IQ Capital have continued their strong level of activity this year and have been named as one of the most active VC firms in London by Beauhurst, the high-growth data platform that monitors 30,000 companies across the UK.
Mills & Reeve has advised on IQ Capital’s participation in funding rounds totalling over £235m involving investments out of IQ Capital Growth Fund and IQ Capital Fund III, and including several Future Fund investment deals.
IQ Capital Growth Fund
This recently raised £100m fund makes follow-on investments in existing IQ Capital portfolio companies and can invest up to £30m in outperforming IQ Capital businesses. Mills & Reeve advised on the following scale-up investment rounds for this fund.
Thought Machine is one of the UK’s leading fintech companies. Their mission is to cure the banking industry’s reliance on outdated IT infrastructure by using its platform Vault. Founded by former Google engineer Paul Taylor, the business has rapidly expanded this year and will use the investment to grow the company internationally. They raised a $125m Series B round which was led by Draper Esprit bringing in new investors Eurazeo Growth, British Patient Capital and SEB, and included existing investors alongside IQ Capital, Lloyds Banking Group, Backed and Playfair.
Privitar promotes and enables the safe use of sensitive personal data, allowing companies to maximise valuable data but preserving the individual’s right to privacy. The company works with leading household names including banks, the NHS and pharmaceutical companies. In April 2020 they raised an $85m Series C round led by Warburg Pincus, the global private equity firm focused on growth investing, with participation from Accel, Partech, IQ Capital, HSBC, Salesforce Ventures and ABN AMRO Ventures.
Concirrus provides dynamic real-time data analytics and predictive models to enable the commercial insurance market to segment, select, price and manage risk more effectively. They are the creator of Quest, a software platform developed with, used and trusted by insureds, insurers, reinsurers and brokers around the world. IQ Capital invested in the Series A round in 2018 and followed on in the February 2020 $25m Series B round led by Albion Ventures and bringing in new investor Commerz Ventures.
Early stage equity investments
IQ Capital’s early-stage business focuses on investing between £500,000 and £1.5m at seed stage and up to £5m at Series A through its latest IQ Capital Fund III. During this period, Mills & Reeve supported the IQ Capital team on investments into a number of both initial and follow-on investments, including several post-COVID deals where the full process had to be done virtually.
Accelercomm is supercharging 5G, satellite, drone and other wireless communications with deep IP that increases spectrum efficiency and data throughput and can reduce latency by up to 16 times. The company already boasts global blue-chip customers in all of these verticals. IQ Capital led a £5.8m Series A round in September, with participation from existing investors Bloc Ventures and IP Group.
Boltzbit has developed a new type of generative model that can be trained quickly and easily. Generative models have huge promise for the next generation of AI applications due to their flexibility, however the training is unpredictable and time consuming. Boltzbit have developed a system that answers these issues and is less prone to adversarial attack. IQ Capital led the £800,000 seed round in April, with participation from angel investors.
ToffeeAM optimises product designs for Additive Manufacturing, also known as 3D printing. IQ Capital led a £1m seed funding round in July, with participation from the Royal Academy of Engineering and Imperial College London’s Techcelerate program. The company’s customer base, which already includes GE Aviation, Baker Hughes and a Formula 1 motor racing team.
Synthesized produces computer software automating all stages of data provisioning and data preparation with cutting edge AI. The company has been recognised by Forbes as one of the top five leading British AI companies. IQ Capital led a £2.5m seed round in February, with participation from Mundi Ventures.
CyberSmart enables businesses to combat the constant threat of cyber-attacks and increasing regulation. IQ Capital followed on from its previous 2019 seed investment and led this heavily oversubscribed £5.5m Series A funding round in June.
Senseye saves businesses money in unplanned downtime and maintenance efficiencies using AI technology. IQ Capital invested in Senseye at Seed stage in 2016 and followed through to Series A in 2018, and led a top-up round in Q3 2020.
MQube is a fintech company focused on making better, faster mortgages, without the hassle. Its automated lending platform offers homeowners access to the best mortgage products and enables quicker decisions on applications. IQ Capital invested in MQube £5m initial round in 2019 and followed through as part of a £4m top-up in July 2020.
Neurovalens, based in Belfast, creates non-invasive neuro stimulation products to aid conditions including obesity, diabetes, insomnia and anxiety. IQ Capital led a £5.1m Series A round in June.
Closed Loop Medicine (CLM) integrates digital, drug and device for treatment of some of the biggest modern-day health challenges such as sleep disorders, hypertension, chronic pain and diabetes. CLM recently secured a £250,000 Covid-19 Innovate UK award to support its ongoing clinical research programme. IQ Capital also participated in a £5m follow-on round earlier this year.
Optellum has developed an AI/machine learning solution that treats early-stage lung cancer in patients. Its software is said to be the first predictive machine learning solution applied to lung cancer, the most common form of cancer. IQ Capital invested in Optellum at Seed stage in 2019 and followed on in Seed+ in Q3 2020.
Cambridge Communication Systems created MetNet, the world’s first self-organising mmWave mesh for Gigabit backhaul that will deliver connectivity around the world. IQ Capital invested in CCS in 2019 and led a £4m top-up in Q3 2020.
Dataswift, based in Cambridge, provides a complete ethical and privacy-first solution that enables individuals to own, process, control and share their personal data on demand and at scale. IQ Capital invested in Dataswift at Seed stage in 2019 and led a £3m top-up in Q3 2020.