US giant Oracle is said to be paying £325 million for Cambridge company Grapeshot – creating 10 new millionaires in the process.

The companies have kept quiet about the terms of the deal while the legal process continues towards completion but the value is now said to be more than triple original market speculation. 

Grapeshot provides brand safety and pre-bid contextual solutions to over 5,000 of the world’s leading marketers.

The acquisition of Grapeshot will dramatically expand Oracle Data Cloud’s ability to improve marketing outcomes for partners worldwide by adding the important dimension of Context to Oracle Data Cloud’s expertise in audiences and measurement.

Business Weekly can further reveal that global investors are in the process of injecting well over $1 billion dollars in early stage Cambridge robotics, AI and life sciences companies over the next few months.

A number of the most significant funding rounds are already in the late stages of due diligence. In terms of source territories behind the investment upsurge, we will see an unprecedented ethnic mix with the US, China, Japan, Singapore and Europe very much to the fore.

There is a knock-on benefit to this increased internationalisation of the Cambridge science & technology cluster. The cash is being driven down to embryonic enterprises with potential.

We are seeing evidence of a heightened interest in AI and machine learning startups, particularly those emanating from Cambridge University, as well as digital healthcare plays.

Serial investors in the life sciences are also vetting opportunities to create federations of businesses that will be able to deliver turnkey healthcare services to mass populations. This will be engineered through synergistic local and international acquisitions, many of which are already in the pipeline.