Cambridge Capital Group invest in SupaPass and Lightpoint Medical
2014 is proving to be a year of strong growth for Cambridge Capital Group – a leading specialist business angel organisation, which has expanded from its Cambridge base across East Anglia.
Recent deals include SupaPass, a music industry platform for monetising fan bases, and Lightpoint Medical, a cancer imaging business.
Since SCC McDougall started the venture in 2000, membership numbers have grown from the initial 12 founding private investors to 75-strong. The group is now an eclectic and experienced mix of local, regional and London business angels plus international family investors and corporate members including CIC, IQ Capital, Martlet and the Low Carbon Innovation Fund.
At the sharp end of the operation, more than £2 million has been invested by the members in the last 12 months – including new investments in Newsflare, Patient Source, Frank Dale Foods and Cydar, plus follow-on investments in 16 portfolio companies based in and around the Cambridge technology cluster.
McDougall is proud to report a lower average age of new members – all successful entrepreneurs or experienced business leaders and professionals – plus several female investors in his band of angels.
One of the most significant events of the year so far has been the launch of a local chapter for Norfolk and Suffolk – the Anglia Capital Group – with four new sponsors and 12 founding members.
Anglia Capital Group, which is managed by the same team, has made an instant impact – winning a tender from the New Anglia LEP as its private investment network partner, for co-investment via its £1 million job creation fund.
The group has also made its mark internationally: Cambridge Capital Group International, as part of the Cambridge Connection partnership with Taylor Vinters, has helped to spearhead successful trade and investment delegations to Santiago, Singapore and Hong Kong – with high profile events at the Prince of Wales Country Club (Santiago), the British High Commissioner’s residence (in Singapore) and the British Chamber of Commerce and the Hong Kong Club in Hong Kong.
The chief focus is on spin-outs from Cambridge and other leading scientific institutions in the East of England and London, as well as hi-tech startups in the region with disruptive technologies that show commercial promise in their target markets.
Investments scale from startup cash of £100k-£250k to growth rounds of £500k-£1m. Individual investments range from £10k-100k, normally via the EIS/SEIS tax relief scheme, and the group often syndicates with other specialist investors – angels, super-angels, private funds and co-investment seed funds.
Many companies in a successful and growing portfolio have achieved profitable exits in recent years – among them ITM Power, Bango, Phonetic Arts – which was sold to Google in early 2011 – and Ubisense.
• For more information visit www.cambridgecapitalgroup.co.uk
email admin@cambridgecapitalgroup.co.uk or call +44 (0) 1223 969 535.
