Cambridge Innovation Capital has attracted £1 billion of investment into Cambridge companies

Since its foundation Cambridge Innovation Capital has attracted £1 billion of investment into Cambridge companies, highlighting its dominant position at the heart of the innovation ecosystem

CIC’s leading position offers a gateway to accessing world-leading innovation

Cambridge Innovation Capital (CIC), the venture capital investor enabling visionaries to build global, category-leading companies in the Cambridge ecosystem, today provides an update on its performance for the six months ended 30 September 2019.

Andrew Williamson, Managing Partner of CIC, commented: “The high quality of opportunities afforded to CIC as a result of our preferential access to IP from the University of Cambridge and our superior network through the Cambridge ecosystem ensures we are the gateway for accessing world-leading innovation.”

Highlights

• £22.8 million invested into three new and 11 existing portfolio companies, bringing the total invested to £150.0 million in 29 companies (year ended 31 March 2019: £127.2 million in 26 companies)

·         A net fair value increase to CIC’s portfolio of £42.4 million which, together with investments, resulted in a portfolio carrying value of £251.5 million (year ended 31 March 2019: £186.3 million)

·         Cash resources, including committed capital, of £107.3 million

·         Further strengthened our leadership team of internationally experienced life science and tech investment professionals

·         Welcomed Riverlane, Sense Biodetection and PredictImmune to CIC’s family of portfolio companies 

·         CMR Surgical closed a 195.0 million Series C funding round to commercialise its next-generation surgical robotic system

·         Gyroscope Therapeutics raised £50.4 million of Series B funding round including from CIC and lead investor Syncona for the development of gene therapies and surgical delivery systems for retinal diseases

·         Cytora closed a £25.0 million Series B financing round to develop its artificial intelligence-powered insurance technology platform

·         Prowler.io raised $24.0 million to support product expansion and growth in artificial intelligence decision-making

·         Storm Therapeutics closed a £14.0 million extension to its Series A financing, bringing the total Series A financing to £30.0 million to tackling disease through modulating RNA modifying enzymes

·         Audio Analytic raised $12.0 million of Series B funding to developed cutting-edge AI sound recognition technology

·         Bicycle Therapeutics successfully completed its Nasdaq IPO and aims to treat cancer and other debilitating diseases.

Further details

Riverlane, CIC led the £3.3 million seed round in which Cambridge Enterprise, the commercialisation arm of the University of Cambridge, also participated. Riverlane is a quantum computing software developer transforming the discovery of new materials and drugs. Riverlane’s software leverages the capabilities of quantum computers, which operate using the principles of quantum mechanics. In the same way that graphics processing units accelerate machine learning workloads, Riverlane uses quantum computers to accelerate the simulation of quantum systems. Riverlane is working with leading academics and companies on critical early use cases for its software, such as developing new battery materials and drug treatments. The company will use its seed funding to demonstrate its technology across a range of quantum computing hardware platforms, focused on early adopters in materials design and drug discovery. It will also expand its team of quantum software researchers and computational physicists.

Sense Biodetection, CIC co-led the £12.3 million Series A funding round alongside Earlybird. Sense Biodetectionis developing a portfolio of instrument-free, point-of-care molecular diagnostic tests, a pioneering new class of diagnostic product. Sense Biodetection plans to invest the new funds in the development and manufacture of a range of tests utilising its novel and proprietary rapid molecular amplification technology, targeting in the first instance infectious disease applications such as influenza. Instrument-free molecular diagnostics represent the ultimate flexible test format as the tests could be deployed in any setting and by a wide range of potential users. This has the potential to be transformational for the diagnostic industry, delivering for the first time true point-of-care testing in a market-successful, single-use product format, allowing diagnostic tests to be readily adopted by new users and scaled to meet demand.   

PredictImmune, CIC participated in a £10 million Series B funding round alongside Cambridge Enterprise and other new and existing investors. PredictImmune is a developer of pioneering prognostic tools for guiding treatment options and improving patient outcomes in immune-mediated diseases. The Series B round cements PredictImmune’s strong financial position, enabling it to build on the successful launch of its first product, PredictSURE IBD™, with a major focus on continued commercial expansion across Europe, the USA and other territories. It also allows the organisation to expand its product development activities – extending existing programmes in inflammatory bowel disease as well as moving into a range of additional autoimmune areas including systemic lupus erythematosus. PredictImmune is aiming to build a portfolio of new products to complement and enrich its prognostic test pipeline in the coming years.

CMR Surgical closed a £195.0 million Series C funding round, Europe’s largest ever private financing round in the medical technology sector, to commercialise its next-generation surgical robotic system, Versius®. CIC was an early investor in CMR Surgical having first invested in the company’s Series A round in 2016 and has continued to provide financial support and guidance, enabling the realisation of the potential of the Versius® system. The proceeds will be used to drive the next stage of CMR Surgical’s growth, including the planned commercialisation of its Versius® system while supporting continued research and development, manufacturing and expansion. CMR Surgical is expected to launch initially in hospitals across Europe and Asia with further international expansion expected thereafter.

Gyroscope Therapeutics, CIC participated in a £50.4 million Series B funding round alongside lead investor Syncona to develop gene therapies and surgical delivery systems for retinal diseases. With this new round of financing Gyroscope Therapeutics will continue to advance: the clinical development of the company’s investigational gene therapy GT005 for dry age related macular degeneration (dry-AMD), the leading cause of permanent vision impairment for people aged 65 and older; the manufacturing platform to meet patient need worldwide; and a second-generation Orbit Subretinal Delivery System to not only deliver Gyroscope’s investigational therapies, but also be licensed to other gene and cell therapy companies developing medicines.

Cytora closed a £25.0 million Series B financing round to continue developing its artificial intelligence-powered insurance technology platform that enables insurers to underwrite more accurately, reduce frictional costs and achieve profitable growth. Cytora’s underwriting platform applies Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing techniques to public and proprietary data sets, including property construction features, company financials and local weather. The platform combines these data sets with an insurance company’s internal data to better predict risk, thereby ensuring more accurate risk pricing.

Prowler.io, CIC participated in the $24.0 million funding round to support product expansion and growth. Prowler.io continues to define the artificial intelligence decision-making market, developing the world’s first technology that can help businesses and organisations make better decisions in processing dynamic, real-time data in complex and uncertain environments. Prowler.io’s core platform, VUKU, is being applied to managing logistics decisions, allocating resources, and assisting financial decisions in asset management. It is founded on a unique, integrated approach – combining branches of mathematics, engineering and economic theory. While traditional approaches to problem-solving often rely on machines learning from vast, historic data sets, Prowler.io’s is data efficient, and learns in real time.

Storm Therapeutics closed a £14.0 million extension to its Series A financing, bringing the total Series A financing to £30.0 million. Storm Therapeutics is a drug discovery company that is tackling disease through modulating RNA modifying enzymes. The Series A extension will enable the business to advance its broad pipeline further in preclinical development and accelerate its programmes towards the clinic.

Audio Analytic, CIC participated in a $12.0 million Series B funding round. Audio Analytic has developed cutting-edge AI sound recognition technology which can be embedded into consumer devices to make them more helpful to people, by understanding and reacting to the contextual information provided by sounds. Products featuring the company’s technology have already been deployed globally, and several of the world’s leading technology companies are licensees and partners. The Series B funding will be used to support the company’s bold vision to give all machines a sense of hearing.

Bicycle Therapeutics, CIC participated in the Nasdaq IPO to progress Bicycle Therapeutics’ lead candidate, BT1718, through the clinic and continue to advance its preclinical programmes, including toxin drug conjugates and immune modulators to treat cancer and other debilitating diseases. Bicycle Therapeutics is the first company in our diverse portfolio to conduct an IPO and exemplifies the way in which CIC supports the transformation of exciting, early-stage companies from the Cambridge ecosystem as they develop into global, category leading companies.

About Cambridge Innovation Capital

Cambridge Innovation Capital (CIC) is a venture capital investor focused on intellectual property rich technology and life science businesses in the Cambridge ecosystem. CIC is committed to building leading businesses from brilliant technologies. It combines a unique relationship with the University of Cambridge with deep financial and industry links to enable visionaries to build global, category-leading companies.

For more information please visit www.cic.vc or follow us on Twitter at @CIC_vc

Cambridge Innovation Capital Manager Limited (FRN: 913528) is an appointed representative of Duff & Phelps Securities Limited (FRN: 466588) which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.