Patient capital investor Cambridge Innovation Capital is following a highly successful 12 months with a fresh fundraising trawl from UK and international sources.

Having raised £125 million to date, CIC is looking to bulge its war chest ready to back more science & technology gamechangers.

CIC increased net assets by 14 per cent to £144m as at year-end (March 31) having injected £32.7m into three new and 11 existing portfolio
companies.

It brought the total invested to £82.4m in 22 companies compared to £49.7m in 19 companies the previous year. Its investments resulted in a portfolio value of £110.7m – almost double the previous’s year’s figure.

A further £8.8m has been invested into four portfolio companies since year-end, bringing the total capital committed by CIC to date to £99.6m.

CEO Victor Christou said: “We continue to build leading businesses from brilliant technologies in the Cambridge Cluster and to guide and support our portfolio of highly promising companies as they develop and mature. 

“In addition, our extensive networks within the University of Cambridge, Cambridge Enterprise and the wider Cambridge community enable us to identify and access further opportunities to add to our portfolio, the flow of which shows no sign of abating.

“Having raised £125 million to date, we have started the process to raise additional funds from UK and international sources. We have confidence that these funds will allow us to continue to build scale in CIC and create substantial value for our shareholders, as well as to create a sustainable business for our stakeholders.”

Investment highlights for the year ended 31 March 2018, including post period, are many and varied.

Bicycle Therapeutics
In May 2017, CIC played a pivotal role in Bicycle Therapeutics’ £40 million Series B round. The company is developing a new class of therapeutics to treat cancer and other debilitating diseases based on its proprietary bicyclic peptide (Bicycle®) technology. The company is making rapid progress having signed partnerships with AstraZeneca, Bioverativ and Thrombogenics and with lead programme, BT1718, now in clinical trials.

PROWLER.io
CIC led a £10 million Series A funding round for PROWLER.io in July 2017. PROWLER.io’s technology combines the three core areas of probabilistic modelling, interpretable machine learning and the principles of game theory to provide artificially intelligent decision support and optimisation in a range of applications. Since the year end, PROWLER.io has successfully launched its VUKU artificial intelligence platform.

CMR Surgical
CIC was part of the syndicate which contributed $26m in an expanded Series A round to CMR Surgical, an existing portfolio company developing next generation robotics for minimal access surgery, bringing the total amount raised in the Series A to $46m. Post period end, CIC also participated in CMR Surgical’s $100m Series B round, the largest financing round for a medical device company in Europe. The company is using the proceeds to prepare its Versius® system for planned commercialisation.

Cytora
CIC made an initial investment in Cytora’s £4.4m funding round alongside insurance companies QBE and Starr. Cytora has built a risk engine applying artificial intelligence to identify patters of good and bad risks over time, allowing commercial insurers to target, select and price risk more accurately.

GeoSpock
CIC led a £5m Series A funding round in this existing portfolio company. GeoSpock aims to become the de facto processing engine at the heart of next generation infrastructure, including smart cities and internet of everything, as well as powering future mobility applications, such as the management of autonomous vehicle fleets.

Origami Energy
CIC participated in a £19m funding round alongside Aggreko plc, the global leader in on-site power generation. Over the last year, Origami Energy has progressed from deploying commercial projects with industrial and commercial customers to signing multi-year partnership agreements with leading energy suppliers including SmartestEnergy, which is owned by Marubeni, the Japanese-headquartered global trading company.

Microbiotica
Post period end, Microbiotica signed a multi-year strategic collaboration with Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, worth up to $534m in milestone and royalty payments.

• PHOTOGRAPH SHOWS: Cambridge Innovation Capital CEO, Victor Christou