An extra £3.2m is to be used to support Liverpool businesses and create jobs under new plans unveiled by Mayor Steve Rotheram.
The city region’s innovation investment company LYVA Labs, which used to be called LCR Ventures, will receive additional funding which will allow it to expand its activity into new sectors, beyond its initial health and life sciences remit.
The combined authority has also published its Innovation Prospectus, a multi-billion-pound plan to "supercharge the city region’s innovation powerhouse credentials linked to its distinctive world-leading capabilitie"s in materials chemistry, infection control, and AI solutions, plus emerging strengths in net zero.
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It has also launched the £2.24m High Growth Innovation Fund to help small businesses innovate, which itself builds on two pilot rounds of the Future Innovation Fund which saw 35 local companies receive support worth £2.1m.
Mr Rotheram said: "Our region is home to a thriving ecosystem of innovators who have got the talent, ambition and creativity to rival anywhere else in the world. I want to offer them a helping hand with additional funding that can help them to realise their potential – because when local businesses flourish, the rest of our economy does too.
"I want the Liverpool City Region to develop a global reputation as a place that creates more businesses, attracts greater investment, files more patents – and is ultimately more productive and prosperous.
"The more we can encourage businesses to tap into their entrepreneurial spirit, the faster we can realise our ambition of becoming an innovation powerhouse."
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LYVA Labs recently announced its first funding of £175,000 for Frequasense to develop technology that rapidly detects sepsis.
Lorna Green, CEO of LYVA Labs, added: "It’s fantastic to see the LCR Combined Authority and Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram further investing in LYVA Labs, enabling us to recruit four new team members and provide funding for innovative businesses across the Liverpool City Region.
"We’ve had amazing support from the innovation community for the launch of the Health & Life Sciences Challenge Fund and have already established a strong pipeline for investment.
"This second phase of funding allows us to work with established businesses across all sectors who want to innovate, and to establish up to twenty new deep tech businesses.
"The combined authority approved an initial £7.5m investment to create LCR Ventures, later rebranded as LYVA Labs, in August 2022, with the intention to allocate a further £3m."