The future belongs to the scientists who build it.
You made the breakthrough, or you're ready to make one. We help you own the company, from the lab bench to the world, and we back it with £150k of formation capital.
£150k formation capital · a co-founding team · a path to your first raise
The scientists behind the breakthroughs shouldn't need permission to build.
You'll be told scientists can't do business. It's the most expensive lie in deep tech. Somewhere right now, at the end of a PhD, mid-postdoc, or years into industry, someone has discovered something the world needs, only to be told to hand it off for others to build.
We disagree. The same instincts that drive a successful PhD, interrogating evidence, running experiments and refining models, are the foundations of building a company. We've done it, and we've backed it. Now we're building the infrastructure, the team and the £150k of formation capital to make it happen repeatedly, and at scale.
You just need the mindset, the team and the belief that it's yours to build.
Two paths, one starting line.
Everyone starts in the same place: the Forge Programme. Where you go next is a decision we make together.
The Forge Programme
All selected applicants join a mixture of in-person weekend residencies and remote commercial training, built on the same curriculum behind Spin Up Science, our in-house educational company that has trained over 5,000 scientists and helped alumni companies raise more than £140m. It is how we get to know you, and how you get to know us, before deciding together where you are best placed.
Winter 2026 Cohort
Empirical Venture Studio
For scientists and engineers with a breakthrough idea, at the start of their founder journey. The strongest applicants from Forge are selected to progress to our Studio Launch Programme. We wrap a bespoke team of scientists-turned-investors and operators around you as co-founders, and back the company with £150k of formation capital. You stay in the driving seat, and we de-risk your path from breakthrough to business.
- £150k formation capital
- A co-founding studio team
- A de-risked path to your first raise
Vanguard Science Fellows
For scientists and engineers who want to sit at the cutting edge of taking breakthrough science into the world, as scouts, operators and connectors, with or without a venture idea of their own. After you build commercial literacy and gain hands-on experience through Forge, you join a talent pool connected to career-defining opportunities across our portfolio and the wider deep-tech ecosystem.
- Hands-on commercial literacy
- Access to our portfolio and network
- A route into career-defining roles
Good science should not die in a journal.
Science first
We evaluate the physics, the biology and the chemistry before the pitch deck. Technical truth is the foundation of every decision.
Founders who build
We back scientists who take ownership of the whole journey, from the finding to the funding, from the paper to the product.
Deep-tech timelines
Frontier science does not fit software-style development models. We invest and support on the timelines the science actually needs.
Ventures that matter
We invest in breakthroughs that advance human capability and address real problems, from accessible healthcare to a habitable planet.
Companies we backed and built.
A selection of the ventures we have co-founded and capitalised through the studio model, each begun by a scientist who chose to own the company behind their science.
EnsiliTech
Ensilication that removes the cold chain from biopharma.
Visit site →Transdermal Diagnostics
Needle-free continuous glucose monitoring.
Visit site →Nuclear Turbines
A direct-cycle modular high-temperature reactor.
Visit site →Albotherm
Smart glass coatings for passive cooling.
Visit site →The questions applicants ask us.
What the tracks involve, what it costs, and what happens at Greenlight. Still unsure? Apply and use the ‘Any questions?’ box, or just ask.
Who is this for?
For scientists and engineers who want to help translate breakthrough science into the world.
If you have a breakthrough idea and are at the start of your founder journey, you can apply to build a company with us. If you don't yet have a venture idea but want to be part of this ecosystem, as a scout, operator or connector, with or without an idea of your own later, there's a place for you too.
What's the difference between the two tracks?
Founder applicants have a venture idea, or the seed of one, and want to build a company. You likely haven't approached your technology transfer office or are in very early negotiations, and you haven't raised any dilutive funding. You might have already taken part in accelerators or training programmes. You'll complete the Forge programme, an in-person residency plus a remote commercial training sprint, working on your own venture each week and pitching your progress, and build toward the Greenlight decision, where we decide together whether to move into the Studio and back you with formation capital.
Fellow applicants don't yet have a venture idea, or aren't looking to found a company right now. You'll also complete the Forge programme and we pair you with pre-existing founders to work on an idea. After this, you become part of our talent network, scouting new science, supporting portfolio companies and building commercial experience. Some Fellows go on to found companies in a future cohort, others join science or engineering start-ups as early employees, and others continue academic careers with a new entrepreneurial mindset.
How do I know which track is right for me?
If you're actively working on, or have a strong instinct toward, a specific technology or piece of research you want to commercialise, apply as a Founder. If you're excited by deep tech and want to be closer to the action, build commercial skills and help identify the next generation of founders, but don't have or want a venture of your own right now, apply as a Fellow.
You're not locked in forever. Fellows can put themselves forward as Founders in a future cohort if an idea develops. It's welcomed.
What does joining involve, and what's the time commitment?
All selected applicants can expect to come away with a completely new science entrepreneurial mindset and skillset.
You'll join an in-person residential weekend (Friday to Sunday) with foundational teaching, investor networking and your first mentor conversations. Here you'll form new connections and start thinking differently.
You'll also join a remote structured commercial training programme delivered by the team behind Spin Up Science, which has trained more than 5,000 scientists across 23 institutions since 2016. Over six weeks you'll have a weekly 90-minute online workshop and a one-hour mentor meeting, with self-directed work in between to advance your idea or learning.
Greenlight is the decision point for founder applicants at the end of this, where we assess your progress, founder-idea fit and the potential of your venture. Fellow applicants join our talent pool.
The strongest founder applicants progress to our Studio Launch Programme, where things get real. We back them with £150k formation capital and wrap an operational team around them for 6 to 12 months as needed, supporting pitch decks, data room formation, customer discovery, financial modelling, IP legals, early team hires and investor introductions. We're not an accelerator handing out generic advice, we do the hard, unglamorous parts of company-building with you. You'll be working heavily part-time, if not full-time, on your company. The goal is to launch the company and raise your first external pre-seed round. After that, our job is largely done, by design.
What does this cost?
We don't charge any fees for our programmes. In the Studio Launch Programme for founders, we invest a staged £150,000 into your company, priced at a £1,000,000 valuation before any IP is licensed in, working out at around 13% ownership for the studio. This also includes the sweat equity of our full-time operational team, worth an additional £250,000 per company. More details on our investment terms are shared with founder applicants.
What if I'm not ready, or Greenlight doesn't go my way?
If you're not greenlit, you're invited to join the Fellows network rather than simply leaving. Many founders return in a later cohort once an idea or the timing is stronger. The programme runs three times a year, so that's typically a matter of months, not a year. There's no penalty for returning; a second attempt is a completely normal part of how this works.
Do I need to be planning to leave academia or my current role?
No. Many applicants are still deep in a PhD, postdoc or industry research role when they apply. Part of what we help with is exactly that transition, from scientist to founder, which is a real shift in mindset, not just a change of job title. If you're technically strong and curious about building something from your work, that's enough to start the conversation.
Where does the science need to come from?
Most commonly your own research, but it doesn't have to be. What matters most is that you're technically credible in the space and genuinely driven to take it further. Some of our strongest founders build on adjacent science or a collaborator's work, not only their own.
What backgrounds do you look for?
PhD students, postdocs, and industry researchers and innovators across deep tech: physical sciences, engineering, life sciences and beyond. We're sector-agnostic. What matters is the strength of the science and the person, not the field it sits in.
How often can I apply?
Three cohorts run each year, roughly four months apart. If the timing isn't right this time, there's always a next one.
