INSIGHTS / News

(Image above shows the team from SETsquared member Anaphite)

SETsquared has been selected as one of the official investment partners to deliver Innovate UK’s £80m Investor Partnerships Future Economy Programme.

The programme enables early-stage innovation-led businesses to raise non-dilutable grant funding, of up to £900k, for R&D projects alongside Angel co-investment.

It builds on the success of both the Future Economy Fund and the Regional Angel Investment Accelerator (RAIA), through which SETsquared has supported 31 companies to raise in excess of £19m in equity investment alongside Innovate UK funding

Marty Reid, Interim Executive Director, SETsquared said: “We are delighted to be continuing our work with Innovate UK and our partner Angel Syndicates to bring much-needed additional funding to high potential companies which are taking on our greatest challenges in areas like Health and Net Zero. The alignment of non-dilutive grant funding with private investment in this programme is a great initiative. It will help investors see greater value in start-ups operating at the cutting edge of technologies that could be considered high-risk.”

Previous Future Economy Fund and RAIA rounds have also acted as important springboards for these businesses to go on and raise further investment.

For example, Scale-Up member Anaphite, which has developed techniques to incorporate graphene into Li-ion battery cathode materials, raised £425k through RAIA (£300k from Angels alongside a grant of £125k from Innovate UK) in 2019 and then went on to raise £1.2m in 2021 and £4.1m in 2022.

How does the Future Economy Fund work?

Following an expression of interest, companies will be selected to apply. If successful, you will benefit from professional support to prepare your grant application to Innovate UK, but please note that you must already have a letter of intent from one of our 11 angel investor partners.

There are currently 11 Angel networks involved in this scheme, all of which are specifically interested in early-stage, deep tech/science-based business investments.

Who can apply?

The Scheme is open to applications from existing SETsquared Scale-Up members and any innovation-led SME with high growth ambitions based in the South, South West, West of England or Wales.

You must be an early-stage business raising investment for an R&D project that meets the Innovate UK criteria of being a feasibility study, industrial research, or experimental development. You must be innovating in the areas of net zero, health & wellbeing or developing the next generation of digital technologies.

Applications are currently open for round one of the scheme and subsequent rounds will open up every 2-3 months until March 2024.

Find out more & apply