A warm welcome to our latest CIC newsletter. This edition covers an exciting period for CIC. We are delighted to share news of four new investments, our 2022 Impact and ESG report, continued team expansion and the launch of the Innovate Cambridge initiative.
Since the start of the new financial year, we have experienced increased volatility in our investment environment. Valuations of public and private companies in the deeptech and life sciences sectors in which CIC invests have declined from the highs set in 2021 back to 2019 levels. This has resulted in a slowdown of investment in these sectors and a near closing of the public markets to new IPOs.
CIC's portfolio is well positioned to navigate this period of volatility. Our companies are capitalised to reach their development milestones and we have worked to ensure they have investor bases to support their future growth.
Beyond this term period of volatility, we believe there are strong prospects for investing in deeptech and life sciences businesses. Science and technology innovation is key to meeting society’s need for improved health, sustainability, and prosperity. The Cambridge ecosystem in which we operate continues to be a powerhouse of innovation to meet these challenges.
Andrew Williamson
Managing Partner
Founded in 2013
> £0.5bn
Assets under management
2 IPOs
4 unicorns
> 35
Portfolio companies
> £0.25bn
Invested in portfolio
> £2.25bn
Co-invested in portfolio
We have added four companies to our portfolio of assets under management.
We invested in Cambridge GaN Devices (CGD) $19m Series B funding round. CGD is commercialising GaN power semiconductor chips. From mobile ultra-fast chargers to home appliance, data centers and EVs, these new, wide bandgap GaN power semiconductors continue to take market share from legacy silicon chips.
We also participated in Unlikely AI's $20 million seed round. Unlikely AI is an early-stage start-up pursuing an ambitious approach to artificial intelligence. The company was founded by William Tunstall-Pedoe, who is best known for his role in the development of Amazon Alexa following the acquisition of his previous start-up Evi.
We recently completed two additional investments, in a precision oncology drug discovery company and a soluble TCR company. More details on both of these investments to follow.
Andrew Williamson, Chair of the British Private Equity & Venture Capital Association’s (BVCA) venture capital committee and Managing Partner of CIC, talks to Unquote about the State of the UK venture market and the outlook for 2023.
We are delighted to issue our second Impact and ESG report.
We care deeply that the innovations at the heart of our founders' businesses have the potential to positively impact people's lives. ESG reporting provides information on the ways we identify, mitigate, manage, improve and report on environmental, social and governance factors and how we identify opportunities to drive operational good practice. In particular, we explain how we educate and support our entrepreneurs to develop robust carbon, governance and DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) practices relevant to their operations.
If you would like to receive a printed copy of the report, please contact us here
Over the next decade we face many critical challenges - climate, health and the digital transformation of our world. Together with our ecosystem partners, we aim to start a conversation about an ambitious and inclusive innovation vision for Cambridge.
We are pleased to welcome four new members to our team.
Rowan Chapman, Non Executive Director
Rowan is a co-founder of Initiate Studios a Life Sciences incubator. Previously, Rowan held positions as Head of Johnson & Johnson Innovation, Head of Healthcare Investing at GE Ventures, and Head of Precision Diagnostics at GE Healthcare.
Tori Denman, Investor Relations Manager
Tori has 10 years experience in corporate finance advisory (at Lazard and Jones Lang LaSalle) and investment management.
Damian Crowther, Entrepreneur in Residence Life Sciences
Damian has a co-existing EIR role at Dementia Discovery Fund. Previously, he was Head of early drug discovery at AstraZeneca Neuroscience and co-founder of HealthTech startup, GP Notebook.
Mihriban Tuna, Entrepreneur in Residence Life Sciences
Mihriban has 20 years experience in biologics drug development. Most recently she was CSO at Adaptate Biotherapeutics, which was acquired by Takeda Pharmaceutical Company.
