South Yorkshire Tech Investment – Q1 2026 Snapshot

January – March 2026

While overall investment totals were lower than late 2025, Q1 2026 shows a healthy and encouraging pipeline of early‑stage funding across South Yorkshire, with a strong mix of seed, pre‑seed and crowdfunding rounds.

Dealroom graph showing announced funding rounds in South Yorkshire by quarter

Key funding highlights

Chalkie AI (Sheffield)

Sheffield-based edtech startup Chalkie AI raised £3m / $4m in a seed round in March, led by TriplePoint Ventures. Chalkie is building AI-powered tools to reduce teacher workload by generating curriculum-aligned lesson plans and classroom resources, and is already used by hundreds of thousands of teachers globally. startupmag.co.uk

AmpliSi (Sheffield)University of Sheffield spinout AmpliSi secured £2m pre-seed funding co-led by Northern Gritstone and the Clean Growth Fund. The deeptech company is developing next-generation silicon anode materials to improve lithium-ion battery performance, supporting electric vehicles and energy storage. northern-gritstone.com

Reflo (Doncaster)

Sustainable sportswear brand Reflo launched a £2.5m crowdfunding round on Crowdcube, inviting the public to invest alongside footballer and lead investor Harry Kane. The campaign supports Reflo’s mission to scale sustainable performance-wear globally, following strong revenue growth in 2025. bmmagazine.co.uk

AddParts (Sheffield)

Advanced manufacturing startup AddParts raised £250k seed funding in February, backed by SFC Capital. The round supports early commercialisation and product development. (According to Dealroom data)

Epona Care (Sheffield)

Social care technology company Epona Care received £135k early-stage funding from the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund in January. Epona provides secure digital tools for social care services, reflecting continued public-backed investment into civic and health-focused tech. [npif.co.uk]

Other early-stage activity

• Suiso (Rotherham) raised early VC funding in January through the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund, supporting hydrogen energy technology development.

• Rallymatics (Sheffield), a new university-linked spinout, also emerged during Q1, adding to the region’s growing pipeline of research‑led startups.

• Metalysis and PyrOtik Instruments received grant funding from the European Space Agency and UKRI respectively.

What does this tell us?

Q1 2026 total investment activity is lower than Q4 2025 (£11.3m) and below the larger late‑2025 quarters, but the quality and spread of deals is strong, especially at the pre-seed and seed stages.

Key trends this quarter:

• A higher volume of early-stage deals compared with the last two quarters of 2025

• Continued strength in university spinouts and deeptech (AmpliSi, Rallymatics)

• Public-backed funding playing a critical role via NPIF and Northern Gritstone

• Growing use of alternative funding routes, particularly crowdfunding (Reflo)

Compared to Q3 2025, which was characterised by fewer but larger raises, Q1 2026 reflects a more grassroots pipeline with more young companies securing first or early capital, positioning them for follow-on rounds later in the year.

While headline investment totals dipped at the start of 2026, the depth of early-stage activity suggests South Yorkshire’s tech pipeline remains active, resilient, and well-positioned for growth as the year progresses.

Explore the data on sy.dealroom.co/