responsible for the day-to-day running of the Group and the execution of its strategy.
Northern Gritstone Investment Manager Limited provides investment management services to NGL, and its Investment Committee is responsible for making all normal course investment, divestment and follow-on investment decisions.
Responsible for ensuring that the financial performance of the Group is appropriately reported and reviewed.

Responsible for determining the Group’s policy on Executive remuneration.
Responsible for designing and overseeing the Group’s Purpose & Impact strategy, providing specialist input and review as required.
Responsible for reviewing the valuations of NGL’s subsidiaries and other investments on a half yearly basis (and otherwise on an exceptional basis).