Western Europe
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Amir Rizwan steps away from London Social Ventures as pilot phase concludes
Amir Rizwan has stepped down as director of London Social Ventures, which concluded its two-year pilot phase with a report last month.
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Francis Crick Institute builds out entrepreneurship team
Jo Mills has joined as head of entrepreneurship and KQ Labs, while Ella Moonan Howard and Faye Murphy have also joined the team.
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KfW Capital backs UVC Partners’ growth fund
KfW Capital has backed the UVC Growth Opportunities Fund II, which achieved a first close of €77 million in March.
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Galway promotes Laoise McNamara to vice president for research and innovation
Laoise McNamara has been the head of the School of Engineering at the University of Galway since 2023, having worked for the institution since 2009.
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Ground State Ventures raises $88m, doubles down on quantum globally
Formerly known as QDNL Participations, the firm focuses on quantum technology developers that it sources primarily from university labs.
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Northern Gritstone boosts coffers with £20m as part of rolling close
The British Business Bank has committed another £10 million to Northern Gritstone, which now has £382 million under management.
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Glasgow promotes Morven Fraser-Walther to head of IP and commercialisation
Morven Fraser-Walther has worked for the University of Glasgow since 2019, when she joined to run the Aspect programme.
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ET Capital doubles down on Oxbridge
Having launched a first fund focused on Cambridge in January, ET Capital has quickly followed this up with a second fund aimed at Oxbridge.
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Panel: AI is a recompilation engine
Is AI stealing your creativity? We’re tackling the ethical dilemmas and creative challenges of generative AI across marketing, gaming, and consulting.
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Constantin Coussios to lead innovation at Oxford following historic spinout exit
Constantin Coussios’ spinout OrganOx became the University of Oxford’s largest exit to date last year when it was bought for $1.5 billion.
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Ysios launches €100m fund to fuel Spain’s biotech spinouts
Ysios Capital’s InceptionBio fund will build and invest in biotech spinouts across Spain to establish the country as a life sciences hub.
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Michael Stucky becomes CEO of Swiss Startup Association
Michael Stucky has founded two university spinouts and was founding managing partner of a planned pan-European university venture fund.
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Hetti Barkworth-Nanton: Defence innovation is about protecting the vulnerable
Hetti Barkworth-Nanton, CEO of Ploughshare Innovations and chair of Refuge, explores how security innovation and social impact can coexist.
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Poli360 pushes Fund II to €85m first close
Managed by 360 Capital, the spinout investment fund has a target size of €100 million and will invest in early-stage deeptech spinouts.
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Rachel Simpson starts as director of pan-Scottish commercialisation office ShaKEs
Employed by Queen Margaret University, Rachel Simpson will be based at Abertay University and support knowledge exchange activities across Scotland’s smaller institutions.
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Cambridge x Manchester enlists Faye Holland to lead partnership
Faye Holland brings considerable expertise of the Cambridge cluster in particular to the job, and is a successfully exited founder.
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UVC Partners launches €150m growth fund
The fund already stands at €77 million, and UVC Partners is targeting the end of summer for the final close.
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Brechtje Vreenegoor, Sebastiaan Berendse: In agriculture, spinouts need to reform the whole system
Wageningen University & Research is a truly unique organisation combining a higher education institution with an applied research institute. Listen now to find out what challenges and opportunities this presents.
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Rich Ferrie leaves Royal Veterinary College for Babraham Research Campus
Rich Ferrie is moving on from the RVC’s London Bioscience Innovation Centre after four years to become CEO of the Babraham Research Campus.
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Amanda Selvaratnam joins York St John University to lead knowledge exchange
Amanda Selvaratnam has spent the past 27 years at the University of York, most recently as associate director of research and enterprise and head of enterprise services.
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Rosie Bennett returns to SETsquared as interim executive director
Rosie Bennett had worked for SETsquared from 2017 to 2022, and later followed former colleague Simon Bond to Bristol Innovations.
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UKRI releases report into deepening university-investor links
The review, released today, was written by Tony Hickson and makes four sets of recommendations, including a significant boost to preseed funding.
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Constructor Capital closes $110m Fund I
Constructor Group, which operates the private Constructor University in Germany, plans to invest in seed and series A rounds.
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City St George’s promotes Ian Gibbs to head of IP and commercialisation
Ian Gibbs has worked for City St George’s, University of London since 2017, having served as the head of academic enterprise since 2018.
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UI Investissement raises €60m for PI3 Fund, targets €100 million
UI Investissement has inked partnerships with more than 25 universities and research institutions across Europe.
