North East Innovation Fund

The North East Innovation Fund provided investments of between £50,000 and £500,000 to companies at their earliest stages of development, to help establish the viability of a new product or service. It also invested in more established, revenue-generating businesses looking to significantly scale-up their operations. The fund targeted early-stage, innovative companies with high growth potential, supporting new products, services and business models, with special interests in Digital Technologies, Life Sciences, Clean Energy and Manufacturing — all based across the seven Local Authority areas of North East England. Managed by Northstar Ventures, the fund backed strong teams with scalable opportunities, leveraging Northstar's long track record working alongside digital accelerator programmes and the region's universities. Between April 2018 and December 2024, the Innovation Fund invested over £43m in 137 companies. Where investments of more than £500,000 were required, the fund managers worked with SMEs to identify potential co-investors as part of a syndicate.