Fundraising: Cambridge technology companies harvest mega rounds
More than $994 million has been raised by Cambridge technology companies in the past 12 months (to October 16, 2024) – helped by Pragmatic, Quantinuum and Raspberry Pi pulling in $731m between them.
At the start of 2024 Quantinuum raised $300 million, valuing the business at $5 billion pre-money. The funding was revealed by Quantinuum major shareholder – US and global giant Honeywell – which invested as co-anchor alongside JPMorgan Chase, Mitsui & Co., Ltd and Amgen.
Business Weekly understands – but awaits official confirmation – that Quantinuum has since further boosted its valuation to a staggering $10bn and the company has said it will provide exact details as soon as possible.
Quantinuum is a result of the November 2021 combination of two global leaders in quantum computing – Honeywell Quantum Solutions and Cambridge Quantum. As part of the $300m raise (believed to be a pre-IPO round ahead of a stockmarket float) Honeywell and other existing backers of Cambridge Quantum, who previously invested around $325m in Quantinuum, exchanged their convertible instruments for the same class of preferred stock raised in this fresh round. This brought the total capital raised by Quantinuum since the merger to approximately $625m.
The founder of Cambridge Quantum and inaugural CEO of Quantinuum, Ilyas Khan, is believed to retain a shareholding of more than 20 per cent in Quantinuum. Khan was also Chairman of the Stephen Hawking Foundation and is a Leader in Residence at Cambridge’s Judge Business School.
In June, Cambridge microcomputer company and STEM educator Raspberry Pi took the London stock market by storm with a brilliant debut. Raspberry Pi’s valuation on launch was £541.6m – way ahead of expectations.
Since the $225 million IPO, Raspberry Pi has maintained excellent progress. First half profitability was stronger than expected with gross profit of $34.2m and Adjusted EBITDA of $20.9m up 55 per cent against a supply-constrained comparative H1 2023.
Cambridge’s Pragmatic Semiconductor, world leader in manufacturing flexible integrated circuits, completed a first close of its Series D funding round at the end of 2023, securing an investment of $206m. The majority of the investment secured (over 70 per cent) was from UK investors.
M&G’s Catalyst and UK Infrastructure Bank co-led the latest round with participation from new investors including Northern Gritstone, Latitude and Evolution Partners, and existing backers such as British Patient Capital, Cambridge Innovation Capital and Prosperity7 Ventures (the diversified growth fund under Aramco Ventures).
In another significant raise, Riverlane, a global leader in quantum error correction technology, announced it was hiring big and planning to expand internationally after raising $75 million Series C cash to deliver its eagerly anticipated roadmap. Riverlane is already growing from Cambridge UK and Boston in the US but could now establish a presence in other key territories.
The Series C was led by Planet First Partners, a European growth equity sustainable investment platform, with participation from sustainability venture capital investors ETF Partners and Singapore-based global investor, EDBI. Existing backers Cambridge Innovation Capital, Amadeus Capital Partners, the UK’s National Security Strategic Investment Fund and HPC leader Altair also participated.
Riverlane has built the world’s largest dedicated quantum error correction team with close to a hundred interdisciplinary experts working on its core product, Deltaflow ™. Applicable to quantum computers using all major qubit types, Deltaflow ™ comprises proprietary QEC chips, hardware and software technologies working in unison to correct billions of errors per second.
Cambridge Mechatronics Limited (CML) closed a $40m+ funding round in February to fast-track its actuator and controller IC product portfolios and accelerate nextgen smartphone imaging technology. CML, which has over 700 patents pending and granted, is acknowledged as world leader in the design and control of Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) actuators. The oversubscribed funding round was led by Atlantic Bridge with Intel Capital and Supernova as co-leads and further participation from Sony Innovation Fund.
The company currently employs more than 140 people at its global Cambridge Science Park HQ and satellite offices in San Fransisco, Tokyo, Seoul, Shenzhen and Shanghai.
In April, March Capital in California led a $40 million Series B funding round in Cambridge ‘legal-grade’ AI technology company Luminance. Off the back of 5x ARR growth in the last two years, Luminance said the funding will be used to propel its global growth plans and expand its US footprint as it continues to drive innovation in the legal AI market. It recently opened operations in Dallas and is already established in New York.
Luminance’s specialist legal Large Language Model (LLM) automates the generation, negotiation and analysis of contracts and other legal documents for a rapidly growing customer base spanning 600 organisations in 70 countries. Santa Monica-based growth-stage venture firm, March Capital was joined in the Series B round by National Grid Partners and other existing investors, including Slaughter and May.
In June, Cambridge battery materials pioneer Echion Technologies sparked global expansion opportunities after raising £29m ($37.8m) in a Series B round. The round was led by specialist battery and energy storage technology investor Volta Energy Technologies with participation from existing investors CBMM, BGF and Cambridge Enterprise Ventures. The money enables Echion to execute its go-to-market strategy to see its niobium-based XNO® anode material utilised in real world applications, at volume.
Two rounds at the back end of 2023 saw Secondmind and Nu Quantum raise $16m and $9.29m respectively.
Japanese car giant Mazda pulled alongside existing investors Amadeus Capital Partners, Cambridge Innovation Capital and Atlantic Bridge Ventures in Secondmind’s $16 million funding round. The funding, which included conversion of a Future Fund note, enabled Secondmind to scale key aspects of its business, including ramping up sales and marketing and accelerating development of the company’s award-winning, cloud-native Secondmind Optimization Engine.
Cambridge-based quantum networking company, Nu Quantum raised £7 million in a pre-series A round to accelerate its mission to build the entanglement fabric essential to scale quantum computers. The round was led by Amadeus Capital Partners, Expeditions Fund, and IQ Capital, with increased commitment from Seed investors Ahren Capital; Seraphim Capital; University of Cambridge and Martlet. New investors joining the round include Presidio Ventures backed by Sumitomo Corporation, the National Security Strategic Investment Fund (NSSIF), and Deeptech Labs.
Nu Quantum is pioneering the development of scalable quantum networking, essential to delivering useful quantum computing and unlocking the full spectrum of applications that will have a transformative impact on society.
US expansion beckoned for Cambridge DeepTech innovator VividQ following the close of its Series A round in August. VividQ, a leader in computational holography, secured an extra $7.5 million Series A funding, bringing its total haul to more than $30m.
The round was led by Foresight Group and included new investors such as GameTech Ventures, and Florida-based Ruttenberg Gordon Investments (RGI), as well as existing backers. Following the company’s success in serving original equipment manufacturers across gaming and automotive clients in Japan and the US, it intends to hire a US lead and open an office there in the coming year.
Seed and Pre-Seed funding
The allure of Cambridge has seen its tech startups during the last 12 months attracting seed and pre-seed cash from all over the world. The largest seed round was realised by BeyondMath which secured $8.5m in seed funding led by UP.Partners, with significant participation from Insight Partners and InMotion Ventures, the investment arm of JLR.
The funding supports BeyondMath’s mission to reshape engineering practices globally with its AI-driven multiphysics simulation platform, which accelerates engineering iterations by a factor of 1,000 compared to current solutions.
St John’s Innovation Centre-based Wave Photonics, raised $5.8m (£4.5m) in a round led by The UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund and Cambridge Enterprise, with participation from the Redstone and QAI Ventures’ Quantum Fund, Kyra Ventures, and Deep Tech Labs. The investment round was complemented by non-dilutive funding via EIC and Innovate UK grants, taking the company’s total funding to date to $6.9m ($5.4m).
Wave Photonics develops on-chip photonics designs for quantum technologies, sensors, and datacentre applications. The investment will enable the company to take its technology from a research manufacturing line to a commercial foundry, with a particular focus on solutions for frontier applications such as quantum technologies and biosensing.
Earlier this month, University of Cambridge spin-out Neutreeno secured $5m from a global syndicate of investors. Regeneration.VC in California led the round alongside Remarkable Ventures Climate Fund (RVC) in New York, Closed Loop Partners (New York), Prequel Ventures (Berlin), Scania Invest (Sweden) and Beacon Venture Capital (Thailand).
Neutreeno is an intelligently-engineered decarbonisation system revolutionising the path to Real Zero. Harnessing cutting-edge scientific innovation, Neutreeno utilises proprietary process networks and advanced engineering models to eliminate emissions at source, transforming entire value chains from the ground up.
Another Cambridge University spin-out, Evoralis, raised $3.26m (£2.5m) seed funding to fast-track development of technology to recycle textiles and plastics previously deemed unrecyclable. The round was led by LIFTT S.p.A in Italy with co-investment from Backbone Ventures (Switzerland) and circular economy-focused investors Circular Plastics Accelerator and Archipelago Ventures, Parkwalk Advisors, the University of Cambridge, as well as angel backers.
In July, Zero carbon Capital led a $2.94m (£2.25m) seed round in Cambridge Electric Cement (CEC). Almanac Ventures, Cambridge Enterprise Ventures, Delph25, Legal & General and Parkwalk Advisors also participated.
CEC was founded in 2022 to commercialise low carbon cement research by academic co-founders Professor Julian Allwood, Doctor Cyrille Dunant and Doctor Pippa Horton. CEC’s breakthrough process co-recycles steel and cement to produce a low carbon, circular cement product that offers a very low emissions, circular, and scalable alternative to existing cement production.
Cambridge Enterprise and Parkwalk Advisors led a $2.61m seed round in Deepform Ltd in June. DeepForm Ltd offer novel press tool designs for automotive and other high volume customers, suited to a wide range of steel and aluminium panels. DeepForm® sheet forming technology was developed at the University of Cambridge’s Department of Engineering.
Cambridge Enterprise and Parkwalk Advisors invested in energy management software company, xWatts in a $1.8m pre-seed round led by Singapore-headquartered Antler. R42 Group in California and Cambridge Angels also participated in the round.
Fundraising by Cambridge technology companies in the past 12 months by deal size:
Quantinuum
$300m Corporate Round – January 2024
Investors: JP Morgan Chase, Mitsui & Co, Honeywell, Amgen
Investor locations: New York, London, North Carolina, California
Total raised to date: $625m
Raspberry Pi
$225m IPO – June 2024
Total raised to date: $268m
Pragmatic
$206m (£162m) Series D first close – December 2023
Lead Investors: UK Infrastructure Bank, M&G Investments. Other: Prosperity7 Ventures, Northern Gritstone, MVolution Partners, Latitude Partners, Cambridge Innovation Capital
Investor locations: Leeds, London, Saudi Arabia, Manchester, New York, Toronto, Cambridge
Total raised to date: $389.3m
Riverlane
$75m Series C – August 2024
Lead Investor: Planet First Partners. Other: Altair, Amadeus Capital Partners, Cambridge Innovation Capital, EDBI, ETF Partners, National Security Strategic Investment Fund
Investor locations: London, Michigan, Cambridge, Singapore
$2.7m Grant – May 2024
Lead investor: European Innovation Council
Investor location: Brussels
Total raised to date: $120.7m
Cambridge Mechatronics
$41.8m (£32m) Venture Round – February 2024
Lead Investors: Supernova Invest, Intel Capital, Atlantic Bridge. Other: Sony Innovation Fund
Investor locations: Paris, California, Tokyo
Total raised to date: $98m
Luminance
$40m (£32m) Series B Round – April 2024
Lead investor: March Capital. Other: National Grid Partners, Slaughter and May
Investor locations: California, London
Total raised to date: $63.2m
Echion Technologies
$37.8m (£29m) Series B – June 2024
Lead Investor: Volta Energy Technologies. Other: BGF Ventures, CBMM, University of Cambridge Enterprise
Investor locations: Illinois, London, Brazil, Cambridge
Total raised to date: $55m
Secondmind
$16m Venture Round – November 2023
Investors: Mazda Motor Corp, Cambridge Innovation Capital, Atlantic Bridge, Amadeus Capital Partners
Investor locations: Hiroshima, Cambridge, California
Total raised to date: $76.2m
Nu Quantum
$9.29m (£7m) Pre-Series A Round – November 2023
Investors: Amadeus Capital Partners, Expeditions Fund, IQ Capital
Investor locations: Cambridge, Warsaw
Total raised to date: $14.76m
BeyondMath
$8.5m Seed Round – August 2024
Lead Investor: UP.Partners. Other: Insight Partners, InMotion Ventures
Investor locations: California, New York, London
Total raised to date: $10.4m (£8m)
VividQ
$7.5m Series A – August 2024
Lead Investor: Foresight Group. Other: Game Tech Ventures, Ruttenberg Gordon Investments
Investor locations: London, New York
Total raised to date: $48.3m (£37m)
Wave Photonics
$5.8m Seed Round – June 2024
Lead Investors: UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund, University of Cambridge Enterprise. Other: Deeptech Labs, Kyra Ventures, Redstone.VC, QAI Ventures’ The Quantum Fund
Investor locations: Birmingham, Cambridge, Singapore, Berlin, Basel
Total raised to date: $6.9m
Neutreeno
$5m Seed Round – October 2024
Lead Investor: Regeneration.VC. Other: Beacon Venture Capital, Closed Loop Partners, Prequel Ventures, Remarkable Ventures, Scania
Investor locations: California, Bangkok, New York, Berlin, Södertälje
Total raised to date: $5m
Spotta
$3.91m (£3m) Series A – December 2023
Lead Investors: The Yield Lab, STIHL Ventures, ACF Investors. Other: Wren Capital, REMUS Capital, Martlet Capital, GrowthWorks Capital, Cambridge Capital Group
Investor locations: Missouri, Stuttgart, London, Massachusetts, Cambridge, Winnipeg
Total raised to date: $5m
Evoralis
$3.26m (£2.5m) Pre-Seed Round – September 2024
Lead Investor: LIFTT. Other: Archipelago Ventures, Backbone Ventures, Circular Plastics Accelerator, Parkwalk Advisors, University of Cambridge Enterprise
Investor locations: Turin, London, Zurich, Oxford, Cambridge
Total raised to date: $3.26m (£2.5m)
Cambridge Electric Cement
$2.94m (£2.25m) Seed Funding – July 2024
Lead investor: Zero Carbon Capital. Other: Almanac Ventures, Delph25, Legal & General, University of Cambridge Enterprise, Parkwalk Advisors
Investor locations: London, Cambridge, Oxford
Total raised to date: $2.94m
Deepform
$2.61m (£2m) Seed Funding – June 2024
Lead Investors: Parkwalk Advisors, University of Cambridge Enterprise
Investor location: Cambridge
Total raised to date: $2.61m
xWatts
$1.8m Pre-Seed Round – June 2024
Lead: Antler. Other: Cambridge Angels, University of Cambridge Enterprise, Parkwalk Advisors, R42 Group
Investor locations: Singapore, Cambridge, California
Total raised to date: $1.9m
GraphEnergyTech
$1.3m (£1m) Pre-Seed Round – August 2024
Lead Investor: Aramco Ventures
Investor location: Saudi Arabia
Total raised to date: $1.3m (£1m)
Prospectral
$1.2m Pre-Seed Round – August 2024
Lead Investor: Creator Fund
Investor location: London
Total raised to date: $1.2m
