£10m allocated to incubate biotechs and related AI from Cambridge fountainhead

o2h Ventures in Cambridge has created a Therapeutics Fund with a target size of £10 million to help fund and incubate promising life science startups and related AI opportunities in the leading UK and European technology cluster.

Law firm Mills & Reeve acted for o2h Ventures on the creation of the fund which will focus on therapeutic drug opportunities or technologies that will ultimately result in new drug discovery and will target organisations that utilise Artificial Intelligence. 

The geographical scope of the fund is nationwide but it will be targeting the growing Cambridge biotech sector.  

Sunil Shah from o2h said: “This fund will focus on early stage therapeutics companies and we hope will contribute to the vibrant biotechnology ecosystem that already exists in the UK and particularly in Cambridge.”

As well as providing the finance, o2h knows that supporting new businesses is a vital part of the investment and will be creating incubator space in the o2h SciTech Park in Hauxton Mill, Cambridge which the group recently acquired and will include offices and biology labs for the companies to utilise.

Shah added: “For all early stage businesses, their first challenge will be securing funding, but the next phase is developing these fledgling ideas into business that can scale.

“Building a biotech is hard and there are a multitude of skills that are required; the incubator space enables them to share ideas and build a network of collaborators which are a vital part of any growing organisation.”

Dona Ardeman from Mills & Reeve added: “We are excited to work with o2h to launch this new fund, particularly as Cambridge is at the centre of a growing biotech cluster.

“The o2h team’s experience in this area and vision for investing in and providing continuing support to such startups will no doubt provide a great foundation for the fund.”