Cambridge University announces that it has invested a record amount in its own spin-outs.
Cambridge University, home to the biggest tech cluster in Europe, has invested a record amount in its own spin-outs over the past year.
For the fiscal year ending July 31st, Cambridge made 10 investments totalling £2.27m ($3.62m) – triple the amount it invested during 2011-12. Companies benefitting from investment included Aqdot, CamSemi, DefiniGEN, Horizon Discovery, Inotec AMD, Lumora, Sphere Fluidics and XO1.
The investments were made through the university’s tech transfer office (TTO) Cambridge Enterprise. The TTO manages three seed funds for the university, totalling around £7m, plus Cambridge’s £2.2m Enterprise Fund, a combination of its Enterprise Investment Scheme and Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme fund, which is now in its second year.
Dr Anne Dobrée, head of seed funds at Cambridge Enterprise said: “We’re here to help give University companies the best possible start, by supporting them through the process of company creation. We work with our entrepreneurs to make business plans stronger, we link them with industry mentors and we can provide funding for due diligence and proof of market studies.”
