Investments
192Portfolio Exits
6Funds
9About Northstar Ventures
Northstar Ventures is a venture capital company dedicated to building successful high growth businesses across the North East of England. Northstar's funds provide an opportunity for North East enterprises to access the capital needed to get started and grow.
Latest Northstar Ventures News
Dec 5, 2023
Newcastle biotech business CellRev seals £1.4m investment to ramp up work The Newcastle University spin-out has investment from the North East Innovation Fund and a grant from Innovate UK 13:32, 5 DEC 2023 Get all the latest business news from the North East straight to your inbox Invalid emailSomething went wrong, please try again later. More Newsletters We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. More info Thank you for subscribing! Invalid emailSomething went wrong, please try again later. Sign Up × Newcastle University spin-out CellRev has secured £1.4m in investment funds to scale up its work. The bio and foodtech company, which was spun out of Newcastle University in 2019 by Dr Martina Miotto under the name CellulaREvolution, aims to address major production challenges in the clean meat production tech sector, and to help change our future meat consumption habits. The company’s technology provides cellular product developers and manufacturers with a scalable, cost-efficient platform that means cells for gene therapies and lab grown meat can be produced more quickly, efficiently and in greater quantities. The company’s ‘continuous processing’ platform has garnered interest from around the work, and is poised for a full launch next year. The startup has raised £1.05m in an investment round led by the North East Innovation Fund, supported by the European Regional Development Fund and managed by Northstar Ventures, alongside global investor Happiness Capital and CPT Capital. CellRev has also secured £330,000 of grant funding from Innovate UK through its Future Economy Investor Partnership programme. CellRev CEO Chris Green said the company’s suite of technologies are of great interest to those involved in innovative cell and gene therapies and cultured meat because the global production of cells is forecast to soar over the next decade. Dr Martina Miotto founded the firm while completing her PhD in Corneal Tissue Engineering, when she made a breakthrough discovery while working with cells. The breakthrough provided the basis for CellRev’s technology and, together with co-founder Che Connon, professor of tissue engineering at Newcastle University, the pair continued ongoing lab research before spinning out the research from to create the standalone company. Chris Green, CEO of CellRev, said: “2024 is shaping up to be a defining year for CellRev with a significant product launch and some big customer collaborations in the pipeline. Continuous processing continues to be labelled an ‘unlock’ for an industry struggling with scale, cost, and product consistency challenges so finally being able to get our product into the hands of customers is huge. I can’t thank Northstar, our existing investors, and IUK enough for their continued support.” Thomas O’Neill, investment manager at Northstar Ventures, said: “We are delighted to support CellRev with further funding, alongside co-investors and Innovate UK. CellRev has developed leading technology with potential applications across many high growth and exciting sectors and this additional funding will enable them to capitalise on the significant opportunities they have in their pipeline.” Story Saved You can find this story in My Bookmarks. Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. Follow BusinessLive Most Recent
Northstar Ventures Investments
192 Investments
Northstar Ventures has made 192 investments. Their latest investment was in Coping With Cancer North East as part of their Unattributed VC on December 12, 2023.

Northstar Ventures Investments Activity

Date | Round | Company | Amount | New? | Co-Investors | Sources |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
12/7/2023 | Unattributed VC | Coping With Cancer North East | $0.15M | Yes | 1 | |
11/14/2023 | Loan | Veteran Skills Academy | $0.18M | Yes | 1 | |
9/18/2023 | Seed VC | MarraBio | Yes | CPI, Maven, and TCS Biosciences | 1 | |
8/29/2023 | Series B | |||||
5/25/2023 | Unattributed VC |
Date | 12/7/2023 | 11/14/2023 | 9/18/2023 | 8/29/2023 | 5/25/2023 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Round | Unattributed VC | Loan | Seed VC | Series B | Unattributed VC |
Company | Coping With Cancer North East | Veteran Skills Academy | MarraBio | ||
Amount | $0.15M | $0.18M | |||
New? | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
Co-Investors | CPI, Maven, and TCS Biosciences | ||||
Sources | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Northstar Ventures Portfolio Exits
6 Portfolio Exits
Northstar Ventures has 6 portfolio exits. Their latest portfolio exit was Kontainers on June 11, 2020.
Date | Exit | Companies | Valuation Valuations are submitted by companies, mined from state filings or news, provided by VentureSource, or based on a comparables valuation model. | Acquirer | Sources |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
6/11/2020 | Acquired | 7 | |||
Date | 6/11/2020 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Exit | Acquired | ||||
Companies | |||||
Valuation | |||||
Acquirer | |||||
Sources | 7 |
Northstar Ventures Fund History
9 Fund Histories
Northstar Ventures has 9 funds, including North East Social Investment Fund.
Closing Date | Fund | Fund Type | Status | Amount | Sources |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
4/10/2015 | North East Social Investment Fund | 1 | |||
12/31/2010 | Finance for Business North East Creative Content Fund | ||||
12/31/2010 | Finance for Business North East Accelerator Fund | ||||
12/31/2009 | Finance for Business North East Proof of Concept Fund | ||||
6/30/2005 | NorthEast Coinvestment Fund |
Closing Date | 4/10/2015 | 12/31/2010 | 12/31/2010 | 12/31/2009 | 6/30/2005 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Fund | North East Social Investment Fund | Finance for Business North East Creative Content Fund | Finance for Business North East Accelerator Fund | Finance for Business North East Proof of Concept Fund | NorthEast Coinvestment Fund |
Fund Type | |||||
Status | |||||
Amount | |||||
Sources | 1 |
Northstar Ventures Team
1 Team Member
Northstar Ventures has 1 team member, including former Chief Executive Officer, Marion Bernard.
Name | Work History | Title | Status |
---|---|---|---|
Marion Bernard | Chief Executive Officer | Former |
Name | Marion Bernard |
---|---|
Work History | |
Title | Chief Executive Officer |
Status | Former |
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