Mercia Fund Management (Mercia) is delighted to announce that it has been invited to partner with Innovate UK’s £8.5million Investment Accelerator initiative, a pilot programme which provides simultaneous grant funding and venture capital.

Investment is targeted at innovative early stage companies which operate in infrastructure or health and life sciences. Mercia will join six other organisations which will provide private sector investment alongside grants injecting up to £150,000 into successfully selected companies.

Mercia will consider applications from companies that support infrastructure systems, as well as the health and life sciences sector from which it already has an expansive portfolio, including AIM listed Concepta PLC, Oxford Genetics and The Native Antigen Company.

Peter Dines, Head of Life Sciences and Bio-sciences at Mercia, said:

“I am delighted that Mercia has been invited as a partner for this programme. Innovate UK has very clear aims in the delivery of this project and we believe that Mercia is well positioned to help fund and scale innovative applications into commercial opportunities. We look forward to reviewing new opportunities as they arise and working alongside Innovate and other partners.”

The programme will bring private investors into Innovate UK grant-funded companies earlier, giving companies greater confidence that investment will continue after the project funding.

A briefing for interested applicants will take place on Monday 15th May. The registration deadline is 28th June and the final application deadline is 5th July 2017. Further details can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/funding-competition-investment-accelerator-pilot