I am delighted to share the first edition of our newsletter which we are distributing to our colleagues, investors, co-investors and fellow stakeholders in the Cambridge innovation ecosystem.
Our plan is to provide updates on the activities of the CIC team, our portfolio companies and our partners on a regular basis. We will also share insights and perspectives into developments in science and technology, regulatory policy, financial markets and other factors that may impact our business of commercialising world-leading innovation from Cambridge.
We are starting with a bumper first edition! Below we introduce two new members of our investment team, Ian Jauncey and Chris Tapper, and two new investments in the CIC portfolio, Seldon and PetMedix. We also highlight several exciting developments in our portfolio companies and showcase the first three videos from our new “In Conservation With” video series.
I hope you enjoy reading about our activities and the format of this newsletter. If you have any feedback, or would like to suggest future potential content, please do let us know.
With best regards
Andrew Williamson Register for our newsletter
Seldon’s platform simplifies the process of managing and deploying ML models at scale in enterprises with complex heterogenous environments. It removes the friction points that IT Ops teams typically have to deal with when business users want to incorporate machine learning but the existing IT infrastructure isn’t set up to support this. To overcome this problem, enterprises typically had to build teams of experienced ML engineers and pair them up with IT operations. Seldon removes the friction and eliminates the pain points by standardising the process of ML model management incl. testing, deployment and monitoring. Its cloud-native platform is currently used by some of the largest blue chips across Europe and US. Read the full article here
Is Quantum Computing A Good Space For Startups? Andrew Williamson, Managing Partner, discusses why it is now an “emerging area of interest” and how investments in startups, such as Riverlane, begin to address rapidly increasing demand for access to quantum computing software platforms. Read the full interview with Forbes here
CMR Surgical announced further progress towards commercialisation of Versius, with new installations in Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, Clinique du Parc Hospital and Argenteuil Hospital in France. Furthermore, co-founder Martin Frost was made a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours 2020 for bringing the Versius robot to hospitals. Read more
Bicycle Therapeutics announced the first patient dosed in Phase IIa trial and the continuing execution of their financing strategy, generating approximately $120 million, over half of which was non-dilutive. Read more
GeoSpock announced a $5.4m Series A investment round co-led by CIC and nChain, a world-leading provider of enterprise-grade public blockchain solutions. This strategic investment round brings the total Geospock has raised to over $32m. Read more
Congenica announced completion of a $50m Series C funding round to advance its clinical genomic analysis software and data platform. The new funds will drive further commercialisation of rare and inherited cancer applications and expansion into oncology, wellness and pharma collaborations. Read more
Gyroscope Therapeutics announced FDA clearance for its orbit subretinal delivery system and FDA Fast Track Designation for GT005, an Investigational Gene Therapy for Dry Age-Related Macular Degeneration. Gyroscope also announced the initiation of the Phase II HORIZON trial evaluating GT005 in people with geographic atrophy. Read more
Several of our portfolio companies have received awards over the last few weeks. To find out more about these awards and other portfolio updates, please visit our portfolio news section
Start Codon closed a new £15 million ($20 million) venture fund to translate life science innovation into successful companies.
The first cohort of four companies are progressing through the acceleration programme and Start Codon is now reviewing applications for the second cohort. Read more
Although Ian Jauncey is not new to our team, we are pleased to announce that he has taken on the additional role of Operating Partner. Read more about Ian here
We would like to introduce you to our recently launched video interview series, where CIC talks to a range of stakeholders and partners.
The first in the series is a conversation between Robert Tansley and Tom Weaver, CEO, PetMedix. 'I was told I’d never make money’. Serial entrepreneur Tom Weaver discusses why he didn’t listen to the nay-sayers and went on to found four successful ventures. View here
The second in the series is a conversation between Andrew Williamson, Managing Partner of CIC and Ian Jauncey, CIC's new Operating Partner: 'Innovation is not a straight line to success’. Andrew and Ian discuss what makes entrepreneurs successful. View here
Our latest video is a conversation between Vin Lingathoti and Clive Cox, CTO, Seldon. Clive explains how Seldon is solving a complex yet fundamental problem faced by enterprises keen to leverage the power of AI and ML. View here
Join our Partner, Michael Anstey, in this upcoming event on 19 November, 5pm GMT:
Where is the Door? Understanding Investment Exits in the Post-COVID Environment.
Read more about this event here
