An Italian venture capital firm with several UK DeepTech investments under its belt already is targeting further deals on these shores.
LIFTT has announced a strategic transition of its business towards four investment areas: data infrastructure, human health & ageing, energy security and industrial automation.
It said startups in the UK and globally will benefit from a scientific-entrepreneurial ecosystem that can support them in their growth journey ‘from cradle to market’, having raised €110m from 215 institutional and retail investors.
Among its €78m deployed to date across 56 portfolio companies are several UK DeepTech firms.
These include Cambridge spinouts NeoPhore (BioTech) and Evoralis (CleanTech); London firms Keyron (MedTech) and Planet Smart City (infrastructure); Oxford quantum company Lumai; and Leeds FoodTech MicroLub.
Half of its portfolio are uni spinouts. Indeed Maria Cristina Odasso, head of business analysis at LIFTT, says that institutions in Leeds, Oxford and Cambridge demonstrate the UK’s status as a powerhouse for companies born from research.
“LIFTT has always been a promoter of a virtuous ecosystem in which, through technology transfer, it can create a union between the academic sphere and the business environment,” she explains.
“The ideas and expertise developed in the laboratories of universities can be successfully transferred into businesses capable of producing positive returns for the territories and the community.
“The UK is therefore of incredible interest to us because it has an exceptional tradition, quality and advancement in research and scientific disciplines, thanks to university excellences such as Oxford, Cambridge and the Leeds district.
“We bring together forward-thinking businesses and expert academics to tackle strategic innovation challenges to deliver economic, societal or environmental outcomes.”
The introduction of Knowledge Transfer Partnerships from government innovation agency Innovate UK has been something of a game-changer, she added.
“Since the 1990s in the UK, and widely in advance of the European continent, technology transfer activities have begun, which has ensured the creation of a venture capital ecosystem in which it is not uncommon to find teams although coming from the world of research are at the same time endowed with entrepreneurial spirit and capabilities.
“For an investor such as LIFTT, these are extremely attractive qualities.
“It is, in fact, no coincidence that the UK represents the first country in Europe in terms of the number of VC investments.”