Cambridge Innovation Capital Raises £225 million ($300 million) Fund II
CIC’s first fund made more than 30 investments in potentially world-leading deeptech and life sciences companies
Cambridge, UK: April 25, 2022 – Cambridge Innovation Capital (CIC), the venture capital investor focused on building world-leading deeptech and life sciences businesses connected with the Cambridge ecosystem, has raised £225 million ($300 million) for its oversubscribed second fund (Fund II).
Andrew Williamson, Managing Partner of CIC, commented: “Cambridge, UK is one of the fastest-growing science and technology innovation ecosystems in the world. Since our inception, CIC and our co-investors have invested more than £2 billion in sectors as diverse as robotics, semiconductors, genomics, gene therapy, therapeutics, liquid biopsy, artificial intelligence, and edge computing. We are delighted to launch our new fund and to work with a dynamic group of entrepreneurs and investors to capture the full potential within the thriving Cambridge ecosystem.”
With Fund II, CIC now manages in excess of £500 million, giving it the scale to support its portfolio companies throughout their life cycle, providing investment capital as well as strategic and operational support.
Investors in Fund II include a geographically diverse group of around 50 institutional and strategic investors, with almost half of the capital raised having come from UK-based investors.
CIC has invested in c. 40 deeptech 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; Salience Labs, the photonic compute company; and Epitopea, a cancer immunotherapeutics company.
CIC’s first fund portfolio companies include CMR Surgical, which closed the largest medtech private financing round in the world in 2021 (£425m), valuing the company at more than £2 billion; and Pragmatic Semiconductor, which recently raised $80 million to build its second manufacturing facility in the North of England.
CMR’s next generation Versius robotic system is bringing the benefits of keyhole surgery to patients around the world, while Pragmatic has launched a low-cost flexible electronics manufacturing process which is disrupting the existing silicon chip manufacturing market and enabling a whole new class of innovative electronics.
CIC was founded to improve the success rate of businesses originating from the University of Cambridge and the broader Cambridge ecosystem, to encourage more academics and entrepreneurs from the area to build businesses. In addition to its portfolio companies, CIC has co-founded two Cambridge-based business accelerators, DeepTech Labs and Start Codon. The goal here is to support deeptech and life science entrepreneurs develop their commercialisation and technology strategy, bridging the gap between translational research and Series A-ready businesses.
About Cambridge Innovation Capital
Cambridge Innovation Capital (CIC) is a leading venture investor backing and building category-leading deep tech and life sciences companies. CIC was founded to improve the success rate of businesses originating from the University of Cambridge and the broader Cambridge ecosystem, to encourage more academics and entrepreneurs from the area to build businesses. CIC currently manages in excess of £0.5 billion and has invested in around 40 companies. CIC is a preferred investor for the University of Cambridge, Europe’s top source of founders for venture-backed start-ups.
Cambridge Innovation Capital Manager Limited (FRN:918898) is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. For more information, please visit www.cic.vc or follow us on Twitter at @CIC_vc and LinkedIn.
Contacts:
Cambridge Innovation Capital
Andrew Williamson, Managing Partner
enquiries@cic.vc
Media Enquiries:
Consilium Strategic Communications
Mary-Jane Elliott / Sukaina Virji
CIC@consilium-comms.com