Parkwalk Advisors invests $81.7m in 2018

Parkwalk Advisors, the fund management arm of UK-based commercialisation firm IP Group, invested a total of £64m ($81.7m at end of 2018) across 58 funding rounds in 2018, down from the $105.3m committed to its portfolio companies the previous year.
The unit’s portfolio secured more than $319m of capital last year, a year-on-year decrease from $337.6m in converted dollar terms, though on par at approximately £250m when denominated in British pound.
Parkwalk Advisors closed a trio of university venture funds during 2018 – University of Cambridge Enterprise Fund (UCEF) VI, University of Oxford Enterprise Fund IV and University of Bristol Enterprise II. All three vehicles channel private investment into university-linked companies including spinouts based on academic research.
Formed in 2009, Parkwalk Advisors runs spinout-focused investment vehicles which often benefit from UK venture capital tax allowances. The unit was acquired by IP Group for an initial consideration of $12.4m in 2017.
Parkwalk recently launched a new fund called Parkwalk Opportunities BIR that qualifies for business investment relief tax breaks, complementing its existing Opportunities EIS vehicle, which operates under the enterprise investment scheme (EIS).
Together, Parkwalk’s EIS funds added $89.3m of capital during 2018, bringing their total value of assets under management to approximately $280.7m.
Parkwalk made 16 initial investments last year to increase the number of companies in its active portfolio to 102. Its funds exited six shareholdings, one more than achieved in 2017, at businesses including UCEF-backed glaucoma therapy spinout Quethera, bought by drug firm Astellas Pharma for up to $108m in August 2018.