News
The Royal Society announces first close of its Enterprise Fund
25 September 2008
- The UK academy of science establishes national philanthropic fund to support early-stage new technology enterprises and culture of scientific innovation
- Fundraising reaches £5m after significant donations from several of the UK’s most highly respected business leaders
The Royal Society, the independent academy of science for the UK, today announces the first close of its newly established Enterprise Fund, a national effort to support a culture of scientific innovation by investing in early-stage technology business opportunities founded on outstanding science.
The Royal Society believes that innovation is essential in today’s knowledge economy and to bring the maximum benefit of science to pressing human and environmental challenges. By leading this effort, the Society seeks to catalyse a fundamental culture change within the scientific community by encouraging scientists and engineers to seek entrepreneurial applications of their research.
The Society has identified three key gaps within the UK innovation environment: a financing gap for early-stage, seed investments under £2 million; a preparedness gap with technology businesses going to the market for financing too early; and a research gap with comparatively poor funding of physical sciences and engineering ventures.
The Enterprise Fund will encourage this culture change and address these gaps by raising £20 million from donations using a model of venture philanthropy to support science. The philanthropic structure of the Enterprise Fund will enable all financial gains to be returned to the Fund for reinvestment in future scientific innovations, making it a sustainable living endowment. Within 7 months of its launch, The Royal Society is pleased to announce that it has secured donations amounting to over £5 million from a number of the UK’s most highly regarded business leaders, entrepreneurs and philanthropists. Lead donors to the Enterprise Fund include:
- Lord Sainsbury of Turville, former Science Minister and Chair of the Royal Society 350 th Anniversary Campaign
- Roger Brooke, Founder of Candover Investments and a founding director of IP Group
- Adrian Beecroft, Senior Managing Partner of Apax Partners, Member of the Royal Society 350 th Anniversary Campaign Board
- Stelio Stefanou, Former Chairman of Accord Plc
The Royal Society Enterprise Fund will open its doors with effect from today to scientific enterprises and innovators seeking early stage investment of between £250,000 and £2 million. The Fund’s initial focus will be on backing commercially exciting opportunities based on advances in the physical sciences and engineering.
The Fund will be run on a commercial basis and will leverage the unrivalled market and technical assessment capabilities of the Fellows of the Royal Society who represent all areas of science, engineering and medicine. The Fellows form a global scientific network of the highest calibre, which includes nearly 70 Nobel Laureates.
Andrew Mackintosh, Chief Executive of the Royal Society Enterprise Fund, commented: “Our mission is to create a bridge between today’s early scientific ideas and tomorrow’s technological and commercial winners. Early stage ventures present the highest commercial and financial risk and are therefore starved of investment. Our philanthropic structure combined with our highly commercial approach and unrivalled access to the UK science base will unlock new technologies and ideas that will bring significant and lasting economic and societal benefits to the UK.”
Donor and advisor to the Enterprise Fund, Roger Brooke said: “The Enterprise Fund is an exciting, measurable, sustainable and high impact model of philanthropy strengthening science and our future economic health. The Royal Society is uniquely placed to drive this forward. I have become involved to help ensure the UK has a strong future and the fruits of science are brought to society.”
Over the coming months, the Enterprise Fund will seek to raise funds from additional donors towards its target fund size of £20 million. Lead gifts are sought from visionary leaders who wish to support scientific innovation in the UK and will become members of the prestigious Royal Society Presidents’ Circle, joining like-minded leaders who have made major benefactions to the Royal Society’s £100 million 350 th Anniversary Campaign.