As Europe’s first equity investment platform specialising in life science, Capital Cell’s triumph in Spain during the past 2 years has fuelled their expansion into the UK market. To date they have successfully closed 14 campaigns, with an outstanding success rate of 82% during the last 12 months, considerably higher in comparison to many major generalist competitors. They’ve carefully selected their niche market focussing on presenting high quality scientific investment opportunities to investors, raising more than €4.4M for research and development in various branches of life science, including biotechnology, medical devices, therapeutics, genomics and drug discovery.
UK Launch
As newcomers to the UK equity investment arena, Capital Cell are already setting themselves up to make waves from day 1 through strong partnerships with Angels in MedCity (AiMC), Biotech and Money, Health Education East (HEE), The Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) and RebelBio.
Sarah Haywood, MedCity CEO, said: “We’re excited to have Capital Cell on board, hot on the heels of their latest life sciences equity crowdfunding campaign which was the largest in Spain’s records. This partnership will introduce our network of business angels to new and exciting life sciences investment opportunities, and present entrepreneurs to a fast-growing specialist investor network. Angels in MedCity has helped companies to raise over £14m in just over two years and, with more investment streams, we can help more companies to get the funding they need to grow their innovations. Crowdfunding is an interesting, new investment opportunity for life sciences and we’re looking forward to seeing what the future holds.”
The official Capital Cell UK launch took place as part of the AiMC Company Presentation Event on 26th April 2017 in London, where they met with many new prospective life science companies and investors, as well as re-engaged with familiar investors who attended Capital Cell’s Demo Day event on 30th March in London. The Demo Day showcased 6 promising life science companies who each pitched to a select group of life science investors, followed by Q&A, roundtable discussions and networking.
Speaking at the Demo Day of his relationship with Capital Cell as one of their lead investors, Ian Tomlinson said: “I thought there must be hundreds of these crowdfunding outfits trying to invest into life science, but [Laura Ferguson, UK Director} said, “Well, it’s actually not the case. Although there are generalist crowdfunding platforms across the UK that are well established, there isn’t one that’s dedicated to life science.” I said, “That’s a bit bizarre! Why’s that the case?” She said, “It just hasn’t been done. But we have one in Spain and it’s doing very well.” And I’m thinking… Crikey, if they can do it in Spain and they want to come to the UK, which was the plan, I mean how good could that be!?”
He went on to share his hopes for the future of the company, “[I’m interested in] helping people go from an idea through to actually having the medicine or therapeutic at the end.” He continued to say. “I’d like to see the platform be used by as many life sciences companies as possible, and I do think there’s a real issue in the UK, probably across Europe actually, of funding into that sweet spot, where people are looking for £250k to £2M. […] I think this platform seems to be to be a pretty good way of bringing [Angel investors] together – people who have money they want to invest in these, albeit high risk, opportunities, but with potentially high reward. High reward not meaning only potentially high reward for themselves financially, but something that’s going to make people’s lives better; whether it be a medicine, a device, a diagnostic or some other kind of kit.”
A new concept for the UK
Capital Cell UK have launched with their brand new platform, hosted at www.capitalcell.co.uk, which also features a new concept for the company of ‘Invest and Discover’. Invest will feature the companies who are open for investment in a live campaign. Discover will host companies who are in the process of negotiating a lead investor, providing them with a platform for gaining visibility and building traction ahead of a live crowdfunding round. Investors will be able to follow the progress of companies and indicate their interest in investing, once the campaign goes live.
Specialising in life science projects, Capital Cell’s launch features four companies: Ducentis, Combat Medical, Antikor and Forrest Innovations. In addition, the coming weeks will see four more opportunities added, providing investors with the opportunity to join companies from a variety of scientific advancement areas; including cancer treatment efficiency and drug delivery, fertility tracking, vein imaging technology, autoimmune disease therapy and natural vector control.
As an investment sector, life science is outperforming in the crowdfunding arena. Seed stage life science companies saw a 19% increase in deals in 2016 in comparison to a 39% drop in retail businesses (Source: Beauhurst, The Deal: Equity Investment in the UK, Year 2016. p.7). “But the benefits of life science investment go well beyond the financial,” says Laura Ferguson, Capital Cell UK Director. “The companies we’re listing on our platform really do change lives. As an investment area, life sciences not only has potentially huge financial rewards, but also carries clear social benefits for everyone. Investors in Capital Cell campaigns will have the satisfaction of knowing that their money is directly funding cutting edge science that will influence the world around us.”
To discover more about Capital Cell, and current investment opportunities, visit www.capitalcell.co.uk