An intellectual property developer is launching a £12 million Investment Partnership in Quantum Technologies having been exclusively selected for funding by UK Research and Innovation, according to a statement from the company.
IP Group plc (LSE: IPO) reports that the up to £6 million of grant funding provided through the accelerator will de-risk and therefore enable matched equity investment into differentiated quantum technology businesses with huge growth potential.
Applications are invited via email at [email protected] from existing businesses but also from interested academics/entrepreneurs who are yet to create a company.
The accelerator is funded through UKRI’s Commercialising Quantum Technologies Challenge – part of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund.
To meet the scheme criteria, a project must exploit second generation quantum techniques or direct supporting technologies. These are defined as the generation or clear control and manipulation of quantum states, resulting in superposition and entanglement (including single photon generation or detection, quantum computing hardware and software based opportunities are all considered in scope) or those technologies which are critical to enable these techniques to become commercially viable and are on the direct critical path of second generation quantum product/service development.
The accelerator will run for a period of four years during which projects can seek grant funding up of £1m from the partnership. This will be matched by equity funding at an amount at least equal to the value of the grant, and all projects must be completed within a maximum of two years from the start date of the award. Dr. Manjari Chandran-Ramesh and Dr. Lee Thornton at IP Group will oversee the management of the scheme including the sourcing and evaluation of opportunities with input from UK Research and Innovation.
“Quantum Technologies are theoretically the most powerful way to perform computations and this cutting-edge field has been an area of interest to IP Group for many years,” said Manjari Chandran-Ramesh, Investment Director leading the Quantum portfolio within IP Group. “In the last decade, key technical progress has meant that the field is ready for commercial ventures to bring the technologies out of the lab and towards the mainstream. Furthermore, the creation and funding of Quantum Hubs has put the UK in a unique position worldwide and the accelerator will leverage this expertise to create bleeding-edge technology businesses. We very much look forward to growing our portfolio in one of the defining high-tech sectors of the next decade.”
Roger McKinlay, ISCF Challenge Director Quantum Technologies at UK Research and Innovation, said the accelerator provides critical support for entrepreneurs at an important time in the quantum industry.
“We are seeing increased levels of market and customer interest in quantum sensing, imaging communications and computing,” said McKinlay. “Even relatively mature product offerings demand levels of investment which the public sector alone cannot meet. I am delighted that IP Group have been selected as Innovate UK’s exclusive partner in the creation of this accelerator fund. It is exactly what this emerging sector requires at this critical stage of its growth.”
IP Group has previously invested in hardware businesses such as Quantum Motion Technologies Ltd and Oxford Quantum Circuits where the team has been closely involved in building the businesses as evidenced by Quantum Motion’s recent £8m oversubscribed fundraising. IP Group is now looking to expand the portfolio, capturing opportunities across the board, from a full stack software solution to hardware and computing to encryption.
