Cambridge Innovation Capital (CIC), an investor in high-growth technology companies in the Cambridge cluster, has completed its first investments from a £50 million fund, backing three companies in the areas of cloud-based video archiving, grid-scale energy management and generative music composition.

The companies provide an excellent snapshot of the breadth of activity and quality of entrepreneurs in the Cambridge Cluster

Peter Keen

Drawing on its strong relationship with the University of Cambridge and with deep financial and industry links, CIC aims to build leading businesses by removing the pressure to deliver the quick flips associated with a traditional venture capital model.

“I am delighted to announce CIC’s first investments from our new fund," said Peter Keen, Cambridge Innovation Capital's CEO.  "The companies provide an excellent snapshot of the breadth of activity and quality of entrepreneurs in the Cambridge Cluster.  We look forward to working with these teams and many others as the Fund continues to invest in ambitious entrepreneurs with promising technologies in and around our cluster.”

Leading off CIC’s first investments is £1.5 million in growth funding for Cambridge Imaging Systems, which is developing cloud-based and on-premise software that enables owners of video to archive, deliver and bill for content.

Cambridge Imaging Systems has been at the forefront of media asset management for 20 years, developing technology used by corporate and government clients including the Ministry of Defence, IMG Sports, the BBC, the Imperial War Museum, the British Library and more than 60 universities.  The investment from CIC allows Cambridge Imaging Systems to accelerate the market availability of its “ImagenCloud” technology, which offers highly secure video content hosting with managed access for staff and customers on any internet-enabled device.

CIC provided £1.25 million in funding to grid-scale energy management developer Origami Energy as part of a £3.5 million round alongside Octopus Investments and two angel investors. Origami’s technology allows renewable energy generators, storage providers and energy users to trade with each other at a micro-grid level and maximise the value of their assets, creating a real-time marketplace for the distributed energy world. 

Using its software-as-a-service (SaaS) model, Origami intelligently manages the flows of energy and capacity between physical sites with power generation, energy demand and electricity storage by bringing them all on-line with Origami’s technology platform. The new investment enables the company to accelerate its growth and build the capabilities to deliver a robust service for all its customers.

CIC has also invested £100,000 in University of Cambridge spin-out Jukedeck, which is developing innovative software that allows users to generate their own original music for videos, online games and many other applications where real-time, responsive music is desired without copyright limitations. The investment was made alongside £400,000 in seed funding from Cambridge Enterprise, the commercialisation arm of the University of Cambridge, and the University EIS Fund managed by Parkwalk Advisors.

“Cambridge Innovation Capital was established with the full support of the University of Cambridge as a University affiliated fund to provide long-term, follow-on capital to companies originating in the Cambridge Cluster.  Jukedeck is the first of many spin-outs that we anticipate being supported by CIC and we look forward to being a supportive partner as it grows,” said Victor Christou, Senior Investment Director, CIC.

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