Empirical Ventures, an early-stage deep tech and life sciences fund and venture builder, has secured a £10 million commitment from the British Business Bank, bringing the latter’s total investment in the fund to £15 million.
The fund focuses exclusively on venture scientists in the UK, making preseed and seed investments in spinouts and founders with deep domain expertise who can navigate both fundamental research and commercial applications.
Founded in 2024 by general partners Ben Miles and Johnathan Matlock, Empirical invests in sectors such as advanced materials, techbio, photonics, quantum hardware, robotics, automation, agchem/agtech, and life sciences.
The fund makes use of the UK’s (Seed) Enterprise Investment Scheme, which offers tax breaks to investors in qualifying startups.
“The greatest companies of the next 30 years will be built by scientists. We call them ‘venture scientists’ – founders who bring rigorous scientific methodology to company building. But for too long, these founders have been underestimated or misunderstood by generalist investors.
“This £10 million commitment from the British Business Bank allows us to back these venture scientists with the conviction they deserve. Whether they are in Bristol, Manchester, or Edinburgh, we are here to ensure that the founders capable of rewriting the rules of what’s possible get the resources to do so.”
Johnathan Matlock
Empirical’s co-founders Miles and Matlock used to work for Ziylo, a spinout from the University of Bristol acquired by Novo Nordisk for up to $800 million in 2018.
