Versarien receives £5 million loan

Advanced materials group Versarien has been awarded a £5 million loan facility by a subsidiary of UK Research and Innovation.

The Versarien loan is for a project named G SCALE, (an acronym for Graphene-Seat, Concrete, Arch, Leisure, Elastomer) which is designed to enable Versarien to significantly increase its manufacture of quality assured graphene.

Innovate UK has been running an extended pilot innovation loans programme over the past three years with £75m committed to the scheme with normal loan amounts of up to £1m. The loans are targeted at UK SMEs that want to scale up and grow by developing new or improved products, processes or services, as well as late-stage research and development projects that have not yet reached the point of commercialization.

Versarien chief executive Neill Ricketts said: "Versarien is delighted to have been awarded this loan by Innovate UK, which acknowledges the work we are undertaking and advancements made... Our vision for the business also sits within the context of the UK government's industrial strategy 'Grand Challenges', which is focused on clean growth, the ageing society, AI and the data economy and the future of mobility.. The loan will help Versarien step up its graphene production capacity so that we can expedite the commercial adoption of graphene enhanced materials."