ImpactU Awards

What are the ImpactU Awards?

 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 UK Universities with a social or environmental mission.

With our Pathfinder Awards we aim to invest over £1m into 26 social ventures by the March 2026. As of July 2025, we have completed 14 investments (and made eight more investment offers). 

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 £60k 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. 

NEW! ImpactU FdT Health Impact Loans 

Loans of up to £60,000 to help social ventures improving health in low-resource settings scale their impact. 

ImpactU is a collective of universities working collaboratively to support and raise awareness of mission-driven businesses emerging from our ecosystems.

 
Funded by Financière de Tubize (FdT), the reference shareholder of global biopharmaceutical company UCB. 
 
 

Is Your Venture Eligible? 

  • An incorporated UK company, either CLS, CLG or CIC, or will incorporate if successful
  • Developing an evidence-based intervention, with at least two team members having at least MSc level education in a relevant field and/or relevant industry experience.
  • Committed to creating a team with experience working on the ground and working with local stakeholders.
  • Use the loan to run a pilot of a scalable business.
  • Have a sustainable and realistic business model through donations or out-of-pocket payments.
  • Have an expected business model where the cost to the patient or donor is less than €100 per healthy life year added.
  • Not be working in a conflict zone.
 

We are accepting applications on a rolling basis. Apply here

Investment Criteria

An embedded social purpose
A strong founding team
An innovative solution
A strong market understanding
 
A sustainable business model
 
Will funding help demonstrate social impact and commercial viability?

ImpactU Pathfinder Awards

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 Pathfinder Awards 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:

ImpactU Pathfinder Awards 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

People sat in event
Woman with tablet inspecting field
People collaberating at a table

• 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
A strong market understanding
A sustainable business model
Will funding de-risk the business?
Apply Here

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.  You can read the full template agreement, which is offered to successful applicants, here.

From Round 4, we will be able to make unsecured Loans of £10-40k into Companies Limited by Guarantee. The full terms of the loan are now available to read here.

Governance Panel

Charlotte new photo

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