- UKAEA commits £20 million to the UK Innovation & Science
Seed Fund (UKI2S) portfolio
- Government-backed seed fund supports early-stage fusion and
deep tech companies emerging from UK research
The UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) has contributed a further
£20 million to the UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund (UKI2S)
to back UK-based spinouts and early-stage companies.
UKI2S is a government-backed seed fund managed by Future Planet
Capital that invests in and grows early-stage deep tech companies
emerging from UK research, helping turn science into commercially
viable businesses.
The investment forms part of a wider £33.25 million funding
increase across three UKI2S sub-funds (Space, Defence and
Fusion), taking the fund's total capacity to £150 million. The
capital includes £9.25 million from the UK Space Agency, £4
million from the Ministry of Defence and £20 million from UKAEA.
The cumulative investment from UKAEA in the UKI2S fund is £28
million.
Tim Bestwick, CEO of UKAEA, said:
It is increasingly recognised that fusion is moving from the
research phase to the build and execution phase and our
investment strategy reflects this.
Innovations from fusion cover a wide range of applications from
space to health, with an increased focus on key strategic
enabling technologies, such as high-temperature superconducting
magnets.
The UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund plays a strategic role
for UKAEA as both a funding mechanism and delivery vehicle, as it
supports the commercialisation of early-stage fusion-relevant
technologies.
The additional funding helps UKI2S's ability to back UK-based
spinouts and early-stage companies across three of the eight
priority sectors in the UK's Modern Industrial Strategy: Defence,
Clean Energy Industries, and Digital and Technologies.
Mark White, Investment Director at Future Planet Capital, said:
The UK produces world-class science and engineering talent, but
commercialising deep tech is exceptionally hard without early
conviction capital.
UKI2S exists to take that risk: backing strategically important
companies ahead of private markets and consistently crowding in
substantial additional investment behind UK innovation. This
continued government backing is a clear vote of confidence in
UKI2S as a delivery vehicle for the Modern Industrial Strategy,
from dual-use defence to frontier clean energy.
UKAEA has been a long-standing supporter of UKI2S having been
among its founding investors in 2003, contributing to the
establishment of the original core seed fund.
This investment builds on that early commitment and reflects the
growing significance of fusion as a safe, sustainable and low
carbon energy source.
The funding also supports the development of fusion-derived
technologies across a range of fields ranging from industrial
control systems to next-generation data centres and medical
isotopes. These innovations have the potential to deliver
significant economic and social benefits to the UK alongside
advancing the development of fusion itself.
