Mercia in tie up with Northern universities

INVESTMENT group Mercia Technologies, which builds, funds and commercialises technology businesses in the UK, has expanded its operations into the North of England through key partnerships with three universities.

The Midlands-based company has forged links with the University of Liverpool and Liverpool John Moores University as well as the University of York.

It takes the total of Mercia’s university partnerships to 14 across the Midlands, the North of England and Scotland.

The three new university partnerships will provide further opportunities for Mercia to tap into the wealth of early stage technology businesses available in the North.
 
Mercia has already expanded its operations to Scotland, with the opening of an Edinburgh office, alongside two partnerships with the University of Strathclyde and Abertay University, announced on October 27.
 
Mercia also plans to open an office in the North in order to work more closely with its partner universities within the region in 2016.

Chief executive Mark Payton said: “Since Mercia Technologies listed on AIM last year, we have seen the number of our university partnerships increase from nine to 14.
 
“At the same time, our third-party funds under management through Mercia Fund Management have grown markedly, enabling us to provide seed and early stage investment capital for a growing portfolio of exciting technology-backed businesses with high growth potential.
    
“Through our Complete Capital Solution we are able to support young and growing businesses via MFM with the potential over the medium to long term to provide material direct investment from Mercia Technologies.
 
“The North of England has a wealth of untapped potential in terms of scalable technology businesses, and we look forward to working closely with the technology transfer teams at each of our new university partners to build, fund, and support the accelerated growth of their promising spinout companies.”