Scaleup programmes
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IP Group [2024]
Finance and Risk Capital
Impact for scaleups
65
UK companies backed
38%
Follow-on investments
77%
Investments outside of London
49
Growth-stage investments
Key sectors
Founded in 2001, IP Group is a FTSE 250-listed intellectual property commercialisation company that has supported the development of over 500 businesses. Specialising in life sciences, deeptech and cleantech, it invests in university spin-outs at seed, venture, and growth stages, supporting commercialisation through technology transfer, IP licensing and protection. The Group continues to back its portfolio as companies scale and, through its subsidiary Parkwalk Advisors—the UK’s largest growth-stage EIS fund manager—has invested in over 150 university spin-outs nationwide.
Describing itself as “one of the most active investors in university and other research-based companies in the world,” IP Group has long-term partnerships with 17 UK universities—including Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial and UCL—as well as six in the US and nine in Australia and New Zealand. These relationships underpin its strategy of supporting science and technology-based businesses from inception to maturity, offering expertise in IP, recruitment, and growth funding.
Parkwalk works closely with technology transfer offices and early-stage founders to identify and fund promising innovations at the seed stage, while IP Group provides follow-on capital and scaling support. The Group has also held stakes in Oxford Science Enterprises and Cambridge Innovation Capital, strengthening its access to major UK innovation hubs.
Between January 2017 and June 2024, IP Group invested in 65 UK-based companies across 105 fundraising rounds, with 77% of recipients at the growth stage.
Notable scaleups in its portfolio include C-Capture, developing low-energy carbon capture technology; Navenio, an Oxford spinout applying AI to hospital workforce logistics; Oxford Nanopore Technologies, a leader in real-time DNA and RNA sequencing; and First Light Fusion, advancing a novel approach to commercial fusion energy.
Recent Parkwalk-backed scaleups include Symetrica, specialising in radiation detection; LettUs Grow, in vertical farming; AccelerComm, improving 5G performance; and Wayland Additive, in electron beam 3D printing.
