20 October 20268 min read

AI Investors in Liverpool (2026): Who Is Backing Early-Stage Startups

The funds backing early-stage AI startups in Liverpool in 2026, with stages, cheque sizes and dated deals for founders raising now.

Investors backing early-stage AI startups in Liverpool in 2026 include LYVA Labs, AXM Venture Capital, Foresight Group, Northern Gritstone, IP Group and Haatch, from pre-seed to Series A.

Researched and written by Zeeshan Ali at Platvix. Checked on 22 October 2026.

TL;DR

Who writes a first cheque in Liverpool? LYVA Labs puts up to £25,000 into an incubator company on day one, through an advanced subscription agreement.
Who funds a University of Liverpool spin-out? IP Group led the £4m pre-Series A into Matter Machine in October 2026, with Northern Gritstone, LYVA Labs and Parkwalk alongside.
Is public money involved? Yes. The £10m Liverpool City Region Seed Fund and LYVA Labs are both backed by the combined authority.

Early-stage AI investors in Liverpool

LYVA Labs

A Liverpool investor and incubator working across health and life sciences, clean tech for health and deep tech.

Invests in: pre-seed companies based in the Liverpool City Region, with deep tech defined to cover physical science, materials science, data science, advanced engineering, robotics and AI.
Cheque size: up to £25,000 on day one through an advanced subscription agreement for incubator companies.
AI startups backed: Matter Machine, the AI materials discovery spin-out at the University of Liverpool's Materials Innovation Factory, SenseAI Vision, another University of Liverpool spin-out, and Spotlight Pathology, an AI blood cancer diagnostics company based at Sci-Tech Daresbury.
Latest Liverpool deal: Matter Machine's £4m pre-Series A, announced on 12 October 2026 and led by IP Group. Its most recent deal, Medcotec on 15 October 2026, is at Sci-Tech Daresbury in the wider Liverpool City Region.
Website: lyvalabs.com

AXM Venture Capital

Manager of the Liverpool City Region Seed Fund, a combined authority fund for businesses in the city region.

Invests in: seed-stage businesses in the Liverpool City Region, open to all sectors and weighted towards advanced manufacturing, digital and creative, and health and life sciences.
Cheque size: £250,000 to £2m.
AI startups backed: Spotlight Pathology, an AI blood cancer diagnostics company, and SenseAI Vision, a University of Liverpool spin-out.
Latest Liverpool deal: the first seed round for SenseAI Vision, registered at the university's Brodie Tower inside the city, announced on 8 September 2025.
Latest city region AI deal: Spotlight Pathology's £1.4m round, which the fund co-led with UKI2S in March 2026. The company sits at Sci-Tech Daresbury in the wider Liverpool City Region, which is the fund's whole mandate, so this is a city region deal rather than a city one.
Latest fund: the £10m Liverpool City Region Seed Fund, launched by the combined authority in June 2025.

Foresight Group

The Ventures team at Foresight backs companies commercialising scientific and engineering innovation.

Invests in: seed to Series A deep tech, hard tech and enterprise software.
AI startups backed: SpaceAM, which builds AI-enabled autonomous sensor systems, in a seed round announced in August 2026.
Latest Liverpool deal: led the first seed round into SenseAI Vision, announced on 8 September 2025. Its deals since then have been outside Liverpool, including SpaceAM in August 2026, which has new R&D facilities in Gloucestershire, and £4m into Round Group, a digital agency founded in London, on 14 October 2026.
Website: foresight.group

Northern Gritstone

A science and technology investor for the North of England that has held preferred investor status with the University of Liverpool since May 2025.

Invests in: deep tech and life sciences companies, from their early stages to later growth.
AI startups backed: Matter Machine, which builds AI-powered materials discovery technologies.
Latest Liverpool deal: £1.1m into Matter Machine on 12 October 2026, which Northern Gritstone calls its first investment into a University of Liverpool spin-out since the multi-year partnership with the university began, inside the £4m pre-Series A led by IP Group. Its most recent deal is leading a £3m seed round for Silvia Bio on 15 October 2026, a University of Sheffield spin-out based in Sheffield.
Website: northern-gritstone.com

IP Group

A listed investor in science and technology businesses emerging from universities and research institutions, across healthtech, deeptech and cleantech.

Invests in: early stage science and technology businesses, in its own description.
AI startups backed: Matter Machine, which it describes as an AI-driven materials discovery company.
Latest Liverpool deal: led the £4m pre-Series A into Matter Machine, announced on 12 October 2026. The University of Liverpool announcement calls it the largest investment secured by a newly formed University of Liverpool spin-out. Its most recent deal, a £4m follow-on into Microbiotica's £36m Series C on 16 October 2026, is at Chesterford Research Park near Cambridge.
Website: ipgroupplc.com

Haatch

A B2B software investor that backs UK founders early, through an SEIS fund at pre-seed and an EIS fund at seed.

Invests in: pre-seed B2B SaaS through its SEIS Fund and seed-stage B2B SaaS through its EIS Fund, across the future of enterprise, fintech and vertical SaaS.
Cheque size: a further £85,000 of British Business Bank capital goes alongside each £250,000 its funds invest.
AI startups backed: SenseAI Vision in Liverpool, and Prolo, an AI-powered procurement platform for SME construction firms.
Latest Liverpool deal: the first seed round for SenseAI Vision, announced on 8 September 2025, alongside Foresight, LYVA Labs and the Liverpool City Region Seed Fund.
Latest deal: £1.9m seed into CoComply, announced on 19 October 2026. The round was led by NPIF II, through Mercia Equity Finance, with Haatch taking part. CoComply is at Alderley Park in Macclesfield, Cheshire.
Latest AI deal: £4.2m seed into Prolo, led by Triple Point Ventures and announced on 14 July 2026.
Website: haatch.com

Also worth knowing

Parkwalk's Northern Universities Venture Fund, Norrsken Evolve and the University of Liverpool Enterprise Fund all joined the Matter Machine round. Wren Capital and Sivananthan Laboratories came in alongside Foresight, LYVA Labs, Haatch and the Liverpool City Region Seed Fund on SenseAI Vision. SFC Capital and the British Business Bank put £320,000 into Apoello, a University of Liverpool spin-out with an AI-enabled materials discovery platform, in February 2026. NPIF II, through Mercia Equity Finance, backed Medcotec in October 2026, and River Capital joined Spotlight Pathology's round, with both companies based at Sci-Tech Daresbury.

Other support in the region

Two University of Liverpool-led projects won £23.7m from the Local Innovation Partnership Fund on 1 June 2026: £15m for AIM-HI, applying AI to chemistry and materials innovation, and £8.7m for NBIC-LIVE, using AI and machine learning for antimicrobial and anti-biofilm surfaces. The LYVA Labs incubator runs a six-month programme for Liverpool City Region startups at proof of concept or prototype stage. University of Liverpool spin-outs can also access NG Studios, Northern Gritstone's venture building programmes in life sciences and deep tech.

FAQ

Which Liverpool investors back AI only? None of them run an AI-only fund. Each backs AI inside a wider deep tech, health or software mandate, so lead with the problem you solve and show where the model sits in it.

I am a University of Liverpool spin-out raising pre-seed. Who should I approach? Northern Gritstone holds preferred investor status with the university, and the University of Liverpool Enterprise Fund, LYVA Labs and Parkwalk's Northern Universities Venture Fund all took part in the Matter Machine round.

How were these investors chosen? Each has a dated investment in Liverpool in the last two years, invests at pre-seed, seed or Series A, has made a new investment in the last 18 months, and has a stated AI focus or a recent AI deal. The place test uses the Liverpool City Council boundary, which is why a deal at Sci-Tech Daresbury is labelled a city region deal rather than a Liverpool one.

How do I find which Liverpool investors fit my startup? Platvix is an investment intelligence platform for founders. It helps you through your fundraising journey, from analysing your pitch deck to finding the right capital for your startup, including VC firms, angels, accelerators and grants.

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