MTI launches new uni VC fund

MTI, the venture capital fund manager which runs the University of Manchester’s UMIP Premier Fund, has confirmed that it is raising money for a new fund dedicated to university spin-outs.

The Orion Fund will be a partnership with three of the UK’s top six universities’ Technology Transfer Offices at the Universoty of Manchester, the University of Edinburgh and University College London.

The fund will also invest with spin-outs from other top universities, building on relationships with Oxford & Cambridge as well as its experience in running the £32m UMIP Premier Fund, which has invested in five graphene-based projects.

MTI also said that it planned an organisational change which would double the number of its investing partners.

Once the Fund has been raised, Sir Richard Heygate, Natasha Oppenheim, Dominic Perks and Paul Ratcliff will join the team as partners. In the meantime, they will work on raising the new fund.

Managing partner at MTI David Ward said: “I’m delighted that we are able to formally announce the Orion Fund alongside the enhancement of the MTI team. Our new partners are all highly experienced operators who add substantially to the MTI skill base in terms of investor networks, strategic consulting backgrounds as well as being well versed in the MTI core value of building technology businesses.”

Sir Richard Heygate said: “This is an ideal time to create a larger and more comprehensive fund.

“The United Kingdom has always been one of the most innovative countries in the world, although sometimes it has lagged behind others in turning this creativity into world-ranking businesses.

“Today, we have some of the highest-ranked universities and business schools, a concentration of leading private equity, venture capital and other investment skills, a government committed to encouraging innovation and a secure economy and currency.”