The Wellcome Trust is to use its expertise in life science and financial muscle to launch a new investment fund that will enable high-risk research projects to develop quickly and move towards commercialisation. The Wellcome Leap Fund will have capital of £250 million to be allocated over five years starting in 2020.
The fund will be wholly owned by the Trust with its own chief executive officer and an independent board of directors. Recruitment of the CEO is expected to start shortly, the Trust announced on 10 July.