A strong market understanding
A sustainable business model
Will funding de-risk the business?
ImpactU Pathfinder Awards
What are the ImpactU Pathfinder Awards?
Investments of up to £40,000 into social ventures affiliated to English universities.
ImpactU is a collective of universities working collaboratively to support and raise awareness of mission-driven businesses emerging from our ecosystems.
ImpactU provides alternative finance on commercial terms to scale research-led ventures affiliated to English Universities with a social or environmental mission.
We aim to invest over £1m into 26 social ventures by the end of 2025.
Why Apply for the ImpactU Awards?
- Founders of social ventures often struggle to secure their first investment because of a misconception that these businesses will not be profitable or will not return capital to investors.
- There are over 100,000 social enterprises in the UK, generating £60bn for the UK economy and creating 2 million jobs to date. And this is only a subset of the social venture ecosystem!
- Social Enterprise UK’s latest report shows that 65% of social enterprises anticipate turnover growth this year and 70% made a profit or broke even in the last year.
- ImpactU provides investment of up to £40k to pre-investment ventures to enable their proof-of-concept and help them secure further funding.
- ImpactU provides capital on commercial terms to demonstrate that these types of investments are commercially viable.
Upcoming Rounds (2025)
Round 4: Feb - April
Round 5: May - July
Applications Open:
Applications Close:
Pitch Training Group Session:
Cash Flow Training:
Award Panel:
Friday 7th February
Monday 10th March
Monday 24th March
Friday 21st March
Thursday 10th April
Applications Open:
Applications Close:
Pitch Training Group Session:
Cash Flow Training:
Award Panel:
Friday 2nd May
Tuesday 27th May
Monday 9th June
Monday 16th June
Thursday 10th July
Is Your Venture Eligible?
- At least one co-founder must be associated with an English member university (check the list here).
- The company’s Articles of Association must include a social or environmental mission statement, addressing any of the Sustainable Development Goals.
- The venture must be incorporated as a Company Limited by Shares or a Company Limited by Guarantee or plan to incorporate as such within two months.
- The company has not received any equity investment.
- The venture may be based on university IP (research or data) or from the enthusiasm and connections within our University communities.
- Founders can come from any academic background, department, and level of education.
- Your application must demonstrate how you will use £40k of investment to propel you to further investment or customers. You cannot use the funding for academic research or legal incorporation costs.
ImpactU will fund promising social ventures tackling any social or environmental problem in any industry using hardware, digital or business model innovations. At the moment, we are especially excited about:
Health
Environment
Community Cohesion
• Equitable access to diagnostics and treatments
• Mitigating the health impacts of pollutants and climate change
• Enabling responsible and ethical research
• Circular economy and responsible use of resources
• Water quality and security
• Access to critical minerals
• Strengthening democracy and fostering peacebuilding efforts
• Equitable access to quality education
• Disability inclusion and supporting caregivers
Investment Criteria
An embedded social purpose
A strong founding team
An innovative solution
Application Process
- After you submit the online application form, our governance team will assess your application.
- Applicants who pass this initial screening will be invited to pitch to our Award Panel, and offered training on financial forecasting and how to pitch.
- Our award panel will assess your application and pitch based on the above criteria. We are looking for a business that can demonstrate how the ImpactU investment can really accelerate their proposition towards seed investment or customer acquisition, or preferably both!
Investment Terms
We make investments of £20-40k into Companies Limited by Shares via a Convertible Loan Note.
From Round 4, we will be able to make unsecured Loans of £10-40k into Companies Limited by Guarantee. We will publish the full terms shortly.
Governance Panel
Colin Poma-Young, Commercialisation Manager at The University of York
Charlotte Rowan, Senior Research Innovation Manager, LSE Innovation
Richard Hazenberg, Professor of Social Innovation at University of Northampton
Emma Salgård Cunha, Associate Commercialisation Director at Cambridge Enterprise
Rachel Abernethy, Social Ventures Lead, Oxford University Innovation
Award Panel
Rosie Turner, co-founder and co-CEO of InChorus Group, a tech for good venture
Chris Blues, Programmes Director at Social Tech Trust
Amy Rennison, Impact Advisor at Pact VC
Emily Arnold, Senior Associate at Founders at the University of Cambridge
Nicholas Andreou, Founding Team at ImpactVC
Further Information:
1. Why are only English Universities eligible for Pathfinder Awards? ImpactU is funded by Research England so focuses on delivering support in England. As our training can be delivered online, we are able to offer this more broadly.
2. How can a university become a member of ImpactU? Universities can sign up via this Microsoft form. No formal contract is required, only a key contact point and a desire to support any applicants of the Pathfinder Awards.
3. Who is responsible for the governance of ImpactU? The University of Oxford is the lead on the Research England bid and responsible for overall administration of the programme. It has delegated authority for the day-to-day operations to Oxford University Innovation.
4. How are decisions made regarding Pathfinder Awards? The shortlist is decided by the governance team. Investment recommendations are made by the award panel, which consists of representatives from partner universities, angel investors, and impact investors. Oxford University Innovation (OUI) makes the final investment decision, based on award recommendations, on behalf of the University of Oxford.
5. Who will own the IP generated from ImpactU funding? ImpactU funding does not change the current or future IP position of the organisation.
If you have any further questions about the ImpactU Pathfinder Awards, please contact us
