Tag Archives: University of Edinburgh

News

University supported energy innovator IONATE secures £3.3m investment

Key investors include University of Edinburgh venture funders Old College Capital

Deep-tech energy innovator IONATE has secured £3.3 million after a round of seed financing investment. The company, which has been supported by Edinburgh Innovations (EI), the University of Edinburgh’s commercialisation service, was founded in 2019 by its CEO Matthew Williams.

The finance round, which included investment from the University of Edinburgh’s venture fund, Old College Capital, was led by deep-tech investor IQ Capital, with additional support from Smartworks, the investment arm of leading Austrian energy supplier Wien Group, cleantech impact VC Cycle Group, and deep-tech climate investor Zero Carbon Capital.

IONATE‘s patented technology resolves key power quality issues associated with energy decarbonisation. It also boosts reliability and productivity of connected assets, including renewable generators and battery storage, as well as the distribution grid itself, enabling the low-carbon energy transition on multiple fronts. The UK Energy Innovation Centre recently recognised IONATE with the 2022 Future Energy System Award for its impact in driving forward ‘the energy systems transition’ with industry experts and utility judges characterising the company’s technology as ‘ground-breaking innovation’.

IONATE has a long-standing association with the University of Edinburgh’s School of Engineering with the company’s engineers working in close collaboration with the team of Professor Michaël Merlin. Following the award of a Smart Scotland Grant from Scottish Enterprise in 2020, Professor Merlin and his team, with support from EI, helped develop the first prototype of IONATE’s Hybrid Intelligent Transformer (HIT), which was built in the university’s labs. IONATE subsequently led a successful application in partnership with the university through the Eureka Globalstars programme, securing additional grant funding from Innovate UK to scale the technology to grid power levels.

The company is also currently co-sponsoring a University of Edinburgh PhD studentship with the support of an Energy Technology Partnership Grant.

IONATE will use the proceeds from this investment round to scale its operations and deliver its pioneering hardware-software power flow control solution to electricity distribution grids, renewables generation projects and energy storage assets. The company is currently working with its UK-based manufacturing partner to finalise the full-scale version of HIT, its proprietary hardware. HIT devices will be deployed in parallel proof-of-concept trials across multiple geographies, scheduled to begin next year.

 

IONATE’s CEO Matthew Williams said: “IONATE has been very fortunate to enjoy the support and expertise of Edinburgh Innovations and the University’s School of Engineering. They have been key in our success of transforming the initial idea into fully functioning technology in less than three years, and I hope to work together for many years to come.

“This investment round will enable us to commercialise our offering and realise IONATE’s role as a technology leader in the journey towards Net Zero. I’m very excited for the next chapter and to work side-by-side with our investors and partners on what promises to be a time of extraordinary development and growth.”

 

Andrea Young, Head of Investment at Old College Capital said; “We are delighted to join this seed round alongside a specialist syndicate of investors led by IQ Capital. IONATE has developed an elegant technology solution, able to help power grids manage major challenges associated with the energy transition. There’s an urgent need for its control technology as the transition towards clean energy is driving enormous growth in electrification, renewable generation, and electric vehicle charging.”

 

John Jeffrey, Head of Business Development for the College of Science and Engineering at Edinburgh Innovations said: “We are proud to support IONATE’s commercial development leveraging the close links between the company and the University’s School of Engineering. Through this partnership, our team, led by Professor Michael Merlin, has helped the company develop its technology to the stage where it is now a scalable business. Along with our Old College Capital colleagues, we are excited to see IONATE embark on this next stage of growth as it takes its technology out of the lab and deploys it at industrial scale.”

Charity & CSR, Healthcare, News

Cancer Research Horizons renews partnership with Edinburgh University entrepreneur incubator programme

Cancer Research Horizons, the innovation engine of Cancer Research UK, the world’s largest independent cancer research organisation is renewing its partnership with the University of Edinburgh’s flagship Venture Builder Incubator which supports the commercialisation of data-driven PhD research.

Cancer Research Horizons, through its Entrepreneurial Programmes, will sponsor ten places for cancer-related research projects from across the UK to take part on this 16-week programme which aims to drive academic entrepreneurship by supporting PhD students and early career researchers to develop their business ideas, build their skills and secure funding.

In 2021, the first year of the Cancer Research Horizons collaboration, eight companies operating in the field of cancer were selected as start-ups for the incubator.

For the second year running, Cancer Research Horizons’ continued support for PhD students and researchers will play an important role in accelerating the commercialisation of ideas aimed at conquering cancer.

Laura Bernal, Venture Builder Incubator Programme Manager, said: “We are delighted to be partnering with Cancer Research Horizons again this year. Our Incubator programme is designed to help fledgling entrepreneurs across all sectors of business build their skills and take their businesses to the next level and through continuing to build our relationship with the brilliant team at Cancer Research Horizons, we can ensure that we are supporting the commercialisation of vital research across 10 cancer-related projects this year.”

The Venture Builder Incubator, delivered by the Bayes Centre, the University of Edinburgh’s world-leading innovation hub for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, on behalf of the University’s five Data-Driven Innovation Hubs and Edinburgh Innovations, the commercialisation service of the University, will start later this year and builds on the success of the previous cohorts which have seen considerable success, attracting £1.8m in funding in the last 12 months.

Previous oncology-related ventures focused on developing early diagnosis tools and less invasive testing to enable improved outcomes for people affected by cancer. They included: OncoAssign, a precision medicine startup integrating AI and onco-diagnostics to deliver accurate treatment prediction; 10zyme, a start-up devising a simple method of detecting cancers through urine or saliva samples; ForceBiology, developers of a versatile, more accurate and cost-effective high throughput drug-screening platform for cancer and Therapevo, a screening platform striving to fill the gap between research and the medical testing of new therapeutic strategies.

Commenting on her experience as a participant in last year’s cohort, Estefania Esposito, Co-founder of Therapevo, said: “Being introduced to a network of Venture Builder cohorts past and present was invaluable. They all had different backgrounds, and even when they had similar backgrounds, they all added something: an experience, an idea or an opinion.”

Dr Alessia Errico, Associate Director of Search and Evaluation, and Entrepreneurial Programmes Lead at Cancer Research Horizon said: “We want to inspire the next generation of scientific entrepreneurs in the field of cancer research as well as inspiring cultural change within the industry, so working alongside Edinburgh University and theirData Driven Innovation programme provides us with the perfect platform to do this.

“Supporting entrepreneurs on the journey from an ideation to venture creation is one of the most important things that we can do, so we are excited about what this next year will bring.”

The Venture Builder Incubator is designed to help fledgling entrepreneurs across all sectors build their skills and take their businesses to the next level.  Start-ups are chosen after an application process which is open to PhD students, early career researchers and academic staff from the University of Edinburgh or Heriot-Watt University, as well as early career researchers focused on cancer-related projects from across the UK.

Each startup is provided with £2,000 as well as business support through a series of workshops, networking events, mentoring, peer-to-peer learnings and access to the University of Edinburgh’s entrepreneurial ecosystem and its data expertise.

Applications have now opened for the Venture Builder Incubator 3.0. For more information visit https://edinburghdde.com/dde-programmes/venture-builder-incubator-2 The early bird deadline for applications is Friday 22nd July and those entering before this date are guaranteed application feedback and the chance to resubmit their proposal and an invitation to a Bayes Centre Community Event. The final deadline for applications is Friday 9 September.