Cambridge Innovation Capital’s £100m Opportunity Fund backed by Aviva Investors

Cambridge Innovation Capital has launched a new £100million Opportunity Fund, backed by Aviva Investors, to invest in fast-growing deep tech and life sciences companies with a connection to the city and its university.

The new fund – which has already made two investments – is geared to developing home-grown global technology businesses: by investing in later-stage rounds of deep tech and life sciences companies, the Opportunity Fund aims to help close the UK’s scale-up financing gap. This gap forces many of Britain’s most promising companies to seek overseas funding to support their growth.

The £100m initiative is anchored by a £15m investment from Aviva Investors, demonstrating a growing appetite among pension funds to invest in fast-growing technology companies. The other main investor is British Patient Capital, part of the British Business Bank, which is investing £20m.

The fund has already made its first two investments, both involving Cambridge companies: Pragmatic Semiconductor is one of the UK’s largest and most innovative chip designers and manufacturers, and Riverlane is the leading quantum error correction company.

Aviva, meanwhile, through its Aviva Investors Venture & Growth Capital LTAF (Long Term Asset Fund), recently invested in Cambridge-based Owlstone Medical, alongside existing support for Chesterford Research Park and the creation of the CB1 estate, to which it has contributed £250m.

Ben Luckett, managing director, venture and strategic capital, at Aviva Investors, said: “We are very pleased to complete our latest investment in the Cambridge innovation cluster.

“CIC has a wealth of expertise in life sciences and deep tech, discovering and supporting pioneering companies like Pragmatic and Riverlane which are putting the UK at the forefront of global innovation.

“As an investor with a long-standing presence in Cambridge, we understand its reputation as a world-leading technology cluster, the huge value of the unique ideas being created here, and their potential to create growth, success and impact.

“We believe CIC’s new fund and its unrivalled access to these early-stage companies will enable us to support their growth, whilst aiming to deliver long-term investment outcomes.”

Cambridge Innovation Capital (CIC), which was formed in 2013, is a leading venture investor backing and building category-leading deep tech and life sciences companies. It currently manages in excess of £600m, has invested in more than 40 companies, and has a privileged relationship with the University of Cambridge, Europe’s top source of founders for venture-backed start-ups.

Andrew Williamson, managing partner at CIC, said: “CIC has traditionally invested in early-stage opportunities around Cambridge and has seen many of these companies mature into highly commercial businesses developing proven technologies.

“With this new fund we will support our portfolio companies, and scale-ups from the UK ecosystem, as they reach a defining moment in their growth – and at exactly the point where the UK often loses its most exciting businesses. We want to be a part of that change, and we’re delighted to be working with Aviva Investors and British Patient Capital to achieve this ambition.”