Cambridge raises £50m to invest in local technology companies
Cambridge Innovation Capital (CIC) aims to support the growth of innovative businesses based in the Cambridge Cluster by investing long-term equity finance to help companies bridge the critical middle stage of commercial development, the so-called ‘valley of death’.
CIC’s main investors are Invesco Perpetual and Lansdowne Partners, with further capital provided by a number of investors including the University of Cambridge Endowment Fund, ARM and the IP Group. In addition to the capital that it is investing, the University will support CIC through its commercialisation office, Cambridge Enterprise.
The Board of CIC is led by Non-Executive Chairman Edward Benthall, a former partner at Charterhouse Capital Partners and includes Mike Muller, co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of ARM, and Cambridge Enterprise Chief Executive, Tony Raven.
"As a global business, ARM has seen the impact of different approaches to developing growing businesses," said Muller. "We hope that a mix of investment to provide a springboard for innovative companies and mentoring will be a catalyst for the next series of successful ‘ARMs’ in and around Cambridge.”
CIC will also benefit from the advice of a world-class academic and business panel which includes Hermann Hauser, co-Founder of ARM, Warren East, former CEO of ARM, Sir Greg Winter, Master of Trinity College and founder of Cambridge Antibody Technology and Domantis, Prof. Sir Richard Friend, Cavendish Professor of Physics and founder of Cambridge Display Technology, and Jonathan Milner, founder and CEO of Abcam.
CIC plans to invest in companies across a wide range of technologies, at different stages in their development. Being a permanent capital vehicle, it will invest over a long time horizon and expects some of its investments to take a decade or more to reach maturity. It intends to invest its initial capital over a two to three year timescale, after which it will raise more capital, probably by means of an IPO.
"Many good companies have to spend too much time fundraising, leaving them with less time to focus on running their business," said Edward Benthall, Non-Executive Chairman of CIC. " CIC will work with angel and other long term investors to bring innovative technologies to market and help build world-class businesses.”
www.arm.com
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