We are delighted to announce that the University of Cambridge Enterprise Fund (UCEF) X, managed by Parkwalk in conjunction with Cambridge Enterprise, has successfully closed.
The Fund reached full capacity ahead of target, raising £3.5m and was oversubscribed.
Launched to back the very best early-stage start-ups from the Cambridge ecosystem, the University of Cambridge Enterprise Fund X is the tenth in a series with Parkwalk Advisors and Cambridge Enterprise. This Fund offered investors the opportunity to invest in companies formed to commercialise scientific and technological discoveries made at the University of Cambridge, benefiting from tax reliefs under the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS).
Cambridge is one of Europe’s most productive technology clusters, having spawned 20 companies valued at more than $1 billion, including ARM, Xaar, Abcam and more. At the heart of this cluster is the University of Cambridge, consistently ranked among the top 4 universities globally.
Previous University of Cambridge Enterprise Funds have backed over 100 early-stage science and tech-based businesses, such as Paragraf, Cambridge GaN Devices, and Cytora. The tenth Fund continues this tradition, investing in early-stage, high-growth, research-intensive companies. These spinouts are based directly on academic research, deep science businesses developed by students, or companies emerging from Cambridge’s innovation ecosystem. The Fund will support companies founded on Cambridge’s research, helping transform these new scientific discoveries into tomorrow’s solutions.
For the September launch, Anne Dobree, Investment Director at Parkwalk, said:
“We are pleased to launch the tenth fund with the team at Cambridge Enterprise, the University’s dedicated research commercialisation arm. With our expertise in scaling and commercialising early-stage university spin-outs, and the University of Cambridge’s impressive global top-4 position in R&D, we are excited to be backing the next wave of entrepreneurs. Our support for the Founders at Cambridge accelerator right through to our larger EIS funds, demonstrates our commitment to the full growth cycle for university spin-outs in Cambridge.”
Parkwalk is the largest growth EIS Fund Manager, backing world-changing technologies emerging from the UK’s leading universities and research institutions. With £500m of assets under management, Parkwalk has invested in over 180 companies across its own funds and those it manages for the University of Cambridge and others.
Our early-stage university funds give us access to a consistent stream of academic talent and cutting-edge research. This unique set up enables us to access the most commercial university spinouts, backed by strong intellectual property and often developed from years of university research, support and grant funding.
