Cambridge Innovation Capital provides a solution to the ‘scale-up chasm’ for start-ups

Christou will address the current issues in venture funding, including the substantial gap between seed and scale-up. A recent study(1) of over 1,000 UK science and technology businesses suggests that less than 10% of start-ups cross the chasm to scale-up stage. If more sources of scale-up funding are established in the UK, over time fewer early-stage UK businesses should be pressured to sell earlier than they would do in an ideal scenario.

A comparison(1) across clusters in the UK shows that the ‘Golden Triangle’ of Oxford, Cambridge and London is home to over 60% of UK science and technology businesses. Of these three, Cambridge has created the most early-stage companies in the UK, representing more than a quarter of the UK’s total.

Victor Christou, Chief Executive Officer of CIC, will comment: “Cambridge is well-positioned to be a leading source of scale-up stage companies, if the challenges in shifting from an early-stage business to a scale-up can be overcome. Situated at the heart of the Cambridge Cluster, we are uniquely positioned at CIC to invest in the best early-stage businesses and to support these investments through to maturity.”

CIC was set up in 2013 as a patient source of scale-up capital investing in IP rich companies emanating from the University of Cambridge and the Cambridge Cluster. Since inception, CIC has invested in 19 promising early stage technology and healthcare companies in a founder-friendly strategy that aims to provide a fair and equitable return to all parties. With £125 million currently under management, CIC provides support from seed stage through scale-up to maturity.

(1} Cartezia research. Data collected between 2015 – 2016 and is limited to science and technology businesses. Stage of business determined based on customer traction, normalised by sector.