'It's now or never' - cleantech leaders respond to fresh funding for Cambridge tech scene

Earlier this year, the UK’s economy minister Rachel Reeves announced the government would ‘invest heavily’ in the city, along with neighbouring 'frenemy' Oxford, improving transport and infrastructure, to try to make the region “Europe’s Silicon Valley.”

And this week, a Cambridge-based VC has announced to boost Cambridge’s deeptech and life sciences scene. Cambridge Innovation Capital (CIC) launched its €120m ($126m) ‘Opportunity Fund’ – backed by Cambridge university as well as Aviva Investors, the investment arm of the major global insurer, and UK heavyweight venture investor British Patient Capital – with a clear stated intention to help home-grown startups get the scale-up funding they need without having to turn to overseas investors. That gap in funding, from seed to scale-up, appears to be one of Cambridge's, and the UK's, biggest hurdles in establishing dominance in the sector.

“I think the analysis from CIC is correct, that there is this gap,” says Sam Goodall, CEO of Cambridge Cleantech.

Goodall also tells Impact Loop that VC money in the region tends to have a heavy focus on software, with less patience for long physical development times, so the CIC focus on deeptech, which typically involves solving complex engineering questions, is welcome.

Sitting next to Goodall in their central Cambridge office is COO Sylvie Russell. She adds that alongside funding, the government’s focus on building up regional infrastructure is crucial to retain talent and innovation. “You need to make sure companies don't go away because they don't have the space, or the electricity grid is not good for what they're doing.”

“Cambridge is already a very vibrant ecosystem”

A pre-existing ecosystem

Since 2011, Cambridge Cleantech have made their name as the UK’s leading innovation network for clean- and greentech development. They and partner organisations have been working for over a decade to build up the right environment for climatetech ideas and companies to flourish. These latest announcements to them only confirm the feeling that momentum has been growing in the region, particularly over the past few years.

“Cambridge is already a very vibrant ecosystem,” says Russell, “and we've been part of it for the last 13 years, so we always welcome new initiatives, pushing and enabling startups to grow within the Cambridge ecosystem.”

Cambridge of course is famous for its STEM pedigree. That skills and innovation base serves as one of the most powerful draws for new startups, says Goodall. He points as well to the city’s history with advanced manufacturing and breakthrough technologies, which can provide value to cleantech companies in developing their solutions. Russell adds that the research-informed ecosystem of Cambridge lends itself more to the longer development times often required.

The centre of a trillion-dollar network

“So as a place to go globally, [Cambridge] is in that sort of top two or three places where you can get real access to one of the most vibrant and dynamic climatetech ecosystems in the world,” says Goodall.

Inevitably, any discussion of UK-Europe collaboration is going to lead to the question of Brexit – the UK’s exit from the European Union in 2020 which severed many economic and academic ties.

Goodall says that while Brexit does pose something of a challenge, interest is and has been growing on both sides of the channel in maintaining connections, as evidenced by the Climate Tech SuperCluster, for instance.

“Those connections between London, Paris and Amsterdam don’t go away just because Brexit happened,” says Goodall. “The movement of people, money and ideas don’t stop happening.”

Time to take charge

“It's now or never, basically”

The announcements of public and VC funding to continue building up Cambridge and the region as climatetech hubs are welcome developments to Goodall and Russell. Looking forward, they suggest more funding could be made available for demonstration technologies, particularly for novel energy and decarbonisation projects, as well as structures to build a more joined-up system of collaboration and interaction within the ecosystem. At a time when the US is suffering a backlash against climate initiatives, they say the UK and European partners can be well placed to take the reins.

“I think there is a space opening up for the UK and Europe to be global leaders in showing how climatetech can create economic competitive advantage,” says Goodall.

Particularly as regards the need for climatetech solutions to actually start being deployed around the world, that leadership may be more crucial than ever.

“It's now or never, basically,” says Russell.