Supporting the development of innovative solutions

This week, Cambridge Innovation Capital closed its second venture capital fund, CIC Fund II for £225 million. Cambridge Innovation Capital is focused on building world-leading deep technology and life sciences businesses connected with the Cambridge ecosystem, one of the fastest growing science and technology innovation ecosystems in the world.

Their fund will invest into exciting opportunities at the cutting edge of global health and technology innovation, and we are very pleased that many of CCLA’s clients will have exposure through CCLA’s investment in the fund.

Why have we invested?

The combination of the funds focus on an attractive regional opportunity, with unique access to deal flow, and its impressive team with a track record of success is a very compelling overall proposition.  The team at Cambridge Innovation Capital has invested in c.40 deep tech and life sciences companies to date, with Fund II already having made six investments. These include Riverlane, a quantum computing software provider; Pretzel Therapeutics, a leading developer of mitochondrial therapeutics; and Epitopea, a cancer immunotherapeutics company.

The fund’s connection with the university gives it a unique edge, especially in relation to other investors who might also be considering opportunities in this space. The fund benefits from a unique relationship and integration with the university that facilitates excellent visibility and preferential access to investment opportunities. This is further supported by Cambridge Innovation Capital’s own accelerator programmes to identify and nurture pre-seed capital companies that could be future investments in this fund.

Cambridge Innovation Capital has a strong team with both the venture capital experience as well as the technical science expertise to assess the most promising opportunities. A solid track record in their previous fund, as well as prior, gives us the confidence in their ability to execute.

What do we expect to see?

By investing in this fund, we are pleased to be able to help support the development of innovative solutions to many of the health and technology challenges the world faces today. As always, we believe that healthy communities underpin healthy markets, and we would like to see the UK develop a broader set of high value jobs, businesses, and industries to foster greater economic prosperity. By making capital available, we can play a small role in increasing the prospects of that to the benefit of both CCLA and our clients as investors, as well as the UK more broadly.