Cambridge Innovation Capital has launched a £250m fund, committing at least £100m to the university's spinouts.
Cambridge Innovation Capital (CIC), the UK-based venture firm affiliated with the University of Cambridge ecosystem, pledged to invest at least £100m ($132m) from its new fund to invest in spinouts from the university.
The £100m in funding is part of the launch of its £250m Fund III, its latest early-stage venture fund.
The capital injection brings the deep tech investor’s total assets under management to £600m. The launch comes on the heels of the £100m Opportunity Fund Cambridge Innovation capital announced in February this year, with Aviva Investors, the asset management arm of UK financial services firm Aviva, and British Business Bank, a government economic development bank, joining as limited partners.
To coincide with the new capital commitment, Cambridge Innovation Capital is also beginning an entrepreneurship-in-residence programme, which matches academic researchers with IP to business executives in a bid to accelerate the creation of spinouts. Oxford Science Enterprises, the investment firm associated with University of Oxford spinouts, runs a similar venture building programme.
Companies created in the new entrepreneurship-in-residence programme can access the new funding from inception through to proof-of-concept and early-stage growth.
