A venture capital investor with links to the University of Cambridge has raised £150 million in the largest tech round of the year.
Cambridge Innovation Capital backs ‘intellectual property rich’ technology and life science businesses in the Cambridge ecosystem.
The round takes the total amount of capital CIC has raised to date to £275m.
The financing was supported by a geographically diverse range of new institutional and strategic investors, with the University of Cambridge and Cambridge University Endowment Fund contributing the cornerstone investment.
The financing is one of the largest private financing rounds in Europe this year and more than doubles the financial resources available to CIC. The funds will be used to support CIC’s current portfolio of 25 companies and enable investment in new opportunities.
“The Cambridge ecosystem holds one of the richest seams of scientific knowledge and technological innovation in the world,” said Victor Christou, CEO of CIC.
“Since our inception in 2013, CIC has invested over £125m in IP-rich technology and life science companies among which are leaders in fields as diverse as surgical robotics, flexible electronics, microbiome science, genomic diagnosis and edge intelligence and AI decision making software.”
“Our relationship with the University of Cambridge, including our privileged position as a preferred investor for the University, goes from strength to strength.”
Professor Stephen Toope, vice chancellor of the University of Cambridge, added: “CIC has grown since its launch to become a key part of the Cambridge ecosystem.
“It has provided support and investment to a portfolio of leading-edge businesses, each of which has the potential to substantially improve people’s lives.
“The University is delighted with what CIC has achieved to date and so has decided to participate in this funding round. We look forward to continuing our close relationship with the CIC team.”
Among notable recent successes for companies in CIC’s portfolio is Software as a Service video management platform business Imagen, which raised £6.5m in a Series B round to expand its global operations, and GeoSpock, which raised £12m to launch its Spatial Big Data Platform.