SUCCESS
Mission – CPI Enterprises MD Hannah Wade wants to see more companies scale up by attracting investment .
INVESTING
IN OUR FUTURE
How CPI Enterprises helps finance the deep tech innovators
Without investment , even the very best ideas risk failing .
But at CPI Enterprises – the venture capital arm of deep tech innovation specialists CPI – finance and people are brought together to give some of the best ideas a bright future .
Since 2019 , it has leveraged CPI ’ s world-class technical expertise , facilities and network – including its Wilton Centre operation – to stimulate investment into deep tech companies , connect with private investors and actively manage some of the investments made .
To date , CPI Enterprises has made : > More than 300 active investor connections . > 13 deep tech investments , including one successful exit ( 14.3x ).
> More than 800 engagements across CPI every year . It has also helped unlock almost £ 3bn worth of private investment , has a 60 % SME customer base and is helping transform industrial landscapes in the North-East and beyond .
But talk to its MD Hannah Wade and you get the feeling there ’ s much more to come .
Hannah , a qualified lawyer since 2006 and previously CPI ’ s principal solicitor , told Tees Business : “ CPI is able to attract companies to innovate alongside us , regardless of investment . But there was also a recognition that these companies needed investment , so we added the Enterprises arm to bring that additional offer .
“ We want to see companies scale up and attract investment from other sources . Usually when we ’ re working with companies on big projects , they will go on and raise investment off the back of reaching the next milestone in their technology scale-up journey .
“ Also , deep tech companies need a particular type of investor . There ’ s lots of generic support out there that we can signpost , but we really want to focus on helping deep tech companies and connecting them to the right type of investor at the right time .”
CPI Enterprises ’ success stories so far include leading investment in MarraBio where it also brought in other nonspecialist investors ; helping to secure investment in Evoralis from Innovate UK ; and DEScycle who received CPI ’ s process optimisation support , signalling confidence to other investors .
Being able to regenerate “ place ” is important , too . Regionally , for example , CPI can point to Darlington Central Park and NETPark at Sedgefield , where six of 15 businesses incubated have expanded into premises on site , as huge and evolving success stories .
But for CPI Enterprises , it ’ s about more than just investment – it ’ s about being a convenor in terms of bringing the ecosystem together and helping companies move towards commercialisation .
It also puts its money where its mouth is , so to speak . Hannah explained : “ To be credible with the investment community , we thought we ’ d start investing . We did a couple of early-stage investments but now there ’ s a portfolio of companies we ’ ve helped .
“ Several have raised follow-on capital and , touch wood , no one has died on us
WORDS : DAVE ROBSON
yet ! And there ’ s a big one coming along that ’ s looking to secure the cash to build a pilot plant and will hopefully work in the Tees Valley .” So , there ’ s plenty to be optimistic about . “ We ’ re in a perfect position to convene people together and push them forward because of our networks , contacts and ecosystem ,” says Hannah . But there ’ s more to be done , too . She said : “ The one thing that ’ s disappointing for us is the needle on investment is not really moving . The amount of investment going into London is still massively disproportionate compared to the rest of the UK . The Tees Valley and the North-East in general are lagging quite far behind .
“ In the Tees Valley , we ’ re great at collaboration locally but we need to shout about it more and make sure it gets to London and Whitehall .
“ What I ’ d like to say to investors out there is that we ’ ve got some great opportunities – things like Teesworks , hydrogen , the freeport and some of the innovation happening here on the biomanufacturing site .
“ There are lots of exciting things happening here , so we want people to highlight those and for investors to come and see what ’ s happening – get out of London and come and see what ’ s happening up north ! Let ’ s try to get more stakeholders singing off the same hymn sheet and let ’ s do more together .”
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