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British Patient Capital announces £20m commitment to Cambridge Innovation Capital £100m Opportunity Fund

Press release 21 February 2025

British Patient Capital, a commercial subsidiary of the British Business Bank, has made a £20 million cornerstone commitment to Cambridge Innovation Capital’s (CIC) £100 million Opportunity Fund, alongside Aviva Investors.

CIC was launched in 2013 and invests in deep tech and life sciences businesses that have a connection with the Cambridge ecosystem. CIC has a privileged relationship with the University of Cambridge, Europe’s top source of founders for venture-backed start-ups.

Cambridge was ranked as the world’s leading science and technological cluster by intensity according to the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2024. University of Cambridge affiliates have won 125 Nobel Prizes and founded many of the UK’s most successful science and technology companies, including ARM Holdings, Abcam, Darktrace, and Bicycle Therapeutics.

The fund will invest in growth-stage deep tech and life sciences companies to help address the UK’s scale-up financing gap. These businesses are often tackling some of the most significant societal challenges in markets of scale and are capable of delivering meaningful commercial returns and impact. The fund has already made its first two investments – into Pragmatic Semiconductor, one of the UK’s largest chip designers and part of British Patient Capital’s direct investment portfolio, and Riverlane, the leading quantum error correction company.

This is the latest of British Patient Capital’s investment into the UK’s university spinouts and sees an expansion of the relationship with Cambridge Innovation Capital, having invested in their second fund, CIC II, in April 2022. However, British Patient Capital has also invested in other funds, including Northen Gritstone and the UCL Technology Fund.

Andrew Williamson, Managing Partner at Cambridge Innovation Capital, said:

CIC has traditionally invested in early-stage opportunities around Cambridge and has seen many of these companies mature into highly commercial businesses developing proven technologies. With this new fund we will support our portfolio companies, and scaleups from the UK ecosystem, as they reach a defining moment in their growth – and at exactly the point where the UK often loses its most exciting businesses. We want to be a part of that change, and we’re delighted to be working with Aviva Investors and British Patient Capital to achieve this ambition.

Christine Hockley, Managing Director, Funds, British Patient Capital, said:

We’re pleased to be expanding our relationship with CIC. Cambridge has long been a global research centre, but it is now a growing hub for breakthrough technology as its spin-out ecosystem matures. CIC has unparalleled access to the opportunities emerging from that ecosystem and is providing critical growth funding that can help these businesses to reach their commercial potential, ultimately allowing British entrepreneurs to build successful, globally competitive companies.

Ben Luckett, Managing Director, Venture and Strategic Capital, at Aviva Investors, said

We are very pleased to complete our latest investment in the Cambridge innovation cluster. CIC has a wealth of expertise in life sciences and deep tech, discovering and supporting pioneering companies like Pragmatic and Riverlane which are putting the UK at the forefront of global innovation. As an investor with a long-standing presence in Cambridge, we understand its reputation as a world-leading technology cluster, the huge value of the unique ideas being created here, and their potential to create growth, success and impact. We believe CIC’s new Fund and its unrivalled access to these early-stage companies, will enable us to support their growth whilst aiming to deliver long-term investment outcomes.

Chris Smart, Investment Director, Funds, British Patient Capital, said: 

We’re delighted to continue our relationship with CIC. This investment will contribute to addressing the need for crucial growth-stage capital enabling some of the most promising IP rich companies in the UK to scale their groundbreaking technologies and realise their commercial potential on the global stage.

Further Information

Notes to editors

About British Patient Capital

British Patient Capital Limited is a wholly owned commercial subsidiary of British Business Bank plc, the UK government’s economic development bank. Its mission is to enable long-term investment in innovative firms led by ambitious entrepreneurs who want to build large-scale businesses. Launched in June 2018, British Patient Capital has more than £3bn of assets under management, investing in venture and venture growth capital to support high growth potential innovative UK businesses in accessing the long-term financing they require to scale up. Find out more here.

British Business Bank plc and its subsidiary entities are not banking institutions and do not operate as such. They are not authorised or regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) or the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). A complete legal structure chart for British Business Bank plc and its subsidiaries can be found on the British Business Bank plc website.

British Patient Capital makes commitments and invests on its own behalf and on behalf of third-party investors whose investments British Patient Capital manages.

The transaction described above does not constitute or imply any endorsement, warranty or recommendation by the UK government, the British Business Bank plc, its subsidiaries or any other party in respect of Cambridge Innovation Capital (CIC).

About Cambridge Innovation Capital (CIC)

Cambridge Innovation Capital (CIC) is a leading venture investor backing and building category-leading deep tech and life sciences companies. CIC currently manages in excess of £600 million, has invested in over 40 companies, and has a privileged relationship with the University of Cambridge, Europe’s top source of founders for venture-backed start-ups.

Cambridge Innovation Capital Manager Limited (FRN:918898) is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. For more information, please visit cic.vc or follow on X at @CIC_vc and LinkedIn.

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