Zinc invests in founders creating innovative solutions and building ambitious businesses that tackle the most pressing and complex challenges facing the health of people and the planet.
Up to £300k
Pre-seed
Zinc’s mission is to improve health and the planet by supporting diverse founders to build scalable, science-driven ventures tackling urgent societal and environmental challenges. They provide investment, hands-on support, and a collaborative community to create sustainable, impactful businesses.
Mission: Improving the Health of People and The Planet
Goals:
Values:
Zinc was co-founded in 2017 by Ella Goldner, Paul Kirby, and Saul Klein to address a gap in the ecosystem for mission-driven entrepreneurship. The founders came together with the vision to create a unique platform that supports exceptional individuals, often mid-career professionals frustrated by their limited impact in either commercial or social sectors, to build brand-new, scalable ventures from scratch. Zinc’s model is built around cohorts of diverse entrepreneurs united by a shared mission to tackle big societal issues in health and the environment. The founders aim to combine deep scientific innovation with commercial success, providing intensive hands-on support, investment, and access to a wide network of experts and partners. Their approach helps individuals find co-founders, develop ideas, and launch ventures with strong missions and market potential, fostering a new generation of impactful businesses.
Paul Kirby Co-founder & CEO
Ella Goldner Co-founder & General Manager
Saul Klein Co-founder
Zinc Capital focuses on investing in early-stage, mission-driven ventures that leverage deep science and technology to tackle pressing challenges in health and the environment. Their investment priorities encompass critical areas such as children's and women's health, chronic conditions, mental health, reproductive health, new healthcare models, and environmental sustainability including biomaterials, biodiversity, decarbonisation, and pollution control. Zinc supports founders from pre-team and pre-idea stages by providing capital, co-founders, expert coaching, and access to an extensive network, enabling them to build impactful ventures from scratch. They emphasise diverse and inclusive founder cohorts working on scalable solutions to create positive social and environmental impact.
Zinc’s geographic scope is centered on the UK, as ventures they support must be incorporated there. However, Zinc actively attracts exceptional entrepreneurial talent from across the globe, endorsing UK Startup/Innovator visas to enable founders worldwide to come to the UK and innovate securely for at least two years. While the program operates from its London HQ and ventures start in the UK, many companies in Zinc’s portfolio go on to operate internationally after leaving the Venture Builder program. This global reach combined with a UK incorporation requirement reflects Zinc’s commitment to diversity, innovation, and impact on a global scale through a UK-based mission-driven venture builder model.
Zinc focuses on a wide range of sectors:
Zinc’s investment criteria focus on backing exceptional, diverse founders building science-for-impact ventures in health and environment sectors. They look for ventures with a strong founding team, at least partly assembled but potentially needing key members, and a robust IP, science, or technology foundation that can be further developed and de-risked. Zinc prefers founders with conviction in a significant market opportunity that requires product and commercial validation. They prioritise ventures addressing major societal problems with scalable solutions. Zinc offers up to £250,000 in pre-seed investment alongside intensive hands-on support, including venture building expertise, executive coaching, and access to extensive expert and investor networks. Their approach emphasises long-term partnership, supporting ventures from inception through the first two years to accelerate growth and impact.
Zinc invests in mission-driven ventures focused on health and environmental challenges. They back founders with strong scientific or technological foundations and scalable solutions. Their assessment centers on the team’s conviction, the innovation’s early validation, market opportunity, and alignment with societal impact goals. Zinc supports ventures from inception through launch and early growth stages to accelerate their success. The program emphasizes diverse, ambitious founders tackling significant problems with breakthrough science and technology.
Clyde Hydrogen: Develops and builds advanced green hydrogen production systems using their proprietary decoupled electrolysis technology. This technology safely produces high-pressure green hydrogen at scale by separating hydrogen and oxygen generation, enabling efficient, low-cost hydrogen production directly powered by renewable energy sources like solar and wind. Their systems simplify design, reduce costs, and improve safety and flexibility for large-scale green hydrogen generation. Visit Clyde Hydrogen
Alix: Builds AI-powered workflow automation systems designed to improve housing management and customer service. Their platform uses WhatsApp-based AI agents to automate complex, repetitive tasks such as repairs reporting, tenant triage, and personalised engagement. The technology helps housing providers and other organisations deliver better digital experiences, increase self-service options, enhance efficiency, and provide real-time insights with a user-friendly interface. Project Alix emphasises co-designing with users to create accessible, personalised, and scalable AI solutions that support customer communication and operational efficiencies in the housing sector and beyond. Visit Alix
RideTandem: Provides fully managed, tech-enabled shuttle bus services that connect employees and students to workplaces and educational sites, especially in areas underserved by public transport. Their platform allows passengers to book, track rides, and pay via a mobile app, while employers gain real-time data on usage and carbon emissions. The service improves recruitment, retention, productivity, and sustainability by offering reliable, flexible transport with 24/7 support and route optimisation. RideTandem partners with local transport operators to deliver cost-effective and convenient commutes. Visit RideTandem
Cellestial Health: A preclinical biopharmaceutical company focused on developing innovative therapies for neurodegenerative brain diseases like Parkinson’s. Their approach targets astrocytic networks, a critical but often overlooked aspect of brain function, to halt disease progression rather than just managing symptoms. Using brain-penetrant small molecules, they aim to address both motor and non-motor symptoms. Cellestial Health is dedicated to advancing cutting-edge science to transform the future of brain health and improve patient outcomes. Visit Cellestial Health
Untangle: A support platform that helps people navigate life after the loss of a loved one. Through a community app, it connects users with others who share similar experiences, offers expert practical advice, and provides access to trusted therapists and support groups. The service guides users through emotional challenges and complex logistical tasks like managing funeral arrangements and bereavement-related admin. Untangle also hosts workshops and video support groups to foster connection and healing in a safe, empathetic environment. The goal is to make grief less isolating and help people rebuild their lives with personalised support. Visit Untangle
StepLadder: A UK-based fintech platform that helps people save for financial goals, especially raising a property deposit, through collaborative Savings Circles. Members join groups (Circles) where everyone contributes the same amount monthly, and each month one member receives the pooled funds by random draw, rotating until all have received their target savings. This community approach accelerates savings progress and improves financial discipline. StepLadder offers personalised support, access to specialist knowledge, and exclusive partner discounts. The platform is designed to make homeownership more accessible and help members reach their goals faster, with a typical 90% success rate compared to solo saving. StepLadder also provides a white-label solution for businesses to integrate collaborative savings into their offerings to boost revenue and customer retention. Visit StepLadder
To see more successful companies visit their portfolio.
Zinc Capital’s funding sources include a mix of institutional investors, government support, and leading impact-focused organisations. Their Zinc 2 Fund, which has reached a first close at £28 million and is targeting a final close of £33 million, is anchored by the UK government’s British Business Bank through its Enterprise Capital Funds programme. Other notable investors include Big Society Capital, Molten Ventures, Isomer, Dunhill Medical Trust, Atomico, Anthemis Group, family offices, and various early-stage investors. This diverse investor base supports Zinc’s mission to back mission-driven entrepreneurs building ventures that address major societal challenges in health, environment, and social resilience, with investments typically up to £300,000 per venture.
Zinc invests primarily in early-stage ventures at the pre-seed and inception phases. Their typical equity investment is up to £300,000, usually split into an initial £150,000 followed by a £150,000 follow-on in the next funding round. Zinc’s investment is coupled with hands-on venture building support, expert coaching, and community access. They focus on mission-driven ventures tackling health and environmental challenges using science and technology. Notably, Zinc recently closed a £28 million fund aimed at backing around 500 entrepreneurs and investing in about 100 new ventures.
Zinc Capital’s 2024 Impact Report highlights its success in building a vibrant “Science-for-Impact” ecosystem that supports early-stage ventures addressing critical health and environmental challenges. Zinc’s investments have enabled hundreds of founders to develop scalable solutions with measurable societal benefits. The report emphasises Zinc’s mission to make the UK a leading hub for impactful science-driven startups by fostering collaboration among founders, coaches, experts, and investors. Zinc’s growing portfolio demonstrates strong environmental and health impact potential alongside commercial viability, with ventures tackling climate mitigation, sustainable materials, and transformative health technologies. The report showcases tangible progress in enabling innovation that contributes to a healthier planet and society.
Zinc’s community offers members a vibrant and collaborative environment, including access to a diverse cohort of founders, an extensive network of mentors, industry experts, and investors, and ongoing engagement with partners and portfolio companies. Benefits include a dedicated workspace, programmes for personal and team development, executive coaching, networking events, and business development support. Founders also receive guidance through venture-building processes, fundraising support, and access to non-dilutive capital and valuable partnerships, all designed to accelerate the development of innovative, mission-led ventures.
The team at Zinc is made up of experts from diverse backgrounds including science, technology, venture capital, entrepreneurship, behavioural research, operations, investment, and product development. They work together to support early-stage, science-driven ventures focused on health and the environment, providing founders with guidance, tailored venture-building programmes, investment expertise, and access to a large ecosystem of partners, advisors, and coaches. This multidisciplinary group is dedicated to fostering innovation and driving scalable, impactful solutions to global challenges.
Learn more about the Zinc team here.
Zinc consciously recruits diverse founder cohorts across gender, professional, and cultural backgrounds. They provide targeted support for underrepresented groups and ensure equitable access to networks, coaching, and resources, believing that diversity leads to stronger teams and better solutions.
Zinc invests at the earliest stages, often when founders are pre-idea and pre-team. Initial funding can be up to £300,000 per venture, alongside intensive hands-on support, coaching, access to experts, and venture-building programmes designed to accelerate growth.
Zinc focuses on ventures addressing big challenges in health, environment and social resilience.
Zinc is headquartered in London, with all supported ventures required to incorporate in the UK. However, Zinc recruits founders globally, supporting UK Startup/Innovator visas to enable worldwide entrepreneurial talent to join its programmes and then expand globally from a UK base.
Unlike most VCs, Zinc is also a venture builder. They work with individuals even before they have a business idea, provide a structured environment to build teams, offer practical venture-building support, and remain deeply involved through investment and growth phases. The model blends commercial success with social and environmental missions.
Are you a pioneering green technology founder in search of funding? Discover how Zinc can support your journey by visiting the: Zinc Website.
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