To mark World Entrepreneurs’ Day, we spoke to Marion Bernard to hear about her journey and insights into the world of venture and growth investments. As the Chief Investment Officer at Northern Gritstone, Marion brings a wealth of experience in supporting academic entrepreneurs and fostering innovation in the North of England
Watch Marion’s “From Bench to Market” top tips for Academic Entrepreneurs (2 mins):
Hi Marion, thanks so much for your time. Let’s get started. Can you tell us about your career journey and what led you to your current role as Chief Investment Officer at Northern Gritstone
I jumped at the chance to join Northern Gritstone in January 2022. As well as having direct experience in investing in spinouts in the North of England, I have worked in various investment roles in London and have seen first-hand the imbalance of funding coming into the “Northern Triangle” (Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield) compared to the “Golden Triangle” (London, Cambridge, Oxford).
I have also worked for impact-orientated venture funds so our focus on “Profit with Purpose” strongly resonates with me.
By backing academic entrepreneurs and supporting them to build globally successful companies we can create attractive financial returns for our shareholders and, as importantly, positive societal and economic impact for the region.
After graduating from the University of Newcastle, my first 10 years were focused on learning the investment trade in both banking and equity roles, initially with Barclays Bank plc and later with 3i plc, with a focus on early-stage life science investments in the 3i technology group. The second decade of my career focused on impact investing, initially with Impax Asset Management and then with NorthStar Ventures and more latterly with Firmament Group, a US fund focused on “doing good as well as doing well”.
I also have experience in building successful investment companies, having been part of the leadership team at BGF when it first launched in 2011. Every previous role has direct relevance to my current role, and as Chief Investment Officer at Northern Gritstone I am proud to be working with academic entrepreneurs from the Universities of Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield to help them achieve global success!
Manchester skyline, panoramic aerial shot taken from Heaton Park. Source: Adobe Stock
Your focus on “Profit with Purpose” and addressing the funding imbalance in the North is inspiring. What inspired you to focus on venture and growth investments, especially in the context of supporting academic entrepreneurs and spinouts?
In the world of finance, working in venture and growth investments is where you get the opportunity to back teams to create amazing companies. I am always inspired by the entrepreneurs I work with, in particular academic founders who create spinout opportunities. This is at the sharp end of the venture and growth investment activity.
Working with the team at Northern Gritstone to help release science and innovation into the world, to make a real difference to people’s lives is so rewarding – delivering both profit for our shareholders and purpose for the North of England. I am always learning, and no day is ever the same. I think that variety and challenge is part of what inspires me to focus in this area.
The idea of making a real difference while delivering returns is powerful. Considering the impact you’ve already made, could you share some of the most rewarding experiences in your career so far?
I am going to pick one from just the other day, where a CEO from one of our portfolio companies said that he truly felt that the approach of Northern Gritstone was super valuable and game changing.
Seeing Northern Gritstone come to life and make the difference that we know we can, spurs us on to continue investing in more amazing opportunities and expand our support for entrepreneurs.
It’s wonderful to hear about the positive feedback from entrepreneurs and how Northern Gritstone is already making a significant impact. This brings us to the core of your work—supporting academic entrepreneurs. Could you elaborate on the specific support and resources that Northern Gritstone provides to these innovators?
Northern Gritstone is an investment company. At its most basic level, an academic has an innovative idea for a product or service and we fund it. By doing so, we are helping create science and technology spinouts building on the world-class innovation that exists today in the North of England.
Our vision over the long-term is to create a Silicon Valley of the North by investing in people, teams and their ideas, by helping companies to grow and by bringing co-investors into the region.
This is happening. In 2019, before Northern Gritstone existed, less than 3% of the investment into academic spinouts was coming to the North. Since we started investing in 2022, investment has increased tenfold into the North’s early-stage science and technology companies.
Our investment philosophy is ‘profit with purpose’, which means we want to maximise returns for our shareholders with wider societal and economic impact. We want the benefits of investing to flow back into the local economy through well-paid job creation.
We fund companies but very importantly we also support them by offering our expertise and advice and by introducing them to a broader community of experts, wherever we can.
So my point here, is that although the money is important, equally as important is the support.
Our NG Studios accelerator program is one example. This is a ten-week program that takes a very early-stage academic spin-out (often just a couple of academic entrepreneurs per company) and helps them accelerate the creation of their company and get ready for the investment community i.e. knowing their value proposition, their business strategy and milestones, and their potential customers.
Collaboration is key. How does Northern Gritstone work with the University of Manchester Innovation Factory to foster innovation and commercialisation?
The Innovation Factory is the conduit for the ‘opportunity set’ of potential spinouts as they work closely with academic founders and will bring Northern Gritstone in when there might be an opportunity to create a spinout.
Northern Gritstone’s team is based at UoMIF once a week and is happy to be involved from an early stage in the process. We provide direct early stage feedback and ideas for how best to translate the science, innovation or technology into a business, and work closely with UoMIF to put in place the pre spin out toolkit to help make the spin out funding process as smooth as possible.
There’s also an educational piece. The Innovation Factory and Northern Gritstone work together with academic researchers to create awareness of commercialisation options. We are keen to foster innovation and commercialisation and will work closely in partnership with UoMIF to help provide the information and knowledge on the “why” to do this and the “how” so that the academic entrepreneurial journey can get started.
Thank you, Marion. And finally, the close partnership between Northern Gritstone and the University of Manchester Innovation Factory is essential for turning academic ideas into impactful businesses. What are some of the future initiatives or plans at Northern Gritstone aimed at further supporting academic entrepreneurship?
Northern Gritstone works closely in partnership with UoMIF and there is a rolling programme of events where you can meet us and learn more about the opportunity to build a new company based around science, research and innovation stemming from the University of Manchester. Imperagen was the first University of Manchester spin out funded by Northern Gritstone and we are looking forward to backing many more going forward.
In addition to our embedded spin out investment activity, we have launched NG Innovation Services. This is the ‘Capital+++’ or the support part as we like to call it. NGIS covers three areas:
(1) NG Studios – our 10 week accelerator program, which I’ve mentioned already and which we’ll be running again this autumn after a successful spring 2024 cohort
(2) NG Talent Services – this recognises the importance of people (the talent) in the companies we invest in. We will support companies at all stages and help them to be equipped with the talent they need to successfully grow their company into a game-changing, international organisation.
(3) NG Business Services – helps companies put in place the infrastructure they need i.e. the fundamental business support services such as IT, HR, Finance, and Insurance. More to come on the providers we have selected to support us, later this year.
