Mercia Ventures

🏆 A huge congratulations to Symphony Commerce who were winners of the Investment Award at last night’s North West Business of the Year Awards! The award recognises the £2million round Mercia Venturesled earlier this year, backing founders Kevin Jones, Stewart Reynolds, Matt Smith (CEO) and Ella L. (CFO), as they tackle one of retail’s biggest challenges - the complexity of managing and scaling e-commerce infrastructure. Symphony is giving brands the freedom to grow without limits, and it’s brilliant to see the team’s hard work recognised. We’re proud to support such ambitious founders who are building the next generation of Northern tech success stories. 👏 Thanks to TheBusinessDesk.com for a fantastic evening celebrating innovation and investment across the region. 🚀 If you’re an ambitious founder looking for investment and a long-term partner to help you scale, speak to Mercia Ventures…https://hubs.li/Q03NTQ4X0 #NPIF #BackingFounders #NorthWestBusinessAwards #EcommerceInnovation #PortfolioSuccess | British Business Bank North of England | Robert Hornby - Mercia Ventures Dawn Tyler - Mercia Ventures

🔬In Orthopedics, half of all patients have low bone mass, but 90% go undiagnosed. That’s the problem Naitive set out to solve. Dr Will Briggs, founder of Naitive, saw a critical gap in care and built OsteoSight, an AI-powered solution that transforms routine X-rays into actionable insights. With OsteoSight, orthopedic surgeons can now detect poor bone health directly within their imaging workflow, enabling earlier intervention and supporting better outcomes. 💡 Naitive’s innovation lies in using what’s already available to uncover what had previously been invisible. 🚀 OsteoSight is one of just 160 FDA breakthrough-designated devices to reach market. That’s a testament to the team’s vision, execution, and impact. Backed by Mercia Ventures, Naitive is redefining how care is delivered, making invisible risks visible and giving clinicians the tools they need to act. 🎥 Watch the full video: https://lnkd.in/esbjPKQD #HealthTech #Orthopedics #AI #Healthcare #FDABreakthrough #NaitiveTechnologies #Osteosight #FounderLed | Cat Kelly Tom Beale

New VC / Tech Report Alert 🛎 Q3 UK Innovation Update by HSBC Innovation Banking & Dealroom.co 📝 Q3 was a monster quarter for UK innovation 🚀 📈 $9B raised - second highest Q3 ever 📊 $17.3B YTD - already matching 2024’s full-year total 💳 Fintech leads with $5.3B raised 🌍 45% of funding rounds happened outside London As Will Clark - Mercia Ventures, puts it: “UK innovation is thriving far beyond London... This broadening of the UK’s tech ecosystem is creating new jobs, attracting global capital and driving record growth. The UK’s strength lies in its diversity and its future will be shaped by ambitious founders and investors from every corner of the country.” 📥 Download the full report: https://hubs.li/Q03NJybj0 💬 Calling all founders - if you want to connect with our Mercia Ventures team or explore venture capital solutions visit our website https://hubs.li/Q03NJwkM0

If you’ve never spoken to an investor before, our Open Door sessions are made for you. At Mercia Ventures, we know the first step can feel the hardest, so we’ve made it simple. A 30-minute, informal chat with one of our investors gives you the chance to: • Share your idea, however early it is • Ask questions about funding or the startup journey • Get practical, honest feedback with no pressure to pitch It’s about opening a door, not closing one. 📅 Book your first conversation with Investor, Ruth Coleman: https://hubs.li/Q03Nq5GJ0 #MerciaVentures #OpenDoor #FirstTimeFounder #StartupSupport #UKStartups #VentureCapital

Most people think Tourette’s is “the swearing disease.” In reality, only 1 in 10 people with Tourette’s swear. The recently released, 'I Swear' - a film that shows the truth, the people behind the headlines and the hope of new technology. Mercia Ventures portfolio company Neupulse's device gives people instant relief from tics without effort or suppression. Worn like a simple wristwatch, it uses gentle stimulation to calm the part of the brain that drives tics. For 300,000 people in the UK alone, this could change everything. 🎥 Watch the film and learn what’s possible. #MEIF | British Business Bank Midlands

Solving tomorrow’s cyber threats, today 🔐 Sitehop, the Sheffield-founded deep tech startup, has raised £7.5m in its latest round, bringing total funding to £13.5m, to scale its UK sovereign encryption solution. As cyberattacks grow and quantum computing threatens to break traditional encryption, networks risk becoming slower, less secure and energy hungry. Sitehop’s SAFEseries™ hardware-based system encrypts data at lightning speed, with ultra-low latency, low energy use, and quantum-resilient security. It is already proven with BT and live across five countries. Mercia Ventures alongside Northern Gritstone, Amadeus Capital Partners, Manta Ray Ventures backed the round, supporting founders Melissa Chambers (CEO) and Ben Harper (CTO) as they scale globally. Mercia Ventures has supported Sitehop since 2022. Melissa Chambers says: “This funding lets us grow in the UK while building world-leading sovereign encryption and accelerating international expansion.” ➡️ Read more: https://hubs.li/Q03NdGqB0 #NPIF #Founders #DeepTech #CyberSecurity #QuantumTech #MerciaVentures #UKInnovation | British Business Bank North of England

Confidence. Relief. Hope. That’s the feedback we hear most often when people try the Mercia Ventures-backed Neupulse device. In just minutes, it can quiet the urge that drives Tourette’s tics. It’s not about changing people. It’s about giving them choice, to go to school, to work, to social events without fear or fatigue. The recently released 'I Swear' which is based on the true story of John Davidson who was diagnosed with Tourette's syndrome, captures that story. It shows Tourette’s as it really is, and what’s possible when science steps in with compassion. Hear from Neupulse Founder & CRO, Dr Barbara Morera and CEO, Paul Cable in this short clip. Watch the film. Share it to spread awareness. #MEIF | British Business Bank Midlands

From a kitchen stove to scaling British manufacturing 🔥 What started as two engineers experimenting at home has become a £1.3million raise to reshape how the world makes heat-resistant materials. At High Temperature Material Systems (HTMS), founders Dr Danilo Di Salvo and Dr Richard Grainger have developed a new way to create advanced ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) faster, cleaner and at a fraction of the cost. Their breakthrough means the same materials used on the underside of the Space Shuttle could soon feature in electric vehicle batteries, automotive components and energy systems across the UK. This funding round led by Mercia Ventures and the British Business Bank’s South West Investment Fund will help HTMS: ✅ Open a new production facility ✅ Expand R&D operations ✅ Build a 40-strong team over the next four years As Danilo puts it: “We saw the potential of advanced thermal composites but were frustrated by high costs and a lack of a UK supply chain. This raise is a huge step for British manufacturing and for making world-leading materials accessible to more industries.” HTMS is proof of what happens when curiosity meets commercial focus and how the next generation of deep tech founders are driving industrial change from the ground up. Read more: https://hubs.li/Q03MTT5Y0 #MEIF #Founders #DeepTech #AdvancedMaterials #BritishManufacturing #Innovation #VentureCapital | British Business Bank Midlands

🏆 Big news in chemistry and a big moment for climate tech! The 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar M. Yaghi for their pioneering work on metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) a breakthrough molecular architecture that’s transforming how we tackle environmental challenges like carbon capture, water harvesting and pollution control. MOFs are porous materials with vast internal surface areas (imagine a teaspoon of powder with the surface area of two tennis courts!) Their ability to trap and store gases makes them a game-changer in the fight against climate change. 🌱 At Mercia Ventures, we’re proud to support Promethean Particles a portfolio business at the forefront of scaling MOF technology for real-world impact. From carbon capture to clean energy, Promethean is helping turn Nobel-worthy science into industrial solutions. 🔬 This Nobel win highlights the global importance of MOFs, and we’re excited to be backing a UK innovator that’s making it happen. Learn more about Promethean’s work: https://hubs.li/Q03MJ_-F0 #MerciaVentures #PrometheanParticles #MOFs #NobelPrize #ClimateTech #CarbonCapture #GreenInnovation #Sustainability #ChemistryBreakthrough #NetZero

🎉 It’s here! Following yesterday’s teaser, Mercia Ventures is delighted to share that The State of Asian Funding UK Report has officially launched! Led by Bae HQ, this landmark report shines a light on an undocumented segment of the UK startup ecosystem. By combining funding round data with unique insights from their community, it sets a powerful baseline to track progress and push for meaningful change. 📊 The report doesn’t just highlight the challenges, it offers clear, actionable recommendations for policymakers and the wider ecosystem. Mercia Ventures is proud to support this important work. Let’s keep the momentum going! 📥 Download your copy here: https://hubs.li/Q03MJbrf0 #AsianFundingUK #StartupEcosystem #BaeHQ #Innovation #Inclusion #FundingWithoutBarriers #UKStartups