The QUBIS Innovation Fund is an SEIS & EIS fund, aimed specifically at funding university spin–out companies.
Between £50k and £150k
Pre-seed
QUBIS Innovation Fund is a Belfast based early stage venture capital fund established by QUBIS Ltd, the commercialisation arm of Queen’s University Belfast. The fund specialises in investing in pre seed and seed stage companies emerging from the university and other research partners. With a strong regional focus, QUBIS Innovation Fund backs innovative start ups and scale ups that address key challenges in areas such as health, sustainable growth, education, climate, and security. The team combines deep investment expertise with strong connections to leading academic institutions, supporting science based and technology driven businesses that deliver both commercial success and positive societal impact.
QUBIS Innovation Fund’s mission is to enable entrepreneurial researchers and drive positive commercial and societal change by investing in and supporting early-stage, science-based businesses. The fund is dedicated to building a vibrant innovation ecosystem by backing companies that deliver measurable impact for communities and the economy, while generating sustainable, long-term growth.
Goals:
QUBIS Innovation Fund aims to:
Values:
QUBIS Innovation Fund’s values centre on integrity, accountability, and long-term stewardship. The fund believes commercial success and social impact go hand in hand, investing only in companies whose business models produce tangible benefits for society and the economy. Internally, QUBIS promotes a culture of transparency, collaboration, and inclusivity, united by a shared commitment to responsible investment. The fund holds itself to high standards of governance and ethical principles, ensuring discipline and purpose inform every decision.
QUBIS Innovation Fund was established by QUBIS Ltd, the commercialisation arm of Queen’s University Belfast, in Belfast. The fund originated from Queen’s University’s ambition, dating back to 1984, to translate pioneering academic research into successful businesses that drive economic and societal benefit. Led by founders and senior managers within QUBIS, including experienced university technology transfer and venture professionals, QUBIS Innovation Fund was created to provide critical early-stage investment and commercial guidance for university spin-outs and research-led start-ups.
QUBIS’s founding team has a strong legacy in Northern Ireland’s innovation ecosystem, with decades of expertise in licensing, technology transfer, and company formation. Notable figures include the team behind QUBIS Ltd itself, whose leadership pioneered spin-out creation and venture support at Queen’s University, helping launch over 100 science-based companies across sectors such as software, life sciences, engineering, and digital technologies. Their professional journeys bring together research commercialisation, startup investment, strategic mentoring, and governance experience.
Under the stewardship of this experienced team, QUBIS Innovation Fund partners with researchers and entrepreneurs to build scalable, innovative businesses that generate measurable societal and economic impact. The fund’s long-term commitment is shaped by deep connections to Queen’s University and the broader research community. This foundation guides QUBIS Innovation Fund’s focus on sustainable growth, ethical governance, and responsible investment, ensuring that every venture supported aligns with the University’s mission to deliver positive change for Northern Ireland and beyond.
QUBIS Innovation Fund invests in early-stage companies developing innovative technologies and solutions that emerge from Queen’s University Belfast and its partner institutions. The fund focuses on ventures that address significant commercial and societal challenges, with particular emphasis on life sciences, artificial intelligence, engineering, physical sciences, and sustainable technologies. Its core objective is to support businesses that translate pioneering academic research into scalable, market-ready products and services, delivering measurable impact for the economy and society while achieving sustainable, profitable growth.
Geographic Scope:
QUBIS Innovation Fund primarily invests in companies based in Northern Ireland and across the wider United Kingdom. While its focus is on ventures with a strong regional presence and growth potential, many supported businesses have solutions with global relevance and the capacity to scale internationally.
Sectors of Interest:
QUBIS Innovation Fund invests across areas that leverage deep technology and scientific expertise, prioritising ventures with potential for high impact and long-term value creation.
Key areas include:
To be considered for investment, companies must meet the following criteria:
QUBIS Innovation Fund follows a structured, multi‑stage assessment process to identify and invest in early stage, research‑led companies with strong commercial potential and measurable societal and economic impact.
The process begins with an initial evaluation of the company’s technology, intellectual property position, business model, market opportunity, and alignment with QUBIS’s mission to translate academic innovation into real‑world solutions. Founders are expected to demonstrate the scientific or technological validity of their proposition, a clear route to product‑market fit, and a credible growth pathway suitable for pre‑seed or seed stage investment.
Following this, QUBIS works closely with the founding team to understand strategic priorities, operational capabilities, and the potential for the innovation to address market needs at scale. The fund assesses each opportunity against its criteria for innovation quality, commercial viability, and positive societal or environmental contribution, ensuring proposals meet rigorous due diligence and ethical investment standards.
If the opportunity advances, QUBIS conducts in‑depth due diligence covering technical validation, market analysis, financial modelling, intellectual property protection, and legal considerations. This includes assessing scalability, competitive positioning, and the potential economic and community benefits, with input sought from sector specialists, investors, or relevant academic experts to test assumptions and validate impact potential.
Finally, the proposal is reviewed by QUBIS’s investment committee, which evaluates all findings to ensure alignment with the fund’s stage parameters, mission, and risk‑return expectations. This disciplined, collaborative approach ensures QUBIS backs ventures with clear market opportunity, innovation excellence, and capacity for long‑term value creation, supported by the fund’s strategic guidance, operational support, and strong links to the Queen’s University innovation ecosystem.
QUBIS Innovation Fund invests in early-stage spin-out and start-up companies emerging from Queen’s University Belfast and partner institutions, supporting ventures with science-based innovation that offer commercial growth and positive societal impact. Some of the most notable portfolio companies include:
Amply Discovery Ltd
Amply Discovery is a life sciences company developing AI-powered platform technologies to accelerate drug discovery and development. Their scalable solutions are designed to improve healthcare outcomes and efficiency, aligning with QUBIS’s focus on health technology innovation and societal benefit. Visit Amply Discovery
Causeway Sensors Ltd
Causeway Sensors develops advanced sensor technology for environmental and industrial applications, enabling precise monitoring and data collection to support cleaner and more efficient processes. Their innovations contribute to sustainability goals, embodying QUBIS’s commitment to net zero and environmental impact. Visit Causeway Sensors
Nuada Ltd
Nuada is a leading carbon capture company dedicated to helping decarbonise hard-to-abate sectors through its next-generation, ultra-energy-efficient capture technology. Nuada’s systems deploy advanced solid adsorbents and vacuum swing technology to efficiently remove CO₂ from industrial emissions, paving the way for zero carbon operations. Their solutions support the green transition in industries such as cement, steel, and chemicals, directly contributing to the UK’s net zero goals. Visit Nuada
Discover more successful investments: Qubis Innovation Fund portfolio.
QUBIS Innovation Fund is primarily supported by private capital raised from a network of local investors, including Queen’s University Belfast alumni, regional angel investors, and private equity partners. The fund was initially launched in 2021 with a capital raise of approximately £1.2 million, drawing significant contributions from the Queen’s alumni community and other committed investors focused on supporting university spin-outs based in Northern Ireland.
The capital is deployed into early-stage, research-led spin-out companies emerging from Queen’s University Belfast and partner institutions, with typical investments ranging from £50,000 to £150,000. QUBIS Innovation Fund acts mainly through minority equity positions, providing not only funding but also strategic mentoring, operational guidance, and strong governance support via board representation to enhance portfolio company development.
Unlike traditional venture capital funds, QUBIS Innovation Fund operates as a SEIS and EIS eligible fund, offering tax reliefs to qualifying investors and aligning investment decisions with rigorous due diligence and impact criteria. The fund’s governance and investment standards emphasise commercial viability, innovation quality, and positive societal and economic impact within Northern Ireland and the wider UK innovation ecosystem.
QUBIS Innovation Fund does not publicly cite government or public sector grant funding as a material source of its capital. Instead, it leverages private sector investment combined with the commercialisation and institutional support offered by Queen’s University Belfast through QUBIS Ltd and partnerships such as Sapphire Capital Partners, which manages the fund.
This private capital model, focused on early-stage technology commercialisation, underpins QUBIS Innovation Fund’s mission to build a thriving research-based innovation ecosystem that generates enduring economic and societal returns in Northern Ireland and beyond.
QUBIS Innovation Fund focuses on early stage investments, targeting primarily pre seed and seed rounds. The fund works with companies that have developed innovative, research based technologies and are positioned to achieve initial market entry and early commercial growth.
Equity:
QUBIS Innovation Fund typically invests on an equity basis with deal sizes ranging from £50,000 to £150,000 per company. It takes minority positions, often acting as lead or co-investor, while providing board representation, strategic mentoring, and operational guidance to support portfolio companies’ growth and scaling plans.
Funds:
The fund was launched in 2021 with an initial raise of around £1.2 million, supported by Queen’s University Belfast alumni, private investors, and regional partners. It operates as a SEIS and EIS qualifying vehicle, ensuring investors can benefit from UK tax incentives while providing vital early stage capital to university spin outs with strong growth potential.
Recent Developments:
In 2022 QUBIS Innovation Fund launched a second Innovation Investment Fund in partnership with Sapphire Capital Partners LLP to continue supporting high potential spin outs from Queen’s University Belfast. Notable portfolio companies include Amply Discovery, an AI driven life sciences company accelerating drug discovery; Causeway Sensors, which develops precision sensing technology for environmental and industrial applications; and Nuada, a climate technology company pioneering next generation carbon capture for heavy industry. The fund continues to focus on scaling research led enterprises that can deliver sustainable commercial success and positive societal impact.
QUBIS Innovation Fund is committed to generating measurable societal and economic impact alongside sustainable commercial returns. The fund embeds responsible investment principles across its selection, due diligence, and portfolio management processes, focusing exclusively on ventures whose innovations deliver tangible benefits to communities, the economy, and, where applicable, the environment. Its mission‑led approach ensures that every investment supports the translation of high‑quality academic research into real‑world solutions that address significant market and societal needs.
QUBIS Innovation Fund measures impact by tracking the achievements of its portfolio companies against clearly defined objectives, such as job creation, revenue growth, knowledge transfer, and contributions to priority sectors including health, sustainable growth, and environmental sustainability. Where relevant, these outcomes are considered in the context of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), ensuring portfolio alignment with globally recognised impact frameworks. The fund works closely with founders to ensure progress is monitored using verifiable data, maintaining transparency and accountability across the investment lifecycle.
The fund adopts a selective investment policy, avoiding companies or activities that conflict with its mission or ethical standards, such as those that could cause environmental harm, compromise public health, or undermine societal wellbeing. QUBIS also supports portfolio companies in adopting strong governance practices, diversity objectives, and responsible business conduct, fostering a culture of entrepreneurial integrity that enhances long‑term value creation and strengthens Northern Ireland’s innovation ecosystem.
QUBIS Innovation Fund actively builds a collaborative community of investors, entrepreneurs, researchers, and industry experts across Northern Ireland, the wider UK, and beyond. Through its network, the fund facilitates knowledge exchange, strategic guidance, and partnership opportunities to accelerate the growth and impact of its portfolio companies.
The fund engages its community through events such as investor meetings, spin‑out showcase days, entrepreneurship workshops, and innovation forums. These activities connect founders with specialist advisors, co‑investors, and potential commercial partners, enabling collaboration, operational support, and capacity building to strengthen the regional innovation ecosystem.
While QUBIS Innovation Fund’s investor base is centred on private individuals, Queen’s University alumni, and regional partners, it maintains transparent and regular communication with its network via updates, progress reports, and portfolio highlights. This promotes ongoing engagement and alignment with the fund’s mission to transform pioneering academic research into commercially viable businesses delivering societal and economic benefit.
By combining capital, expertise, and a connected community, QUBIS Innovation Fund empowers its portfolio companies and partners to create sustainable, high‑impact enterprises that contribute to a thriving knowledge‑based economy in Northern Ireland and the UK.
QUBIS Innovation Fund is led by a highly experienced group of professionals combining deep expertise in university technology commercialisation, early stage venture investment, and science based innovation. United by a shared commitment to scaling research-led businesses that deliver measurable societal and economic impact, the team provides strategic guidance and active partnership to portfolio companies across Northern Ireland, the wider UK, and beyond.
Leadership and Key Team Members:
Additional Team Members:
QUBIS Innovation Fund is also supported by other investment managers, commercialisation specialists, and sector advisors with expertise in intellectual property, market analysis, and portfolio development. This multidisciplinary capability strengthens the fund’s ability to guide spin-outs from inception through to scale.
Learn more on the QUBIS Innovation Fund ‘Our People’ page.
Are you a visionary entrepreneur developing a research led, tech enabled business with measurable societal or economic impact? Discover how QUBIS Innovation Fund can support your growth journey by providing early stage investment alongside strategic partnership. Visit QUBIS Innovation Fund Website.
Stay informed on the latest insights, portfolio updates, and investment opportunities by following QUBIS Innovation Fund on LinkedIn.
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