28th January 2025 – Northern Gritstone, the investment business focused on science and technology businesses in the North of England and chaired by Lord Jim O’Neill has announced a combined £4 million seed round investment into the robotics software company BOW. Northern Gritstone is joined by co-investors Finance Yorkshire, and NPIF II – Praetura Equity Finance, which is managed by Praetura as part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II.

Originally spun-out from the University of Sheffield in 2020, BOW (Bettering our Worlds) offers a software platform that handles the complexities of robotics and allows developers to focus on innovation and creativity instead of technical challenges.

The robotics market is projected to reach $260 billion by 2030. However, application development and the productisation of robotics is currently being hampered by the complexity and cost of programming robots.

BOW’s ‘robot-agnostic’ software development kit (SDK) meets this challenge by bridging the gap between diverse robotic systems, enabling integration and operation across multiple platforms, regardless of operating system or manufacturer.

BOW is already on an exciting trajectory. Last month, the company announced that Raspberry-Pi Co-Founder Liz Upton has joined the company as Chair of the Board. BOW is currently working with OEMs, software development houses and research and development teams to address the core issues of portability between different makes and classes of robots. 

The seed investment will be used to fund essential development in BOW and build the team.

Duncan Johnson, CEO of Northern Gritstone, said: “Northern Gritstone is delighted to support BOW’s team, who once again demonstrate that world-leading technology businesses are being created in the North of England. BOW’s groundbreaking robotics platform is a perfect example of innovation in the region born out of the University of Sheffield’s world-class academic research”

Nick Thompson, CEO of BOW, said: “The robotics market is growing fast, but that growth would be exponentially higher if the tremendous cost and complexity of programming robots were reduced. Robotics has an almost unlimited potential to help humanity solve global challenges, but the world simply can’t afford to wait for robotics to standardise around a single operating system and coding language. BOW’s universal software platform and SDK elegantly solve this intractable problem by enabling any software developer to program various types of robots using the coding language of their choice, make portable applications and enable easy interoperability between any make and model of robot. This £4 million seed investment, led by Northern Gritstone, will be used to build on our strong commercial traction to date, expand our brilliant team and accelerate our product development so we can unleash the full potential of robotics for the betterment of our world.”

Daniel Camilleri, CTO and Founder of BOW said, “This investment is a defining moment for BOW. It not only validates our vision but also underscores the growing demand for cross-platform compatibility in robotics software. By simplifying robotics programming, we’re opening the door for all developers—not just roboticists—to shape the future of robotics. With BOW software, we’re enabling the ‘there’s an app for that’ revolution within the robotics industry.” 

Professor Sue Hartley, Vice-President for Research and Innovation at the University of Sheffield, said: “It is fantastic to see this level of funding being invested into one of our spinout companies. Academics at Sheffield are working at the very forefront of their fields, conducting research that can underpin new businesses and help develop new market-leading technologies. Our University is one of the best in the country for developing IP and commercialising research and investment such as this from Northern Gritstone is crucial in helping our spinout companies grow.”

ENDS

About Northern Gritstone

Northern Gritstone is an investment company, dedicated to supporting ambitious science and technology businesses in the North of England. Its philosophy is ‘profit with purpose’ combining strong returns for investors with wider positive, societal and economic impact, including high-skilled job creation and Levelling Up. Chaired by Lord Jim O’Neill, the company has made 30 investments in some of the UK’s most exciting future businesses.

Together with NG Innovation Services, Northern Gritstone offers ‘Capital+++’ connecting early-stage founders with funding and expertise through its close links to industry-leading partners and its founding universities of Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield.

For more information, please go to: https://northern-gritstone.com/

About BOW: 

Founded in 2020, BOW is the world’s leading universal robotics software company, working with robotic hardware manufacturers and OEMs, systems integrators, roboticists, and software developers. BOW enables software developers to create portable robotics applications using their preferred programming language and operating system. The company is headquartered in Sheffield, UK. 

For more information, please go to: https://usebow.com/

About Finance Yorkshire

Finance Yorkshire’s regional Fund provides flexible investment packages to eligible SMEs based or moving to areas within Yorkshire and Humber with ambitions to expand, create jobs and improve productivity.

The fund provides four main products, structured to back businesses through critical stages of growth: Micro-Loans, Business Loans, Growth Fund (loans and equity) and Seedcorn.

Finance Yorkshire’s Growth and Seedcorn Funds are managed by Anticus Partners. Its Micro-Loans and Business Loans are managed by FSE Group.

The sustainable fund has been created from the legacy finance available from Finance Yorkshire’s previous support for SMEs alongside legacy finance from the former South Yorkshire Investment Fund (SYIF).

Finance Yorkshire was established in 2010 to provide gap finance through debt and equity investments to SMEs across Yorkshire and Humber.

This Fund and Extension Fund saw £113 million invested in 500 companies in Yorkshire and the Humber between 2010 and 2017

Finance Yorkshire’s previous investments created and safeguarded more than 16,000 jobs, enabling those businesses to increase their turnover by a total of £474m and attract a further £374m from private sector sources.

www.finance-yorkshire.com

About the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II 

·       NPIF II – Praetura Equity Finance can provide loans in the NPIF II area with a primary focus on the North West regions of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside.

·       Operated by the British Business Bank, the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II (NPIF II) provides a mix of debt and equity funding.  NPIF II will offer a range of commercial finance options with smaller loans from £25k to £100k, debt finance from £100k to £2m and equity investment up to £5 million. It works alongside the Combined Authorities, Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), and Growth Hubs, as well as local intermediaries such as accountants, fund managers and banks, to support the South West’s smaller businesses at all stages of their development. 

·       The funds in which the NPIF II invests are open to businesses with material operations, or planning to open material operations, in: Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, City of Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, North Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, Hartlepool and Stockton-on-Tees, South Teesside, Darlington, Durham, Northumberland, Tyneside, Sunderland.    

·       Supported by Nations and Regions Investments Limited, a subsidiary of British Business Bank plc, the Bank is a development bank wholly owned by HM Government. Neither Nations and Regions Investments Limited nor British Business Bank plc are authorised or regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) or the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

About Praetura Ventures

Praetura Ventures is a Manchester-based venture capital firm which invests in early-stage, high-growth businesses across the UK, with a particular focus on supporting entrepreneurs across the North of England.           

 Praetura Ventures is committed to adding value post-investment and providing the ‘more than money’ support that businesses need to grow, including additional expertise, resources, networks and guidance, to its investee companies.         

 Since 2019, Praetura Ventures has backed 45 companies, including North of England-founded businesses Culture Shift, AccessPay and Peak. The business has now grown to over £260m AUM and recently won the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II mandate for the £100m fund dedicated to equity in the North West of England.   

Learn more at praeturaventures.com      

About the University of Sheffield

The University of Sheffield is a leading Russell Group university, with a world-class reputation, ranked within the Top 100 universities in the world (Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2025). Over 30,000 students from 150 countries study at Sheffield and in a truly global community, they learn alongside over 1,500 of the world’s leading academics.

Sheffield’s world-shaping research feeds into its excellent education. Students learn at the leading edge of discovery from researchers who are tackling today’s biggest global challenges. 

Driven by outstanding people, staff and students share a commitment to changing the world for the better, through the power and application of ideas and knowledge.

From the first documented use of penicillin as a therapy in 1930, to building Europe’s largest research-led manufacturing cluster, Sheffield’s inventive spirit and top quality research environment sets it apart. 

Current research partners include Boeing, Rolls-Royce, Unilever, AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Siemens and Airbus, as well as many government agencies and charitable foundations.

Sheffield was voted University of the Year in 2024 at the Whatuni Student Choice Awards – the largest annual university awards in the UK voted for exclusively by students. The award reflects a commitment to world-class education and an outstanding student experience. Its Students’ Union, which is home to more than 350 societies and clubs, was also named Best Students’ Union for the seventh consecutive year.

Over 300,000 Sheffield alumni from 205 different countries make a significant influence across the world, with six Nobel Prize winners included amongst former staff and students.

To find out more, visit: www.sheffield.ac.uk