- 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.