Practical Support
Development Funding
Through UMIP, sources of further
funding exist to give follow-on
support to exceptional projects with
outstanding commercial potential
which have successfully completed
'Proof-of-Principle' (PoP). These
project finance grants and
"late seed" investments are usually
in the £100k to £750k range and are
used to maintain momentum in a
licence project or spin-out or to
"gear-in" funding beyond the PoP
phase. Funding requirements for
spin-outs tend to be much higher
than for licence projects.
The UMIP Premier Fund (UPF)
primarily makes late-seed stage
investments, in a total of 15-20
companies, initially in the
£250k-£750k range, with both the
intention and capacity to provide
follow-on investment up to £3m. It
is an independent fund, managed by
MTI Partners and has an office on
campus. Its website is
www.theupf.com
UMIP has a regular dialogue about
its deal flow with VCs, business
angels and government agencies in
its network so as to facilitate
effective technology transfer. In
particular, it has access to the UMIP
Premier Fund.
I can see a time when
every city will have one.
An American mayor's reaction to the news
of the invention of the telephone
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