Since late 2014 over £500M of new investment into life science companies on the campus has been achieved and publicly announced. These investments come from a broad range of sophisticated investors from US, UK, EU, and Asia, demonstrating the international competitiveness and attraction of Cambridge based life science companies. Investors have included Chinese venture capital, The Wellcome Trust, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Woodford Investment Management, and corporate and corporate venture capital investments from leading pharmaceutical and technology companies such as Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Google, Takeda and Biogen Idec.
The top deals include:
| Company | Amount* | Date |
| Convergence | $200M | Jan 2015 |
| Kymab | $190M | May 2015, Nov 2016 |
| Mission Therapeutics | £60M | Feb 2016 |
| F-star | $50M | Oct 2014 |
| Crescendo Biologics | $36M | Oct 2016 |
| Artois | $33M | Sep 2016 |
| Abzena | £20M | Nov 2015 |
| Bicycle | £20M | Oct 2014 |
| CEGX | $21M | Mar 2016 |
| Storm Therapeutics | £12M | Jun 2016 |
*Given in the currency provided in the announcements
In addition, in March 2015, X01 was sold for an undisclosed sum to Janssen Pharmaceuticals part of Johnson & Johnson. Others companies on the campus at an earlier stage of their development announcing additional funding include Phico Therapeutics who raised an additional £3.5M in November 2016.
Commenting on these numbers, Derek Jones, CEO of Babraham Biotechnologies Ltd - the organisation responsible for the development and management of the Babraham Research campus - said, “One key measure of the success of the Babraham Research Campus, is the value of, and the sums raised by companies on site. Many of these companies established themselves at Babraham as start-ups, and have grown with the campus. Scale-up companies - those companies growing rapidly beyond ‘start-up’ are of increasing importance to our economy. These deals demonstrate the number and ambition of scale-up companies on site. I hope that the facilities, capabilities, networks and community on the campus which have created and continue to nurture provides a supportive and encouraging environment for companies to start-up and grow here. It is also encouraging to acknowledge the continued investment in Cambridge life sciences post the Brexit decision.”
About Babraham Research Campus
Babraham Bioscience Technologies Ltd (BBT) is responsible for the management and commercial development of the Babraham Research Campus.
The Babraham Research Campus is distinct in its co‐location of 60 bioscience companies with the Babraham Institute, a world‐renowned research organisation which receives strategic funding from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).
The aim of the campus is to support UK bioscience through academic research, but also with facilities and capabilities for early-stage and growing commercial organisations. The Campus provides companies laboratory and office space, networking and collaboration opportunities, together with access to outstanding scientific facilities in an ideal geographical location at the core of the Cambridge cluster.
The campus is managed and developed by BBT on behalf of the BBT shareholders, BBSRC and the Babraham Institute.
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Derek Jones Chief Executive, Babraham Bioscience Technologies
Email: derek.jones@babraham.co.uk
www.babraham.com