About Northern Gritstone
Northern Gritstone is a venture capital firm founded in 2020. It is primarily based out of Manchester, United Kingdom. As of Oct 2026, Northern Gritstone is an active investor, having invested in 38 companies, with 7 new investments in the last 12 months. It primarily invests in Seed round in United Kingdom based startups. Its investments are spread across a wide range of sectors from High Tech to Enterprise Applications and Life Sciences. Most recently it participated in the $***** Seed round of Matter Machine Overall, Northern Gritstone portfolio has seen 1 acquisition, namely Phagenesis. A lot of funds co-invest with Northern Gritstone, with names like Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund sharing a substantial percentage of its portfolio. Northern Gritstone has team of 31 people including 10 partners.Key Metrics
Team Members
Portfolio Sectors
Portfolio Locations
Rounds of Entry
Seed, Series A & 2 more
Portfolio Acquisitions
Portfolio Soonicorns
Deals in last 12 months
Northern Gritstone's List of Top Investments
Northern Gritstone has a portfolio of 38 companies. Their most notable investments are in Floreon Transforming Packaging and IVF Micro Research.Their portfolio spans across and United Kingdom. They have invested in High Tech, Enterprise Applications, Life Sciences and 14 other sectors, across stages such as Seed, Series A and 2 more. Here is the list of top investments by Northern Gritstone:
1. AssetCool
Provider of photonic cooling solutions for power lines.
Key facts about AssetCool
- Founded Year: 2018
- Location: Leeds (United Kingdom)
- Stage: Series A
- Total Funding till date: $16.5M
- Employee Count: 17 as on Apr 30, 2025
- Investors: Energy Impact Partners, Mercia and 8 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series A, Jul 03, 2025, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
2. Optalysys
Provider of AI-powered optical processing technology for big data applications. It designs and develops model simulation units and big data analysis units. Model simulation units will have a specification of multiple petaFLOPs, and Big Data analysis units will have an initial specification of 1.3 petaFLOPs. It also built a scalable and lens-less optical processing prototype that can perform mathematical functions.
Key facts about Optalysys
- Founded Year: 2013
- Location: Leeds (United Kingdom)
- Stage: Series A
- Total Funding till date: $63M
- Employee Count: 39 as on Sep 30, 2026
- Investors: Exor, Verve Ventures and 79 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series A, Jan 22, 2026, $*****
Manufacturer of thin film flexible integrated circuits and electronic components. These ultra-thin chips utilize flexible substrates to enable integration into various physical objects and systems. The production process involves thin-film transistor technology to create circuits that function in environments where traditional rigid silicon chips are unsuitable. These components support applications in sensing, connectivity, and computing for consumer goods, packaging, and industrial automation. The manufacturing platform allows for the creation of high-density interconnects and compact system designs.
Key facts about Pragmatic Semiconductor
- Founded Year: 2010
- Location: Cambridge (United Kingdom)
- Valuation: $*****
- Stage: Series D
- Total Funding till date: $393M
- Employee Count: 333 as on Sep 30, 2026
- Investors: Cerity Partners Ventures, UK Infrastructure Bank and 42 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series D, Dec 05, 2023, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
4. Phagenesis
Developer of medical devices for the treatment of Neurogenic dysphagia. The company has developed the Phagenyx System a neuromodulation system indicated to improve swallowing safety and efficiency to accelerate recovery from post-stroke dysphagia.
Key facts about Phagenesis
- Founded Year: 2007
- Location: Manchester (United Kingdom)
- Stage: Acquired
- Total Funding till date: $62.1M
- Employee Count: 78 as on May 31, 2026
- Investors: Sectoral, EQT and 10 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series D, Mar 04, 2024, $*****
- Highlight: Acquired
5. Iceotope
Manufacturer of precision liquid cooling systems for computer hardware components. These systems utilize dielectric fluid to remove heat from processors, memory, storage, and power supply units. The technology supports high-density computing environments by managing thermal loads and reducing energy consumption. The hardware is designed for deployment in data centers and edge computing facilities to maintain performance levels for intensive workloads.
Key facts about Iceotope
- Founded Year: 2005
- Location: Sheffield (United Kingdom)
- Annual Revenue: £0 - £1M as on Jun 30, 2025
- Valuation: $*****
- Stage: Series B
- Total Funding till date: $107M
- Employee Count: 57 as on Sep 30, 2026
- Investors: Salica Investments, British Patient Capital and 20 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series B, May 14, 2026, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
Northern Gritstone's Year-on-Year Investment Trends
Northern Gritstone has invested in 38 companies over the last 4 years, with an average of 7 new investments annually in the last 3 years. In 2025, it made 9 investments, while as of Oct 2026, it has made 11 investments in this year. Its most recent first time investment was in Matter Machine and most recent follow-on round was in Microlub.Year | No. of Investments | ||
|---|---|---|---|
1st Round | Follow-on | Total | |
2026 (YTD) | 6 | 5 | 11 |
2025 | 7 | 2 | 9 |
2024 | 6 | 1 | 7 |
2023 | 12 | 0 | 12 |
2022 | 5 | 0 | 5 |
Northern Gritstone's Investments by Stage
Northern Gritstone has made 23 investments in Seed stage with an average round size of $4.27M, 9 investments in Series A stage with an average round size of $9.08M, 2 investments in Series B stage with an average round size of $24.6M and 2 investments in Series D stage with an average round size of $136M.Stage of entry | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Seed | 23 |
Series A | 9 |
Series B | 2 |
Series D | 2 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Northern Gritstone's Investments by Sector
Northern Gritstone has a diverse portfolio, with companies operating in the High Tech, Enterprise Applications, Life Sciences, Semiconductors and Sustainability Tech. Notably, it has invested in 29 Tech companies, 28 Enterprise (B2B) companies, 12 Tech hardware companies and at least 11 companies focusing on Software.Sector | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
High Tech | 10 |
Enterprise Applications | 7 |
Life Sciences | 6 |
Semiconductors | 6 |
Sustainability Tech | 6 |
Others | 29 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Northern Gritstone's Investments by Geography
Northern Gritstone has made most investments in United Kingdom (35).Northern Gritstone's recent investments
Northern Gritstone has made 11 investments in 2026 so far. Matter Machine and Microlub are the latest among them.Here are the most recent investments by Northern Gritstone:
Filter this listDate | Company | Location | Round Details | Round Amount | Co-Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Oct 12, 2026 | - | Seed | 7719 | [+4] | |
Sep 21, 2026 | United Kingdom | Series A | 3373 | - | |
Sep 17, 2026 | United Kingdom | Series A | 2662 | - | |
Aug 12, 2026 | United Kingdom | Series A | 3499 | ||
Jul 09, 2026 | United Kingdom | Seed | 9404 | [+2] |
Acquired companies in Northern Gritstone's Portfolio
1 company from Northern Gritstone's portfolio has been acquired. The most recent acquisition was Phagenesis in Sep 2016 by Nestle for $*****.Here are Northern Gritstone's portfolio companies that got acquired most recently:
Company | Acquisition Date | First Invested on | First Round of Investment | Round Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Sep 01, 2016 | Mar 04, 2024 | Series D | 2372 |
Team profile of Northern Gritstone
Northern Gritstone has a team of 31 members including 10 Partners and 9 Principals located in United Kingdom. Northern Gritstone's team sits on the board of 1 company.Here is a list of top team members in Northern Gritstone:
Name | Designation | Location | Board Memberships | Contact Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Partner | London | - | - | |
Partner | Leeds | - | - | |
Partner | Sheffield | - | ||
Partner | London | - | - | |
Partner | London | - | - | |
Partner | - | - | - | |
Partner | - | - | - | |
Partner | London | - | ||
Partner | London | - | - | |
Partner | Manchester | - | - |
Co-investors of Northern Gritstone
Over the past 4 years, 134 investors have co-invested in Northern Gritstone's portfolio companies. This includes funds and angels.
- Invested before Northern Gritstone: Europa, Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund and 55 others have invested in rounds before Northern Gritstone. There are 3 companies where Europa has invested before Northern Gritstone and 3 companies where Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund has invested before Northern Gritstone.
- Top Co-investors of Northern Gritstone: 60 investors entered a company along with Northern Gritstone. These include investors like Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (3 companies).
- Invested after Northern Gritstone: A total of 17 investors have invested in Northern Gritstone's portfolio after their investments. Top Investors include PXN Ventures (3 companies), Empirical Ventures (2 companies) and Energy Impact Partners (1 company).
Recent News related to Northern Gritstone
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MicroLub Secures $10 Million for Fat-Reduced Food TechnologyTech Funding News•Sep 17, 2026•Northern Gritstone
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Northern Gritstone promotes new chief investment officerInsider Media•Jul 16, 2026•Northern Gritstone
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Pixel-Flo Secures €6 Million Seed Funding for MicroLED Display BreakthroughTrending Topics•Jul 09, 2026•Northern Gritstone
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Pixel-Flo Raises £5.25 Million in Seed Round Led by Northern GritstoneStartup Rise EU•Jul 09, 2026•Northern Gritstone, HTGF, Science Creates
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Silveray Raises £5M to Modernize X-ray Technology for Healthcare ApplicationsInsider Media•Jun 18, 2026•Silveray, Future Planet Capital, Empirical Ventures, ACF Investors and 1 other
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Optalysys appoints former Intel executive as CEOBusinessCloud•Jun 18, 2026•Optalysys, Northern Gritstone, imec.xpand
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University of Manchester techbio spin-out secures £5m to power next gen enzyme engineeringInsider Media•May 21, 2026•Northern Gritstone, Imperagen, IQ Capital
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Barclays Climate Ventures backs Iceotope in $26M round for AI data centre coolingTech Funding News•May 14, 2026•Iceotope, Barclays, Northern Gritstone, ABC Impact and 2 others
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Northern Gritstone announces £20m rolling close - Insider MediaInsider Media•Apr 23, 2026•Northern Gritstone, British Business Bank
