An £11m city region business support programme is expanding at one of Liverpool’s newest commercial buildings. Tony McDonough reports 

Liverpool city region business support programme LYVA Labs is to expand it’s office space at The Spine office building.

LYVA Labs was launched by Metro Mayor Steve Rotherham in December 2021 as LCR Ventures. Its initial aim was  to support entrepreneurs and innovators in health and life sciences and high growth businesses.

It took up eight desks at the Sciontec AI serviced office space at The Spine in Paddington Village in Liverpool’s knowledge quarter. Now it has agreed a new three-year deal for a bigger space in the building with the capacity for 20 desks.

Sciontec’s AI offers serviced workspaces with the flexibility to move around the Sciontec portfolio as their needs change.

LYVA Labs was set up to support and fund entrepreneurs and innovators in Liverpool city region and deliver economic growth through the commercialisation of innovation.

Since then it has invested £705,000 in three life science start-ups, supported 15 start-ups to secure £6m from grants and other private investors, and enabled the creation of four new companies in the region.

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More recently it launched two new programmes that offer both financial and business support – and R&D partnership programme and a deep tech incubator.

LYVA Labs has also secured funding from Innovate UK to run two pilot programmes: the Innovation Network for the LCR Advanced Manufacturing Launchpad and a national Microbials Accelerator as part of the Biomedical Catalyst programme.

Lorna Green, chief executive of LYVA Labs, said: “It is incredible to think how much we have scaled up over the past 12 months, and our new office suite marks the next step on our exciting growth journey.

“Being able to expand in Sciontec’s all-inclusive workspace at The Spine reduces the hassle of daily operations and gives us an amazing workspace from which to engage with key stakeholders and partners.

In September Sciontec AI expanded its space at The Spine and now operates more than 20,000 sq ft across three floors of the £35m building.

Leanne Katsande, head of commercial at Sciontec, added: “We have worked closely with the Royal College of Physicians (anchor tenant at The Spine) to secure this deal with LYVA Labs, which will help future proof their ongoing expansion plans.

“Our Sciontec AI footprint within The Spine has itself expanded to accommodate this deal, which is testament to the popularity of our flexible, serviced space offer that is so highly sought after in the current market.”