Loughborough University has launched the Loughborough Venture Investor Network (LVIN) in partnership with venture capital firm Haatch to connect high-potential startups and spinouts emerging from the university’s entrepreneurial ecosystem with alumni and other investors.
LVIN aims to strengthen opportunities for founders to secure investment and support during the pre-seed and seed stages.
The investor network will bring together credible, Loughborough-linked ventures seeking investment with investors affiliated with Loughborough University who are interested in backing emerging businesses, including alumni.
The university says innovative startups and spinouts typically struggle to secure investment in their earliest stages, despite having strong growth potential and the ability to bring new products and services to market. This funding gap can slow development and limit opportunities for businesses to scale.
It says LVIN was established to address this challenge by attracting and leveraging investment from outside the university.
By unlocking early-stage funding, the network will help founders to validate their product, enter into new markets and scale their solutions quickly and effectively.
Among the ventures emerging from the university’s ecosystem is BidScript, which uses AI to help organisations improve bids and tenders for public and private sector contracts; Moti Me, a physiotherapy-focused product supporting children with learning and movement disabilities; and Adclear AI, an alumni-founded company and AI-powered financial promotions compliance platform.
“The hardest money to raise is the first cheque, and it’s usually raised in a closed room,” says Jonathan Keeling, partner at Haatch. “Universities like Loughborough are producing exactly the kind of founders who should be in that room, and there’s a community of alumni who would genuinely back them if anyone made the introduction properly.
“That’s all LVIN is: a way of connecting the two, with real diligence in between and real support after the money lands. We’re not here to be another fund on a list. We’re here because this is how early-stage investing should have worked all along.”
