Event: Understand the options for funding your innovation

How can innovative businesses in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland choose the right route to finance their growth?

Leicestershire Innovation Festival 2026 will help to steer SME through a half‑day session entitled ‘The Money Map’.

Organised by Forging Ahead, with support from the British Business Bank and Innovate UK, it will look at the options available to companies seeking to commercialise intellectual property. These include loans, equity investment, and grants.

The event - to be held at Space Park Leicester - will feature three panel discussions. These will bring together national funders and Leicestershire university spinouts that have already gone down various funding routes including grants, debt and equity and how they shaped their innovative businesses.

Attendees will hear how different routes such as grants, debt and equity can shape the direction of their business.

The session breaks the complex funding landscape into three 30‑minute panels, each focusing on a different route: equity investment (University of Leicester), grant funding (De Montfort University), and venture capital/accelerators (Loughborough University). 

In each panel, a real spinout founder will share their funding journey alongside the commercialisation experts and funders who supported them.

Examples include Loughborough spinout TransHumanity, led by CEO Zhenzhen Wang. In September 2025, Transhumanity successfully raised £400,000 in pre‑seed investment from SFC Capital with additional backing from Plug & Play.

De Montfort University Professor Chris Young secured multiple innovation grants and benefitted from the ICURe programme to develop his spinout, Chromar.

• The University of Leicester panel, led by Vicky Mears of the British Business Bank, looks at equity investment from several perspectives. 
• The De Montfort University panel, chaired by Innovate UK regional manager James Silverward, focuses on grants and innovation support. 
• The Loughborough University panel, hosted by Forging Ahead Network Manager Rhianna Briars, explores venture capital funding and the role of accelerator programmes.

Who is on the panels?

Panel speakers include: 

• Dr Dan Lane, Founder and Creator, ValidateLabs
• Dr Dahlia Salman, Co-Founder and CEO, Bioxhale Limited
• Dr Carl Edwards, Head of Commercial and IP, University of Leicester
• Dr Sandy Reid, Fund Principal, Mercia Ventures
• Dr Chris Young, Founder of ChromarPaul Edwards, Head of Hub, Midlands ICURe 
• Mark Smith, Business Development Manager, De Montfort University 
• Zhenzhen Wang, CEO, TransHumanity 
• Adriano Randi, CEO, RV3 Tech 
• Nick Gostick, Head of IP Management & Commercialisation, Loughborough University 
• Adam McGuinness, Plug & Play 

The event showcases Leicestershire’s innovation strength by featuring founders and tech transfer professionals from the University of Leicester, De Montfort University and Loughborough University on every panel. Tech transfer staff play a key role in helping spinouts navigate IP, strategy and funding.

It’s these teams that Forging Ahead is working with to supercharge the commercialisation ecosystem in the Midlands, through a series of major initiatives. Forging Ahead is a coalition of 16 East and West Midlands universities, led by Loughborough University which was founded in May 2025 and is funded by Research England.

Who is it for?

The event is aimed at:

• University spinouts and early‑stage businesses commercialising IP.
• University commercialisation and tech transfer teams.
• Funders (grant, debt, equity) and innovation support organisations.
• Professional services and financial intermediaries working with high‑growth, innovative firms.

To book a place register here.

How does the event fit into Leicestershire Innovation Festival?

The MoneyMap event is one of 10 sessions at Leicestershire Innovation Festival 2026, led by the Business Gateway Growth Hub and the Innovative Leicestershire partnership. Across the week, SMEs can access expert guidance on funding and business growth, discover tools and technologies to boost productivity and connect with universities, innovation partners and fellow business leaders.

Times, venues and details of all events - including registration - are available here.