CIC Annual Report 2023 Lite

Because Science and People Matter

Welcome to Cambridge Innovation Capital

Cambridge Innovation Capital (CIC) is a leading venture capital investor backing and building category-leading deep tech and life sciences companies.

Our focus on the Cambridge ecosystem, and privileged relationship with the University of Cambridge, provides us with unparalleled access to emerging opportunities in one of Europe’s leading innovation hubs.

We have raised in excess of £0.5 billion from a geographically diverse range of institutional and strategic investors and have invested in 40 companies, whose innovations are set to transform the lives of many. Through these investments, we are helping to guide the development of disruptive companies in fields as diverse as cancer therapy, genomic diagnosis, surgical robotics, artificial intelligence and quantum computing.

Our commercial objective of creating value is central to our business, but our motivation is broader. We are driven by a desire to use our expertise to support companies and the wider innovation ecosystem to impact society positively.

>£0.5bn

Invested in 40 Attracted

>£2.4bn of assets under management portfolio companies of co-investments1

1 Investment in our portfolio companies by third parties prior to, or at, IPO.

UK venture capital managers have had to navigate through strong headwinds in the last 12 months. The CIC team has risen to the challenge, holding the portfolio steady and remaining on course to deliver on our commitment to long-term value creation. We have continued to grow the team, adding breadth and depth of experience, and are well positioned to benefit from the favourable investment market conditions, which we expect to prevail over the next year or two.

EDWARD BENTHALL Chairperson

The production of this report supports the work of the Woodland Trust, the UK’s leading woodland conservation charity. Each tree planted will grow into a vital carbon store, helping to reduce environmental impact as well as creating natural havens for wildlife and people.

Because, in troubled times, science and people matter

Despite the positive secular market sector trends for the knowledge-intensive sectors on which we focus, venture investments have been hit by a combination of adverse factors. The protracted conflict in the Ukraine; rising energy prices in Europe; inflation in developed economies and resultant interest rate rises; the managed collapse of SVB, principal lender to the global venture sector, and the consequential volatility in the banking sector; and the broader context of political uncertainty both on a global geopolitical level and within our domestic UK market, have all combined to create a tough operating and funding environment for young companies.

Fund I, our balance sheet portfolio of 30 deeptech and life sciences companies, is fully committed. Whilst in most cases portfolio companies have continued to make scientific and commercial progress, valuations for both our listed and unlisted investments have fallen in line with the broader sector, which has been adversely impacted by the macroeconomic

environment. As a result, net asset value has declined by 15% to £347 million.

In certain instances, individual company progress has partially offset this downward external pressure on valuations. Most notably in the case of Riverlane, which delivered a significant uplift in carrying value based on its latest funding round, a considerable achievement in the current times.

As this portfolio matures, we are focused on scaling-up those companies which will drive returns by ensuring that these businesses are well funded and supported by the CIC team. We have also made certain disposals where we have judged it prudent to protect shareholder value. During the year we have exited the majority of our interests in Centessa Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: CNTA), Audio Analytic was sold to a major US technology company in November 2022 and in February 2023, Sense Biodetection was sold to Sherlock Biosciences.

Fund II, a Limited Partner fund that we manage and which closed at £225 million on 31 March 2022, completed four new investments during the year and one more in April 2023, thereby increasing total investment to £38 million across 11 companies. Taking into account further committed capital for tranched drawdowns and follow on reserves, Fund II is approximately 45% committed halfway through the investment period.

The latest acquisitions include:

Complement Therapeutics, an ophthalmology company developing novel therapeutics to address diseases related to complement dysregulation;

• T-Therapeutics, a company using soluble T-cell receptors in a proprietary transgenic platform and discovery pipeline to develop novel medicines with applications in oncology, autoimmunity or infectious disease. This is the second time we have worked with the founder Professor Allan Bradley; and

Cambridge GaN Devices, a fabless semiconductor company that is developing and commercialising energy-efficient, Gallium Nitride-based integrated circuits for power electronics.

The pipeline of new investments in both the life sciences and the deep tech sectors remains strong. We have reviewed more new deals this year than in any other and Fund II has sufficient uncommitted capital to take advantage of the right opportunities as they are presented.

We continue to make a positive contribution to the community in which we operate. We are working with the University of Cambridge and Cambridge Enterprise, under the umbrella of Innovate Cambridge, to assemble all the key stakeholders needed to formulate, promote and deliver a shared vision for

the Cambridge ecosystem over the next decade and beyond.

We have also developed an ESG toolkit to help our portfolio companies establish, monitor and report good governance and a strong commitment towards zero carbon. We are making this toolkit available to other venture capital businesses that have expressed an interest in learning from our experience.

We are passionate about science and technology and realising its commercial potential. We support the most promising entrepreneurs to achieve their vision and all of our investments have the potential to drive significant societal impact. This led to our new tagline ‘Because Science and People Matter’.

The senior team continues to take a leadership role in our sectors with positions of responsibility in the British Venture Capital Association, Bio Industry Association, Female Founders and the UK Government’s university spinout review. We continue to build the core Investment Team to support operational capabilities as well to embed deep domain expertise in specific areas where we have identified investment opportunity, through the recruitment of specialist Operating Partners, Entrepreneurs in Residence and other advisers.

Alongside our embedded relationships with the University of Cambridge, our accelerators and the many globally-renowned research institutes in the Cambridge region, this people strategy enables us to source and manage all stages of venture company growth from seed stage to full fruition in our increasingly fertile science ecosystem, whatever the weather.

We create value

Our focus on the Cambridge ecosystem and unique position, as a preferred investor for the University of Cambridge and co-founders of two accelerators, provides us with unparalleled access to emerging opportunities in one of Europe’s leading innovation hubs.

Our value proposition

Focused on Europe’s leading innovation hub

Preferred investor for the University of Cambridge

Co-founders of two accelerators

Leading investor Value adding partner Sector experts

In Europe’s leading innovation hub

CIC is at the heart of the Cambridge ecosystem which is one of Europe’s largest and fastest growing deep tech ecosystems. Cambridge is also the European location of choice for numerous global technology companies including Amazon, Apple, Arm, AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Microsoft and Samsung.

University

1st £30bn 12x Top 3 121

In the world for producing successful tech founders1

Contributed to the UK economy1

For every £1 of publicly funded research the University generates £12.65 in economic impact across the UK

Cambridge 1st £21bn £8bn

Cambridge is the leading Research Innovation Hub in the UK and seventh in the world2

Annual turnover generated by 5,000+ knowledgeintensive firms1

Of venture investment in the last 10 years3

1 University of Cambridge innovation in numbers (April 2023)

2 Global Innovation Hubs Index (2022)

3 Beauhurst (May 2023)

4 Glassdoor (March 2023)

Of the world’s universities1

University of Cambridge affiliates awarded the Nobel Prize1

72,000+ 1st

Cambridge is ranked as the best place to work and second best place to live in the UK4

Gene sequencers

Developed in 1998, reducing sequencing costs million-fold, opening up the possibility for gene therapy to treat currently incurable diseases

Humanised monoclonal antibodies

Invented in 1986 leading to the development of Humira (adalimumab), which is one of the world’s top selling pharmaceutical products with annual sales of over $20 billion+

In vitro fertilisation (IVF)

Developed in 1960s–70s, with the first baby born in 1978. Over 400,000 babies had been born via IVF by 2019

Smart meters

By 2020, 16 million were built, which are projected to save UK households £1.3 billion in energy bills by 2030 and reduce the cost of UK 2050 net-zero target by £16 billion

Raspberry Pi computer

Launched in 2008 and has made technology more equitable, enabling innovation for those with limited resources

ARM microprocessor

Founded in 1990, the microprocessor designs are now used in >90% of mobile phones worldwide

EDSAC

Supercomputer developed in 1946, which performed calculations 1,500x faster than its predecessors

Created 24 unicorns including

It takes imagination to change the world. It takes Cambridge to make it happen.

In Europe’s leading innovation hub continued

CIC contributes to the Cambridge ecosystem

The Cambridge ecosystem helps to sustain CIC

The foundation for innovation is the steady supply of excellent ideas, of which there is an abundance in Cambridge. Ingenuity and creativity, alongside the fundamental research that underpins these ideas, combined with the constant exchange of ideas between academics and companies, governments and NGOs, has provided the recipe for this success. This combination of commercial and scientific expertise, working in tandem, has promoted the propagation of a wide range of knowledge-intensive businesses. Our focus enables us to be uniquely connected and deeply embedded within the community. We have established our reputation based on the strength of our relationships, our deep domain and operational expertise, and the mutual trust with the people with whom we work. This strategy ensures that we are not only the most active Series A investor in the Cambridge ecosystem, but we also participate in the biggest deals.

A responsible approach to investment

Knowledgeable and experienced team with an extensive global network

Substantial Series A and follow-on capital

Co-investment further improves job creation and local economy

World-class academic and commercial research

Rich pool of exceptional talent

Significant seed capital activity

Deep heritage and proven ecosystem to help scale knowledge-intensive start-ups

A strong track record and growing portfolio Global tech companies offer potential for strategic partnerships and channels to market

The most powerful way to achieve higher growth is to make sure the UK is the most innovative economy in the world.

RISHI SUNAK Prime Minister

Cambridge is at the heart of one of the most successful knowledgeintensive communities in the world.

Innovation is critical to local, national and global prosperity and is central to the UK’s growth agenda. Innovation is also key to solving many of the world’s issues by: creating jobs and prosperity; • helping to tackle inequality, congestion and the scarcity of resources; addressing longer-term issues of low growth, productivity and investment; protecting national security by increasing UK ownership and control over critical IP; and finding solutions to the world’s greatest challenges ranging from climate change and biodiversity loss to pandemics, food security and poverty.

Innovate Cambridge, which we created with the University of Cambridge and Cambridge Enterprise, aims to ensure that the Greater Cambridge region is positioned to continue competing internationally and to enhance its reputation as a location for both ground-breaking research and a place to start, grow and locate knowledgeintensive businesses that will change the world.

Innovate Cambridge was officially launched at the inaugural Summit in September 2022 when we were joined by over 200 industry leaders, politicians, start-up founders and members of the Cambridge technology community to begin an ecosystem-wide conversation about the future of the Greater Cambridge region. Following the event, attendees were asked to sign the Innovate Cambridge Charter, in which they pledged to come together to support, promote and enhance the ecosystem, and to help develop a set of initiatives to enable the delivery of the Innovate Cambridge vision.

Since then, the Innovate Cambridge Steering Committee and Boston Consulting Group have been working collaboratively with all the key stakeholders to develop an ambitious and exciting vision for Cambridge, together with a set of priority actions to deliver this vision. The priority actions, once implemented, will enable the Greater Cambridge area to compete effectively on the international stage, ensuring more global businesses want to establish a presence in and around Cambridge and for us all to realise the wider benefits those moves bring to the local, regional and national economy.

Growth depends on seizing the opportunities of tomorrow… embracing technology, innovation and science.

SIR KEIR STARMER Leader of the Opposition

With great people

Venture capital is a people business and our people are our greatest strength. We are constantly working hard to ensure we maintain an inclusive and collaborative culture – which we see as critical to our success.

We have built a team with a unique set of skills and experiences that are well suited to the Cambridge ecosystem and supporting the companies we are building within it. Our team has variously created, backed and sold university spin-out businesses, in both Europe and North America, and several have a PhD from one of the Universities of Cambridge or Oxford.

The individual and collective experiences of the team helps them to understand, and empathise with, the challenges facing an entrepreneur striving to build a deeptech or life sciences business. We also have access through our wider network to some of the ecosystem’s world-leading academics and entrepreneurs.

As we continue to grow, we strive to attract and retain the best talent,

with a strong focus on excellence and integrity. During the year, we were delighted to welcome Rowan Chapman (Non-executive Director), Tori Denman (Investor Relations), Dipesh Patel (Operating Partner), Damian Crowther and Mihriban Tuna (Entrepreneurs in Residence), and Neil Lawrence (Resident AI/ML Adviser).

As a team, we have a passion for science and its potential to drive change. Through our expertise and our position in one of the country’s most powerful science and technology ecosystems, we are able to identify and support the most promising entrepreneurs in knowledge-intensive businesses and help them achieve their vision.

Rowan has been appointed as a Non-executive Director and brings more than 20 years of experience as an executive business leader. Over her career, she has served on multiple corporate boards and executed numerous partnerships

and investments. Rowan is a co-founder of Initiate Studios, a life sciences incubator founded in 2020, where she partners with entrepreneurs to launch new companies. Previously, she served as Head of Johnson & Johnson Innovation (NYSE: JNJ) for Western North America, Australia and New Zealand. Prior to that, Rowan led teams at General Electric Company (NYSE: GE), including as Head of Healthcare Investing at GE Ventures and Head of Precision Diagnostics at GE Healthcare. Before GE, she held operational roles in early and growth stage start-ups and was a Partner at Mohr Davidow Ventures for over 11 years, gaining extensive experience as an investor and board member for a wide variety of life science technology and data-enabled companies. Rowan holds a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and a BA in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge and carried out post-doctoral research at the University of California San Francisco.

Tori is our Investor Relations Manager, working across our funds under management. She has ten years of professional experience, gained in a variety of corporate finance advisory and investment management roles. She has worked for small privately owned investment managers as well as for the global public companies Jones Lang LaSalle and Lazard. In this time she has worked in the UK, Europe and the Middle East, transacting or funding approximately £1 billion of assets. Before joining us, Tori had a career break to pursue charitable work and raise a family. Tori holds a PG Diploma in Real Estate from LSBU and an MA in Modern Languages from the University of Oxford.

Dipesh is an Operating Partner focusing on technology investments. Prior to joining CIC, Dipesh held a number of general and technical management roles at Arm over 25 years. His most recent role was CTO where he was responsible for the Research and Digital IT functions. Prior to this, Dipesh was the President of the IoT Services Group and led the creation of a new software and services business to capture the market opportunities in the Internet of Things. His broad experience covers transistor technology to chip design to cloud platforms. Dipesh has a PhD and a BSc in Electronics

from Loughborough University. He also completed the Executive Programme from Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

Damian is Entrepreneur in Residence with the Life Sciences team. Having trained in Cambridge, then Oxford, as a clinician-scientist (PhD FRCP), Damian practiced clinical neurology in Nottingham and Cambridge before leading a basic neuroscience research group at the University of Cambridge for ten years. Since leaving academia he has gained commercial and entrepreneurial experience as a head of early drug discovery at AstraZeneca Neuroscience and co-founder of the HealthTech startup, GP Notebook.

Mihriban is Entrepreneur in Residence with the Life Sciences team. She brings 20 years of experience in biologics drug development across biotech and pharma. Prior to joining CIC, Mihriban was Chief Scientific Officer at Adaptate Biotherapeutics (acquired by Takeda Pharmaceutical Company), Senior Vice President, Drug Discovery, at F-star Therapeutics (NASDAQ: FSTX) and an early employee at Domantis (acquired by GSK). Mihriban holds a BSc in Biology from the Middle East Technical University, a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Sussex and an MBA from the University of Cambridge Judge Business School.

Neil is our Resident AI/ML Adviser and is the inaugural DeepMind Professor of Machine Learning at the University of Cambridge. Neil has been working on machine learning models for over 20 years and recently returned to academia after three years as Director of Machine Learning at Amazon. His main interest is the interaction of machine learning with the physical world. This interest was triggered by deploying machine learning in the African context, where ‘end-to-end’ solutions are normally required. This has inspired new research directions at the interface of machine learning and systems research funded by a Senior AI Fellowship from the Alan Turing Institute. Neil is also visiting Professor at the University of Sheffield and the co-host of Talking Machines.

Executing our strategic focus

Our priorities 01 02 03

Be the first choice for entrepreneurs, start-ups and investors who want to build a business in Cambridge

Our aims

• Augment our position as a leading investor in the Cambridge ecosystem

Strengthen our reputation for deep domain and operational expertise

Continue to recruit and retain a world-class team with a unique set of skills

• Strive to add value to every interaction

Select and nurture companies that have the potential to deliver superior returns

• Identify knowledge-intensive companies with a clear path to commercialisation

Execute our rigorous screening and approval process

• Invest in companies that have the potential to disrupt whole markets and sectors

Optimise each investment by taking a hands-on approach and adding value

Drive growth and realise value for our stakeholders

• Influence corporate strategy and business development

Implement management changes and incentives

Facilitate access to capital markets and M&A advisers

Expedite realisations, as and when appropriate

We are the leading investor in the Cambridge ecosystem, allowing us to select companies with the potential for superior returns for the benefit of our stakeholders.

On knowledge-intensive businesses

On knowledge-intensive businesses continued

Expanding and supporting our existing portfolio

In August 2022, we invested in Cambridge GaN Devices (CGD), a fabless semiconductor company that develops a range of energy-efficient gallium nitride-based (GaN) power devices to make greener electronics possible. CGD was spun-out of the University of Cambridge to push the limits of semiconductor properties based on decades of research to develop green solutions for everyday electronics, respecting our planet’s natural resources, and creating a more sustainable future for the generations to come. This transaction has not been announced yet.

target broad cancer patient populations in both solid and haematological cancers. The seed funding will be used to build the company’s executive team, advance further research on this new class of antigens, and catalyse their translation into novel cancer immunotherapeutics, including therapeutic vaccines, cell therapies, and TCR-based biologics.

In December 2022, we participated in Carrick’s $25 million Series C round to accelerate the development of its CDK7 and CDK12/13 inhibitors to potentially bring new treatment approaches to patients battling cancer. At the same time, Carrick announced a collaboration with, and $35 million investment from, Pfizer to support its rapid development of samuraciclib in HR+, HER2- breast cancer, which represents more than two-thirds of all new female breast cancer cases. Carrick secured the aggregate funds, whilst maintaining full economic ownership and control of samuraciclib and the rest of its pipeline.

During the year, we invested in the $28 million Series A round of Mosaic Therapeutics, an oncology therapeutics company dedicated to resolving cancer’s complexity to power new treatments for patients. Mosaic’s use of advanced computational methods, while combining mining of large datasets with experimental approaches to identify and develop novel targeted therapies, completely reinvents the traditional approach to target and drug discovery. The company’s bespoke relationship with the Wellcome Sanger Institute provides it with unique access to deep scientific expertise, infrastructure, and biological assets.

During the year, we invested funds that we had previously committed to Epitopea’s £10.3 million seed financing. Epitopea aims to bring transformative benefits to cancer patients by uncovering a new class of untapped tumour-specific antigens (TSAs), to create immunotherapies that

In March 2023, we participated in Seldon’s $20 million Series B round alongside new and existing investors. Seldon is a data-centric machine learning operations (MLOps) platform for the deployment, management, monitoring and explainability of machine learning models. Organisations are investing heavily in AI but many are struggling to scale out their models in production due to bottlenecks in team workflows, increased regulation and compliance restraints, a lack of trust in model outputs, and ensuring peak model performance are all top of mind for AI-powered enterprises. Seldon empowers Data Scientists, ML Engineers and other business stakeholders to accelerate the adoption of machine learning to help solve these challenges with unprecedented efficiency.

In November 2022, we participated in the Series A round of T-Therapeutics, a venture-backed company on a mission to unlock the power of T cells to treat chronic and infectious diseases. Based on technology from Professor Allan Bradley’s

laboratory in Cambridge University’s Department of Medicine, T-Therapeutics secured the funds to support its drug discovery efforts and prepare candidates for development.

During the year, we participated in Unlikely AI’s $20 million seed round. The funds raised will boost the development of Unlikely AI’s ambitious, fresh approach to artificial intelligence and expand its team. Unlikely AI was founded by William Tunstall-Pedoe, best known for his role in the development of Amazon Alexa and a member of our Advisory Panel. His first start-up, Evi Technologies (formerly True Knowledge), developed technology for natural language understanding and question answering. Evi launched a voice assistant with the same name in 2012 that saw millions of downloads in the first few months. The company was then acquired by Amazon, where the technology, team and know-how were used to create, launch and further develop Alexa.

On knowledge-intensive businesses continued

Driving commercial progress

Bicycle Therapeutics (NASDAQ: BCYC), a biotechnology company pioneering a new and differentiated class of therapeutics based on its proprietary bicyclic peptide (Bicycle®) technology, announced that it has entered into a strategic collaboration agreement with Novartis to develop, manufacture and commercialise Bicycle® radio-conjugates (BRCs) for multiple agreed upon oncology targets. Under the terms of the agreement:

Bicycle will utilise its proprietary phage platform to discover Bicycles to be developed into BRCs;

• Novartis will be responsible for further development, manufacture and commercialisation of the BRCs; Novartis will fund all pre-clinical and clinical development and commercialisation activities; and Bicycle will receive a $50 million upfront payment and be eligible for development and commercial-based milestone payments totalling up to $1.7 billion and receive tiered royalties on Bicycle-based medicines commercialised by Novartis.

Bicycle also announced that Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, had exercised its second option to initiate a new programme, expanding the exclusive strategic collaboration agreement with Bicycle to discover, develop and commercialise novel Bicycle®-based immuno-oncology therapies. Pursuant to the terms of the February 2020 agreement, Genentech was granted two collaboration expansion option, each of which gave Genentech the right to add one additional programme to the collaboration in exchange for a $10 million payment to Bicycle. Having exercised the first option in October 2021, Genentech exercised its second option, thus triggering an additional $10 million payment.

Carrick Therapeutics, an oncology-focused biopharmaceutical company, announced a $35 million collaboration with Pfizer for combination development. Shortly after closing the collaboration with Pfizer, Carrick also announced that it had entered a clinical trial collaboration with The Menarini Group to evaluate samuraciclib and elacestrant in combination.

Congenica, the UK-based digital health company that enables the rapid analysis and interpretation of genomic data, was awarded the second stage of a contract to develop standardised next generation sequencing workflows in oncology for a group of seven Central European hospitals represented by the Medical University Graz. The European Union Horizon 2020 funded project, ‘About INtegrated and STANDardized NGS workflows FOR Personalized therapy’ (InstandNGS4P), has been set up to support the development of integrated and standardised next generation sequencing workflows to guide therapy decisions and provide clinical decision support at the bedside of cancer patients.

capital invested

CMR Surgical, the global robotics business, announced that its Versius® Surgical Robotic System has been used in more than 10,000 surgeries spanning 130 different procedure types across seven surgical specialities across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Australia and Latin America. Designed to offer high utilisation in operating rooms, Versius® is being used to perform a wide variety of both routine and complex procedures across a range of specialties including gynaecology, colorectal surgery, thoracic surgery, general surgery and urology –from hernia repairs and hysterectomies to radical prostatectomies and lower anterio resections.

CMR also announced that it had launched partnerships with two tele-mentoring companies, Teladoc Health and SurgEase Innovations, to enhance its ongoing training support for surgical teams. Tele-mentoring systems utilise specialised monitors, sound systems and cameras to allow trainers and surgical preceptors to provide real-time guidance and technical assistance during surgical procedures irrespective of geography, to provide expert clinical support for surgical teams as they master the Versius® technology. This additional remote assistance is provided to surgical teams as part of CMR’s comprehensive stepwise training programme, which utilises enhanced virtual reality technology, extensive supervised training and preceptor support.

Microbiotica, a leader in discovering and developing microbiome-based therapeutics and biomarkers, announced a clinical trial collaboration with MSD (Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA) to evaluate MB097 in combination with KEYTRUDA® (pembrolizumab) in a Phase 1b clinical trial in melanoma.

Under the terms of the agreement, Microbiotica will conduct a Phase 1b clinical trial to evaluate the safety and tolerability, and initial signs of clinical activity of its live biotherapeutic product, MB097, in combination with KEYTRUDA® (pembrolizumab), MSD’s anti-PD-1 therapy, in melanoma patients with primary resistance to an anti-PD-1-containing immunotherapy.

Pragmatic Semiconductor, worked with researchers in the US on the first programmable processor designed specifically for a plastic process technology. Pragmatic and its partners have previously demonstrated the world’s first non-silicon ARM processor and also designed the iconic 6502 processor for its flexible plastic technology, but this is the first project to explore the performance, power, size and yield trade-offs of the technology. This is the first time that a microprocessor has been developed specifically for Pragmatic’s FlexIC Foundry service, using bespoke chip architectures designed by researchers at the University of Illinois.

Riverlane, the quantum engineering company building the world’s first operating system for error corrected quantum computing, and Rigetti (NASDAQ: RGTI), a pioneer in hybrid quantum-classical computing, announced a partnership backed by Innovate UK to tackle syndrome extraction on superconducting quantum computers. Syndrome extraction is a crucial step in quantum error correction, the greatest challenge to be solved to develop useful quantum computers that can process more data with far greater accuracy than is possible today. Useful quantum computers can unlock previously impossible scientific possibilities and transform a range of vital industries, including healthcare, sustainable energy and advanced materials.

On knowledge-intensive businesses continued

Realisations

In November 2022, Audio Analytic was acquired by a large US technology company. Although the terms of the deal were not disclosed, we are delighted that the Audio Analytic team has been retained in Cambridge, meaning that another world-leading US business now has an established R&D presence in the city.

During the year, we sold the majority of our interests in Centessa Pharmaceuticals, a clinical-stage company employing its innovative asset-centric business model to discover, develop and ultimately deliver impactful medicines to patients, which listed on Nasdaq in May 2021.

In February 2023, it was announced that Sense Biodetection, a global molecular diagnostics innovator, had been acquired by Sherlock Biosciences, a company engineering biology to bring next-generation diagnostics to the point of need. The acquisition will accelerate Sherlock’s go-to-market strategy by adding Sense’s Veros™ instrument-free rapid molecular test platform and manufacturing capabilities, enabling the vision of highly accurate and affordable diagnostics that can be used anytime, anywhere.

At 31 March 2023, our cumulative portfolio (realised and unrealised) had a value of £0.5 billion.

Demonstrating our value proposition

Focused on Europe’s leading innovation hub

Cambridge’s global reputation, unique heritage and commercial expansion, combined with the deep scientific expertise, highly educated workforce and established networks for early-stage funding, make Cambridge a particularly attractive place to establish, nurture and cultivate knowledge-intensive businesses.

We work hard to develop the ecosystem and invest our time generously in coaching, mentoring, sponsoring and participating in a wide range of entrepreneurial and impact activities.

Preferred investor for the University of Cambridge

We benefit from a long-term partnership with, and permanent link to, the University.

We have unique access to Cambridge Enterprise and its information systems, investment meetings and potential spin-out pipeline.

We can exercise co-investment and pre-emption rights to existing and future University equity stakes.

Co-founders of two accelerators

We have co-founded two accelerators, Start Codon and Deeptech Labs, which provide hands-on support to bridge the gap between translational research and Series A ready businesses.

We benefit from the pre-emption rights of companies participating in the accelerator programmes.

Leading investor

Our reputation is based on the strength of our relationships, our deep domain and operational expertise, and the mutual trust with the people with whom we work.

We are the most active Series A investor in the Cambridge ecosystem and participate in the biggest deals.

Value-adding partner

We meet hundreds of entrepreneurs and co-investors each year and strive to add value in every interaction.

We are focused on growing the value of our investments by taking a hands-on approach including board participation, business planning and development, executive recruitment, commercialisation and scale-up.

Sector experts

We have built a team with a unique set of skills and experiences that are well suited to the Cambridge ecosystem and supporting the companies we are building within it.

We bring deep domain and operational expertise developed through our past experiences as investors, entrepreneurs, scientists and operators.

READ MORE ON PAGES 10 AND 11

By living our values

Our values are what steer us as we build a prosperous and sustainable future, enhance financial returns and have a positive impact on our stakeholders. These values were developed by our amazing team and truly characterise what it means to be part of CIC.

WE WANT TO ACHIEVE THE EXTRAORDINARY

We think big and believe anything is possible

We seek to be the best at what we do

We are pioneers, we are bold

WE HAVE A PASSION FOR LEARNING AND KNOWLEDGE

We are a people business and our success is built on enabling the growth and development of our team

We seek to ensure all members of our team are effective and fulfilled in their work

BUT NOT AT ANY COST

We are committed to doing the right thing, even when no one else is looking

We speak with honesty, think with sincerity and act with integrity

AND KNOW WE ARE STRONGER TOGETHER

We use our combined resources, internally and in the Cambridge ecosystem, to get the best results We pride ourselves on our ability to collaborate across sectors and markets

WE WANT A CULTURE WHERE EVERYONE CAN BE THEMSELVES

We celebrate different views and seek to avoid hierarchies

Each person on our team matters and plays an important role in our organisation’s success

AND TAKE PRIDE IN GIVING SOMETHING BACK

As individuals and an organisation, we can make a real difference to the future, our community and the environment

We contribute positively to the Cambridge ecosystem, making it a great place to work, live and thrive

How we conduct ourselves and how we do business is extremely important to everyone at CIC. We strive to be good citizens and successful business partners, whilst achieving the best results.

Cambridge Science Centre (CSC) is an educational charity based in Cambridge that wants every young person to enjoy and explore STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). CSC provides unique hands-on, interactive experiences, shows and activities, which are delivered by professional science communicators.

We are delighted to support CSC in the important work they do for young people in Cambridge and beyond. Our sponsorship has helped CSC to continue to thrive and develop the innovators of the future – people who will one day have the potential to change lives and make their mark on the world.

The Investing in Women Code is a commitment by financial services firms to the advancement of female entrepreneurship through improving female entrepreneurs’ access to tools, resources and finance.

We are committed to supporting diversity within the industry. Our ESG initiatives emphasise our own targets in advancing equality and inclusion within CIC, particularly through recruitment where gender and ethnic diversity is part of all shortlisted positions.

LSX Female Founders was founded to connect women entrepreneurs in the health and life science field with investors, as well as offer mentorship from relevant industry professionals.

As a founding partner of LSX Female Founders, we are pleased to have the opportunity to make a greater impact on diversity in the industry at a much larger scale. Together with our fellow founding partners, we can offer a combined network of over 10,000 investors to support the progression of new businesses.

And focusing on positive impact

Our theory of change

Our theory of change shows how we seek to: support the development of innovation and entrepreneurship in the Cambridge ecosystem; invest in entrepreneurial founders building category-leading, global businesses; and achieve enhanced financial returns for our investors by investing in best-in-class companies and supporting the growth of those companies with the resources available. Beyond that, it shows how we seek to have a positive impact on society.

We have selected the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a framework to consider the potential impact of our investment and also to encourage certain behaviours in our portfolio companies.

The SDGs that we aspire to fulfil through our core investment activities are

To ensure healthy lives and promote well-being

To promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work

To build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation

To make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable

To ensure inclusive and equitable quality

To achieve gender equality

To reduce inequality

To ensure responsible consumption and production

As a Series A investor, we are often the first institutional investor to invest in a company. This provides us with an ideal opportunity to instil best practices at an early stage.

We also aim to encourage certain behaviours within our portfolio companies by focusing on

education and promote learning opportunities

Challenges Outcomes Activities Outputs

Insufficient support for entrepreneurial innovation

Insufficient funding for early stage companies

Low success rate for early stage companies

Innovations that can deliver value to society may not find a way to scale

Lack of diversity in entrepreneurs and employees may result in missed opportunities

Deep engagement with the Cambridge ecosystem

Early stage assessment of potential reach and depth of impact

Investment and other support for entrepreneurs and their businesses

Strategic support to help build sustainable businesses

Encourage wider diversity in entrepreneurs and employees of portfolio companies

Development and commercialisation of impactful innovations

Maintain a balanced and diversified portfolio

Facilitate access to capital through building investment syndicates

Opportunities identified for impact enhancement aligned with commercial goals

Identify best practices within the portfolio

Enable visionaries to build global, category-leading companies

Deliver enhanced financial return for our investors

Attract more investment into our portfolio companies

Cross-fertilise ideas and people within the portfolio to enhance outcomes

Share and promote best practice within the portfolio

Portfolio case studies

What is your vision? What is the problem you are trying to solve?

Minimal access surgery (MAS) has well documented benefits for patients, including reduced pain, discomfort, scarring and risk of infection, along with faster recovery times, when compared with open surgery. These advantages mean that MAS is widely recognised as the best treatment option for soft tissue surgeries.

However, MAS is extremely difficult to perform, which means that 50% of cases globally that could be treated this way are still being performed as open surgery.

The support of robotic systems should help to address this problem by making MAS less mentally and physically challenging for surgeons. However, robotic systems have historically not been easily accessible to all hospitals. In fact, only 3% of all surgeries globally are being performed with a robot. In Europe it is closer to just 1% of surgeries.

CIC has vast experience in the life sciences sector and knows the industry in which we operate very well. They have shared our vision from the beginning and supported us through many stages of development. Their support has been critically important and I look forward to working together in the future.

SUPRATIM BOSE CEO

At CMR Surgical, our goal is to transform surgery – for good. As the fastest growing surgical robotics company, we are rapidly disrupting the surgical robotics market, bringing the benefits of minimal access surgery to more patients around the world every day with Versius, our next generation robot.

What is unique about your product/technology?

Versius is the only small, modular and portable surgical robotic system, which means that it can integrate seamlessly into virtually any operating room. Due to the modular design, Versius can easily be moved between hospital departments to maximise utilisation so that more patients can benefit from robotic-assisted MAS.

Transforming surgery. For good.

How can it impact the world and/or benefit society?

By enabling more MAS, we can help patients to recover quicker and reduce post-operative bed days. This has a significant impact on hospitals and healthcare systems, which have enormous pressure on bed days and capacity.

In fact, after implementing a robotics programme with Versius, Milton Keynes University Hospital, UK, were able to save 450 bed days annually (including eight HDU bed days) – an important gain, which is helping the hospital to manage challenging bed pressures more effectively.

Robotics also have the potential to have a positive impact on the healthcare workforce. Versius has been designed with surgeons to minimise the ergonomic impact of procedures on their physical well-being. The open console gives them the option to stand or sit in a comfortable position throughout the entire surgical procedure, helping to reduce their stress and fatigue and supporting them to provide the best quality of care for patients.

What is the market opportunity?

To date, the surgical robotics market is only 3% penetrated globally. In Europe, it is around 1%.

Early generation robotic systems are often large and difficult to move around, which means that they are mostly being used in large, elite teaching hospitals that can dedicate an entire OR to a robot. Therefore, they are not always viable for smaller hospitals outside big cities and surgical centres, which often have high volumes of cases but less access to innovation.

All hospitals that need a robot, regardless of their size and location, should have access to a versatile system that can be highly utilised across departments. To transform surgery for more people, we also need to open up a very under penetrated market outside of the large central teaching hospitals.

We have already seen significant demand in this area – including from customers such as Argenteuil Hospital in France and Cristo Re in Italy.

Portfolio case studies continued

How do you measure progress?

Ultimately, CMR’s goal is more patients receiving the highest quality of surgical care. Versius has now been used in over 10,000 surgical cases around the world across 130 procedure types – which is a critical proof point that we are delivering on our mission.

What has been the biggest challenge to date?

Building a surgical robot is very difficult – CMR successfully achieved this and in a rapid time managed to bring Versius to the global market – going from concept to patient in five years. No other big established medtech companies with existing large customer footprints, deep industry knowledge and credibility have achieved this in such a short period of time.

CMR chartered the unknown to design a surgical robot that would meet our mission of increasing access to keyhole surgery for many people. Leveraging vast experience and understanding of keyhole surgery, software technology and engineering, but not of robotics, the team took calculated risks on disruptive technology design.

The development process for Versius was collaborative from the start, working alongside the surgical community to overcome design obstacles – such as whether to have cart mounted or bed mounted arms, or whether or not to have an open console design – to ensure a design evolution that ensured a system was being built in Versius that was compatible with the needs of busy surgical teams.

Another challenge CMR faced in the development of Versius is the rapid scaling of the business. To keep up with the demand for Versius and growth of its development, and the company’s growth, CMR faced space constraints as it grew, and the need to rapidly build a skilled workforce in order to have the capabilities to commercially produce Versius to keep up with demand. CMR overcame these challenges by bringing in a manufacturing and scale-up expert to revolutionise manufacturing practices and successfully implement a supply chain scaling programme, supporting CMR’s robust growth.

What is next?

To date, CMR has installed over 100 systems worldwide. CMR will continue to go deeper into existing markets, including Europe, Asia and Latin America as well as secure additional regulatory approvals in markets where Versius can provide differentiation to customers. CMR has also invested in a new manufacturing facility and global exports hub in the UK, which will be operational in 2023, to meet the global demand for Versius.

Portfolio case studies

What is your vision? What is the problem you are trying to solve?

A world where our technology is embedded in trillions of connected items, bringing benefits to everyday lives and solving some of our biggest societal challenges.

What is unique about your product/technology?

Pragmatic is revolutionising semiconductor manufacturing, making flexible integrated circuits (chips) that are the only real alternative to silicon. Our chips can be produced in under two days – more than ten times faster than traditional silicon semiconductors. This, in combination with their thin flexible form factor and dramatically lower cost, means they can be used in places where it would not be cost-effective, or even physically possible, to use silicon chips.

How can it impact the world and/or benefit society?

The possibilities for our technology are endless and we have only scratched the surface of the benefits it brings. Examples include: smart patches for early detection of health conditions such as sepsis; item-level supply chain traceability and product authentication to prevent fraud; and enabling better recycling or re-use of packaging to help governments and companies enable a truly circular economy.

Our flexible integrated circuits are also a more sustainable alternative to silicon chips. Our production approach eliminates many of the resource-intensive processes of silicon manufacturing, using just a fraction of the energy and water. It also significantly reduces the quantity of chemicals and gases consumed, further improving the environmental footprint of chip manufacturing.

CIC is a tremendously important investor for Pragmatic. Having an investor that can go deep and understand so well what we are trying to achieve on both a technical and commercial level has helped to guide and support our vision and connect us with partners that can help make it a reality.

DAVID MOORE CEO

Simply intelligent

What is the market opportunity?

The directly addressable market for our flexible chips is well over $50 billion, with the potential for our technology to be embedded in trillions of smart items. Our growth is supported by a world-class shareholder base including financial, strategic and sovereign investors.

How do you measure progress?

In simple terms, we measure progress by the growth in our revenue pipeline, driven by the tangible demand for our technology in an increasing range of applications. As we continue to develop our technology platform and raise awareness of its capabilities, we will also measure progress by the number of innovative ideas and use cases that our customers create to improve everyday lives.

What has been the biggest challenge to date?

Our main obstacle has been translating our unique technology into a proven, reliable, high-yield fabrication line, or ‘fab’. Achieving consistent production yields over 90% was the key milestone that led to our oversubscribed $125 million Series C funding round.

What is next?

Our distributed manufacturing model is unique in the semiconductor industry. We have developed a ‘Fab-as-a-Service’ offering that enables agile, on-site, ‘justin-time’ chip production. The compact design of our fabs means that they can be located anywhere in the world, even on a customer’s site. This ensures continuity and security of supply at both a local and national level. We are currently commissioning our second fab in the UK, but over the next decade our ambition is to deploy over 100 fabs worldwide.

Portfolio case studies

What is your vision?

What is the problem you are trying to solve?

Our vision at Mosaic is to be the world leader in biomarker-specific, targeted oncology drug discovery, development and commercialisation.

We are addressing a huge unmet need for patients with cancer. The mean five-year survival rate across all cancer types is still only 51%. As academia, government, and private industry strive to improve patient outcomes, the clinical failure rate in oncology drug development sits at a dismal 93%. The opportunity and urgency to improve the lives of people with cancer is immense, and Mosaic is uniquely positioned to play a leading role in addressing this societal challenge.

CIC is a tremendous partner to Mosaic. Their position in the Cambridge biosciences ecosystem and years of experience in building world-class companies with global impact, has been instrumental in helping us shape our strategy and vision to become a world-leading oncology therapeutics company.

BRIAN GLADSDEN CEO

What is unique about your product/technology?

At Mosaic, we are resolving cancer’s complexity by reshaping the interface of computational and experimental biology to power new medicines for patients. Typically, cancer drug discovery and development has been hypothesis-driven, retrospective and biased. Past approaches are too time consuming and costly, and with over 800 known cancer fitness genes, over 200 cancer types, and over 2,000 known genetic biomarkers, identifying an effective medicine is like finding a needle in a haystack.

Our platform takes a large-scale, agnostic and prospective approach to identify and develop novel targeted therapies, completely reinventing the traditional approach to target and drug discovery. Our bespoke partnership with the Sanger Institute also provides us with expertise and access to biological matter that few other companies in the world have.

Resolving cancer’s complexity

How can it impact the world and/or benefit society?

Primarily, by bringing new medicines to patients there is an incredible opportunity to improve and save people’s lives. That’s why we come to work every day.

We have an extraordinarily talented team that is working every day on the cutting edge of science. Our platform was borne out of the Sanger, an institute that is world-renowned for mapping one-third of the human genome, and from the ground-breaking work of Dr Mathew Garnett and his team that co-discovered the BRAF mutation in cancer. Mosaic will continue this great history, striving at the forefront of experimental biology and computational science. With our learning platform we hope to inspire new science and technologies to improve cancer research and development around the world.

What is the market opportunity?

By taking an unbiased, agnostic and prospective approach, the opportunity to impact patients and grow our business is seemingly limitless, because Mosaic is looking at the entire spectrum of potential targets and possible single or combination drug candidates. Our discovery platform is alive and dynamic, so as we gain more experience and grow our data banks, our machine learning capabilities will increase exponentially. There is no ceiling to the number of medicines we can discover and develop.

Portfolio case studies continued

How do you measure progress?

Ultimately, our goal is to bring new medicines to the patients who so desperately need them. We have clear milestones along the way to ensure that we are making progress towards our goal, beginning with identifying the right drug candidates to take into clinical development and ensuring that we have the necessary capabilities, people, resources, and partnerships to make that happen.

What has been the biggest challenge to date?

Our biggest challenge has been finding the right people to match to our scientific aspirations and our company values. Any time that a company sits on the precipice of the latest scientific and technological breakthroughs, it will naturally be a challenge to find people with the right training and experience. In our case, it has often been the need for experience and knowledge in both experimental biology and bioinformatics, along with the right cultural fit, that has proven

to be a challenge. Nonetheless, we are excited by the quality of candidates that have presented themselves and the enthusiasm they have shown to be part of the Mosaic family. We will never compromise on our talent, and we have not had to.

What is next?

We will progress our drug candidate program towards IND-enabling studies, identify the right potential partnerships to grow our business, and search for the best talent in the industry to grow our team.

Portfolio case studies continued

What is your vision?

We aim to deliver the highest quality and highest performance semiconductor devices and integrated circuits for a new generation of power systems where reducing the energy losses is the core aim.

What is unique about your technology?

ICeGaNTM technology targets outstanding efficiency with compact solutions, enhanced reliability, best-in-class robustness, through easy-to-use power transistors. We put leading-edge innovation in wide-bandgap (WBG) devices at the forefront of our mission, applying deep science from our roots in Cambridge University and close engagement with customers, investors, partners and employees. It is not just about Gallium Nitride (GaN). Our identity and respect for the environment goes well beyond our products.

By working with GaN, I want to make an impact – an impact on society, on the people, on the employees’ life and on the new generation. Thanks to CIC’s support and their knowledge of the semiconductor market, CGD will be able to expand its product portfolio, establish a presence in the US, and increase its market share to maximise the impact of the technology worldwide.

GIORGIA LONGOBARDI Founder and CEO

How can it impact the world and/or benefit society?

Among all the other semiconductor markets, the GaN market is the fastest growing with a 50% CAGR, thanks to the highest electrical efficiency that GaN has demonstrated it can achieve. Vast adoption of ICeGaNTM-based power converters in areas such as data centres can contribute to save up to 12TWh of electricity and nine million metric tons of CO2 per year by 2030, equivalent to the greenhouse emissions of more than 20 million barrels of oil consumed, thus contributing to <1.5°C temperature increase target by 2050 set by the Paris Agreement1

What is the opportunity?

Socio-economic factors and advances in technology are driving energy use and electricity spending. Climate change, populations growth, urbanisation and digital transformation are among the megatrends responsible for energy consumption predicted to increase

Dare to innovate differently

by 14% by 2050 in the IEA 2020 World Energy Outlook by McKinsey. With the <1.5°C temperature increase target set by the Paris Agreement; more global economies establish reduction policies to achieve zero-net CO2 emission by 2050. Energy-efficient, power dense and miniaturised devices push the growth of GaN-based solutions.

At CGD, we are passionate about cutting-edge technology. We strive to solve our customers’ design challenges, enabling their end products to achieve maximum performance with advanced and easy-to-drive products that deliver on the promise of energy efficiency in consumer electronics, industrial, and automotive markets. By far the largest market, consumer will continue to grow > 45%, mostly driven by mobile adapters and chargers. Supporting the digital transformation, datacentres will grow at 66% CAGR. The automotive segment’s expected growth is >100% CAGR, driven by CO2 emissions regulations.

How do you measure progress?

We can see it in the numbers and in the orders. We have realised products that leading customers have successfully approved and adopted in their key designs confirming CGDs offering meets the expectations in terms of energy efficiency, power density and reliability, while out beating competition on the ease-of-use. In a nutshell, we created an all-round solution not yet available in the market.

What has been your biggest challenge to date?

The main challenge we face is associated with scale up. We are at the stage of delivering products to the market and need to scale up our operations. Getting ourselves known, in a growing semiconductor business where we are competing with the giants, that’s a challenge.

What’s next?

We will not stop in following our mission: the environmental need for solutions to resolve the world’s most significant challenges (energy consumption and CO2 emissions) inspires us to contribute to society by preserving nature with energy-efficient power solutions. We continue to work ingeniously and bring novelty in everything we do, and how we do it, to make our world a better place. We call it 360° innovation.