Welcome to the August edition of the CIC newsletter, where we're excited to share a few highlights with you.
In June we appointed two new partners, Ian Lane and Anne Horgan, to support our continued growth. Ian joins us from Unilever Ventures in London where he was an Investment Director, and Anne joins the team having previously been a Partner at Advent France Biotechnology. You can read more about Anne and Ian in our team section below.
In this quarter we saw the launch of Deeptech Labs (DTL), a new accelerator aimed at deeptech start-ups. Cambridge is one of the best places in the world to build a deeptech business, with access to best-in-class talent, intellectual property, and experienced entrepreneurs and investors. As a co-founder we have, over the last year, been instrumental in launching the accelerator and selecting the first cohort of companies, all of which recently graduated.
Additionally, we participated in the $600 million (£425 million) Series D funding round raised by CMR Surgical (CMR) - the largest ever private medtech fundraise worldwide. We were an early investor in CMR, having invested in the company’s Series A round in 2016 and we have participated in each of the subsequent rounds.
Thank you for your continued support and engagement with CIC.
Andrew Williamson
Managing Partner Register for our newsletter
In June we distributed our strategic report for the year ended 31 Mar 2021. The report outlines our performance, strategic priorities and gives an operational update.
The remarkable potential of re-profiled drugs
Recently we learned that the use of the medication imatinib results in a 47% reduction in mortality in patients with Covid-19. Robert Tansley reflects on why he believes re-profiled products with strong IP protection make an attractive investment.
Beyond silicon: The future of flexible chips
PragmatIC Semiconductor and Arm recently announced their collaboration on the pioneering development of the world’s first fully functional non-silicon Arm processor. The fully functional PlasticARM, implemented with PragmatIC's FlexLogic process, is a significant advancement in the future of embedded electronics, enabling the integration of more than a trillion objects over the next decade.
Inside the unicorn factory, Private Equity Wire
An in-depth look at how Cambridge Innovation Capital is leveraging its position within the University of Cambridge’s ecosystem to seek out disruptive innovators in technology and life science.
That's so hot - M&A in the Dx space took off in H1 2021, 360Dx
Through the first six months of the year, 39 M&A deals have been announced or completed in the diagnostics (Dx) space putting it on pace to eclipse the 54 deals done for all of 2020, as well as the most recent high of 58 deals in 2017. Michael Anstey spoke to 360Dx about how the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in more eyes on the diagnostics industry.
CIC participates in the $600 million (£425 million) Series D raised by CMR Surgical, the largest ever MedTech private financing round worldwide
The Series D secures the financing to fully execute CMR’s strategy to rapidly accelerate its geographical expansion and build upon the framework the company has established to grow a long-term independent global business.
Europe's top 10 unicorn universities, Sifted
Using data from Dealroom, Sifted looked into which universities count the most European unicorn-founders among their alumni, plus the number of founders and alumni-founded startups.
"Not only does the university [of Cambridge] have the joint most unicorn founders among its alumni, it also schooled the most future unicorn founders"
Number of unicorns: 9, future unicorns 16, start-ups 374, founders 347
Riverlane awarded the first contract to supply quantum software to the UK's National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC)
The NQCC, funded through UK Research and Innovation, is dedicated to accelerating the development of quantum computing in the UK.
Congenica receives CE Mark for genomic analysis software
CIC first invested in Congenica in the seed round and has invested in each subsequent round due to the team's impressive progress. This announcement, making Congenica the only CE marked IVD software for clinical use in rare and inherited genetic disorders, is another important milestone towards Congencia delivering a future where clinical genomics is fully integrated into healthcare.
PetMedix monoclonal antibodies outperform benchmarks in Canine Study
Congratulations to PetMedix on the announcement of the first-ever fully canine monoclonal antibody using its unique transgenic platform. The results are really impressive and represent a great validation of the high quality of the Ky9 platform. The animal health market is growing rapidly and the introduction of high quality targeted antibodies will bring substantial improvements in the management of common conditions in dogs and cats.
Anne and Ian have recently joined our investment team as partners. To find out more please view their profiles on our team page.
In Conversation With is CIC's video series, where we talk to a range of stakeholders and partners. To view our other videos in this series please visit our News & Insights section.
Miles Kirby, CEO of Deeptech Labs, talks to Carol Cheung about the launch of DTL and how it's a different type of accelerator filling an important gap between seed and series A.
Webinar recording: The UK CFIUS regime: what you need to know
The UK Government recently enacted the National Security and Investments Act, which is intended to give the government wide ranging powers to investigate deals on the grounds of National security.
Event: Entrepreneurial pathways to impact: spinning-out your research
Join us for talks, case studies, information and introductions to inspire academics and researchers in their journey to create commercial impact from research outcomes through the formation of spin-out companies. Keynote from serial academic entrepreneur Professor Jim Huntington.
29 September 2021, 14.00 - 17.30, St. Catharine's College, Cambridge. Hosted by Cambridge Innovation Capital in partnership with Cambridge Enterprise.
