Cancer Research Horizons Seed Fund

Cancer Research Horizons Seed Fund is sponsored by Cancer Research Horizons (Cancer Research UK). The Cancer Research Horizons Seed Fund is a £15 million investment commitment from Cancer Research UK to provide early-stage capital and venture creation support for promising oncology ventures.

Our Seed Fund | Cancer Research Horizons Accelerating high-potential, early-stage innovations into patient impact through seed funding, expert networks and business building support. Seed Fund committed to date co-investment secured to date Our Seed Fund builds on 25 years of creating and building successful start-ups.

It is a £15m investment commitment from Cancer Research UK, managed by our dedicated Ventures team, to help bridge one of the most challenging stages of start-up creation: attracting early-stage risk capital. Far too many of the breakthroughs still stall in their early stages due to a funding gap between cutting-edge academic cancer research and a start-up becoming ready for scale-up investment.

We invest in promising, early-stage opportunities, sourced from the 4,000 researchers we fund in the UK, and globally through our Cancer Grand Challenges programme, our global partnerships, and the wider research community.

Through this fund we can provide early-stage capital and venture creation support including entrepreneurial training, commercial advice, support with intellectual property, access to experts, mentors and management teams. We also catalyse co-investment to maximise the chances of start-ups becoming financially attractive to investors and benefiting cancer patients.

Our investment decisions are driven by the potential for patient impact – we take risks others can’t, adopting novel and challenging ideas that hold promise for real innovation, meet unmet needs and have the potential to save and enhance lives. Having a sustainable fund that isn’t subject to market fluctuations or shareholder return allows us to take risks others can’t and to take a long-term view.

Our investment remit includes therapeutics, diagnostics, medical devices and data-driven and AI solutions. We provide investments in early-stage oncology ventures, ranging from £50k to £1. 5m.

Investment capital to evaluate and support the technical feasibility and commercial potential of early-stage technologies This applies to pre-company formation or early-stage company validation To assist new company creation and early growth, or further develop a start-up proposition before forming a new company For our seed-invested portfolio companies, we can provide follow-on capital to help drive maturation, where additional capital may incentivise external investment Reach out with your idea.

Our team will work with you to assess the commercial potential of the start-up opportunity and advise on the best way to proceed. Our expert team will support you to ensure we build the most compelling proposition. Depending on the stage, this could include connecting to our network, help with the business plan, or team training suggestions.

Once ready, we'll assist you with completing the application documents and presenting the opportunity for consideration to our independent Investment Committee. Once investment is approved, we'll work with you to put in place all required documentation, secure co-investors where applicable, and implement under flexible models at pace. Our Ventures team have a long-standing track record of sourcing, evaluating and creating start-ups.

They manage the Seed Fund work alongside an independent investment committee to review applications. How we can support you on your journey Entrepreneurial training programmes We help the next generation of scientific entrepreneurs bridge the gap to translate their research. Find out how we can support you.

Set up and build your start-up Whether you have an initial idea or a start-up concept, we can help. We offer access to training, advice, and secure investment opportunities. Our community of entrepreneurs Are you interested in connecting with like-minded entrepreneurs?

We're building a community through events, networking and other opportunities. Find out how we can help you make an impact We'll support you in securing investment for your promising innovation.