Cambridge’s ‘knowledge engine’ finds its voice at Deeptech Labs demo day
Deeptech Labs, voted ‘Hottest Accelerator’ at the Europas Tech Awards 2022, has hosted its bi-annual demo day, showcasing its autumn cohort of five pre-Series A deeptech companies as well as welcoming back cohort alumni member Autofill.
The founders of this cohort’s five companies – Medwise, Perceptual Robotics, Waku Robotics, Xapien and Small Robot Company with the additional presentation from Autofill – pitched their businesses to the in-person and online audience, which included around 200 investors with $130billion under management.
The Deeptech Labs demo day hosted a wide range of speakers and mentors, including Martin Frost, chair and co-founder of CMR Surgical, and Prof Andy Neely, senior pro-vice-chancellor at the University of Cambridge.
“If I think about the Cambridge cluster and why it works,” Prof Neely told the audience, “the way I describe it is there’s a foundation which is a sort of knowledge engine and that’s really all of the interesting ideas that are being developed, not just in the university but in the science parks, the local companies.
“I think there are then three vertical pillars in that, so one is around finance and IP, and we’ve got all sorts of different types of funding, from angel investment to later-stage funding...we’ve got funding at all sorts of different scales.
“The second vertical pillar is about space and that’s all of the working spaces that exist so if you’re an early-stage venture, you could do that from your kitchen table at home or you could join IdeaSpace and rent a desk there – you’re not really renting a desk, you’re joining a community of 60 other entrepreneurs who are thinking about their businesses, so it’s a self-help group.
“You grow a bit and then you go to the Bradfield Centre or St John’s Innovation Centre and get an office for three people, you grow a bit more then you leave those incubator-type spaces, and go off and take your own space on the Babraham Campus or wherever you might be. So there’s space because as you grow in terms of capital you grow in terms of space.
“The third pillar is about skills and that’s about giving people the right capabilities, and I think Deeptech Labs are fantastic here, because Deeptech Labs is an accelerator to give people the skills, the knowledge and the exposure as they seek to grow and underpin their businesses.”
The demo day was a first for Isabela Chick, who has joined Deeptech Labs as partner, investments and programme. Isabela was formerly chief strategy officer at Founders Factory and global head of business innovation at Telefónica.
“There is an urgent need to develop and invest in the next generation of deeptech companies whose solutions address the fundamental issues that we face as society today: security, productivity and climate,” she said. “I’m excited to join the Deeptech Labs team and work with our community of strategic partners, LPs and world-renowned entrepreneurs to catalyse the next generation of European deeptech companies.”
Miles Kirby, CEO Deeptech Labs, said: “Deeptech Labs continues to win recognition for our unique methodology, deeptech domain expertise and our ambition to accelerate the European deeptech industry. The team and I are continually innovating our model to help early-stage deeptech founders stay ahead in an increasingly competitive landscape while also solving some of the world’s most pressing challenges.”
