Investing in research excellence

The White Rose Technology Seedcorn Fund is an early stage seedcorn fund, which invests in exciting new technology emerging from the Universities of York, Leeds and Sheffield. Our portfolio of investee companies represent the commercialisation of high quality science and technology combined with professional management teams to produce investor-ready and partner-ready opportunities.

The £9m Fund provides venture capital funding of up to £500,000 to enable the transition from promising research to commercial reality. We help growing companies with management input, advice and experience and bring an investor’s viewpoint to bear at an early stage.

The Fund is actively making investments. We are not limited in the technology area we can invest in and have made a number of investments in areas such as life sciences (vaccines, devices, diagnostics and therapeutics), engineering (e.g. sensors), software and energy. We look for opportunities with exciting growth potential, protectable IP and committed management teams where a seedcorn investment can make the opportunity standalone and/or attractive to later stage investors and trade partners.

We are flexible in how we approach the opportunities given to us and are very happy to discuss good ideas at an early stage.

The Fund is supported by Yorkshire Forward, the Universities of York, Leeds and Sheffield and managed by Aberdeen Asset Managers.