Leeds features highly in UK academic spin-outs table
The Royal Academy of Engineering has published its annual analysis of trends in UK spin-outs, and Leeds is ranked 12th among higher education institutions.
The 2025 edition of Spotlight on Spinouts ranks the UK’s top academic institutions by total number of spinouts from 2011 to January 2025, and Leeds is credited with 47.
Andy Duley, the University’s Director of Commercialisation, said: “Leeds has a strong track record in creating investment-backed spin-out companies, each of which makes an important contribution to our region’s economy and society. These have achieved significant impact, in 2024 they employed over 1,400 people, had a turnover of £137 million and raised new investment of £51 million.”
The University recently announced that new spin-out company incentives have been adopted to encourage and reward academics for identifying new opportunities and participating in the creation of high-quality, investable companies.
Further incentivisation has been introduced for academics to participate in building new ventures and forming spin-out companies to commercialise our research.
This rewards academics and management founders who actively seek investment to build enhanced spin-out companies that demonstrate our research's social, environmental, and economic impact.
Leeds spinout success stories
Leeds spinout MicroLub creates healthy, sustainable food that replaces fats and oils without losing the mouthfeel experience, using technology found in the Sir William Henry Bragg Building, a key part of the Faculty’s estate. In 2024, the company received a combined £3.5 million seed round investment from investors, including Northern Gritstone. It already has traction with large food companies and is testing further applications of its technology.
Fellow Leeds spinout Cavero Quantum, which was co-founded by Professor Ben Varcoe in the School of Physics and Astronomy, has developed ground-breaking cybersecurity technology that replaces multi-factor authentication and one-time passwords. With cyber attacks estimated to cost the global economy £5.5 billion per year, demand for its technology is expected to increase.
Healthcare technology spinout adsilico is accelerating the development of better, safer medical devices for patients. Based on research funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering at the University’s Schools of Medicine and Computing, adsilico has developed virtual patient populations for trials, which will reduce the need for animal experimentation and partially replace human trials.
Unis start up the UK
The Royal Academy of Engineering’s Spotlight on Spinouts 2025 report was published just one week after Universities UK launched its “Unis start-up the UK” campaign.
This project, which features Leeds, showcases how universities support innovative start-ups. It highlights that 38,000 student and staff start-up companies have emerged with the support of universities since 2014-15 and that the number of active firms has increased by 70% from 2014-15 to 2022-23.
