Cambridge Innovation Capital (CIC), the VC agency investing in British high-potential DeepTech and life sciences corporations, introduced they’re committing at the very least €115 million to spend money on spinouts from the College of Cambridge.
This funding types a part of the launch of Fund III, its newest €288 million early-stage enterprise fund centered on the Cambridge ecosystem, to spend money on College of Cambridge spinouts.
Andrew Williamson, Managing Accomplice, CIC, mentioned: “Cambridge is on the forefront of innovation in deep tech and life sciences. Our new EIR programme will present teachers and researchers with entry to the £100m we’re committing to College of Cambridge spinouts as they proceed to develop breakthrough applied sciences. This enlargement of CIC’s long-standing partnership with the College of Cambridge, which supplies distinctive entry to the college’s teachers and analysis, will assist help the UK’s financial development by growing the following era of world-class corporations.”
Based in 2013, CIC is a longtime VC agency in what it calls “one of many world’s most impactful science and know-how ecosystems“, with a twelve-year observe file of figuring out, supporting and exiting science-driven corporations. Embedded within the UK innovation ecosystem and with entry to the College of Cambridge, CIC works carefully with its traders, together with main pension funds and household workplaces.
CIC manages over €693 million of capital and invests throughout DeepTech and life sciences, from most cancers therapies, genomic diagnostics and surgical robotics, to AI, semiconductors and quantum computing. Notable portfolio corporations embody CMR Surgical, Pragmatic and Riverlane.
Cambridge spinouts contribute greater than €26 billion to the UK economic system yearly. The college has additionally produced the best variety of unicorn corporations of any European ecosystem. Notable successes embody world-leading know-how corporations equivalent to Darktrace, ARM and Abcam.
Dr Diarmuid O’Brien, Professional-Vice-Chancellor for Innovation on the College of Cambridge, mentioned: “In 2024, the College of Cambridge created extra spinout corporations than some other college. It has additionally produced essentially the most unicorns of any European ecosystem and generates £23 billion in financial curiosity linked to analysis and commercialisation annually. We’re decided to do much more, and quicker, by way of initiatives equivalent to the brand new EIR programme and by attracting funding into our spinout corporations working with companions like Cambridge Innovation Capital.”
To coincide with the funding dedication, CIC is launching a brand new Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) programme, in partnership with the college, to establish IP with the potential for commercialisation and to help tutorial Founders as they start to construct an organization. By matching skilled DeepTech and life sciences executives, a lot of whom have achieved important exits with their earlier companies, with teachers and high-potential IP, the EIR programme will goal to extend the variety of high quality spinouts and speed up the trail in direction of viable commercialisation of the know-how.
The EIR programme, which can preserve a rolling cohort of as much as six EIRs, is the most recent mission to help spinouts from the college. The College of Cambridge has additionally launched the Founders programme to help new firm creation; the Expertise Funding Fund (TIF), a brand new proof of idea fund to de-risk world class analysis and allow quicker commercialisation; and a further €34 million capital to the €115 million AUM Cambridge Enterprise Ventures (CEV) fund to help rising college funding in spinouts.
Firms created throughout the EIR programme can entry the brand new funding to help improvement from inception by way of proof-of-concept to early-stage development.
Latest examples of College success tales which this EIR programme will construct upon embody:
Riverlane – A quantum computing firm based by former DAMTP tutorial, Dr Steve Brierley, with help from CIC and CEV. It has raised over €105 million to determine a number one place within the discipline of quantum error correction.
T-Therapeutics – A therapeutics firm, based by Prof. Allan Bradley, with a TCR discovery engine that may unlock the facility of T cells to deal with most cancers and autoimmune ailments. Primarily based on College IP, the corporate has raised funding from CEV, CIC and institutional traders.
Cambridge GaN Gadgets (CGD) – after profitable the 2017 postdoc marketing strategy competitors Dr Giorgio Longobardo and Prof. Florin Udrea based CGD. The corporate designs GaN energy electronics gadgets for power environment friendly energy conversion and has raised over €43 million from CEV, CIC and a variety of institutional traders.
The funding will search to benefit from the industrial potential in science and know-how innovation developed by Cambridge researchers and follows a sequence of latest initiatives from the college designed to help entrepreneurial teachers. These embody plans for 4 million sq. ft of high-tech improvement at Cambridge West and a brand new Innovation Hub in central Cambridge to host spinouts, startups, and entrepreneurs.
