Third Accelerate@Babraham intake gets to work

The 2020-21 Accelerate@Babraham portfolio companies are ArcVax, Cambridge Paediatric HealthTech, ConcR and Stroma Biosciences.

The intake of the third Babraham Research Campus’ Accelerate@Babraham life science start-up programme is now under way.

The first day of the 2020-21 programme this week followed the selection of the winning cohort in July.

The eight finalists had just 20 minutes to convince the panel that their venture – both the idea and the team behind it – would benefit most from a place on the 2020-21 programme. Following the judges deliberations, four start-ups covering the fields of new therapeutics, diagnostics and medical devices were chosen.

The four new portfolio companies secure five months’ access to Accelerate@Babraham’s bio-incubator facilities, including use of communal equipped laboratory space and flexible workspaces. Each also receives £10,000 non-dilutive funding, personal mentoring from world-class experts in the fields of science and business and access to the Babraham Research Campus’ extensive business and investor networks.

The first day of the programme began with an introduction from Derek Jones, CEO of Babraham Bioscience Technologies, the organisation which develops and manages the campus.

After that, the cohort were invited to put their questions to a panel of life science investors, entrepreneurs and industry experts including Allan Marchington, managing partner, Bridge Valley Ventures, independent consultant Jane Dancer, entrepreneur and Cambridge Angel Andy Richards, and Jane Osbourn, CSO, Alchemab Therapeutics.

Allan Marchington said: “Accelerate@Babraham is great for young, thriving, new entrepreneurs to really build their businesses in a safe environment here at the Babraham Research Campus and within the Cambridge ecosystem.”

In supporting the development of new science concepts and the creation of new companies, Accelerate@Babraham complements the Babraham Research Campus’ ongoing support of the Cambridge life science cluster, through the provision of access to the Campus community and infrastructure without the need to be an established occupier on site.

Jane Dancer added: “Accelerate@Babraham is an amazing programme, particularly in that It enables the cohort such good access to highly specialised and experienced support drawn from not only the Campus itself but also from the wider Cambridge cluster and beyond.”

Karolina Zapadka, head of Accelerate@Babraham, said: “We have really enjoyed welcoming the new cohort to the Campus and I am particularly grateful to our panel for the extremely positive and stimulating discussion which kicked off our 2020/21 programme. Of course, given our current environment, there are challenges associated with getting everyone together, but we are fortunate to have the space available on Campus to meet in a socially distanced way. Bringing the cohort together, particularly during this first week was a major objective for us given that until today, they hadn’t had the opportunity to meet each other face to face.

“The Accelerate@Babraham programme is as much about forging the right relationships with mentors, industry experts, investors and fellow members of the cohort as it is about evolving each ventures’ scientific ideas and we will be working hard across the next five months to ensure that those connections continue to be made and nurtured, be that face to face on Campus or via other remote working methods.”

Accelerate@Babraham is supported by a number of strategic partners including AstraZeneca , Eisai, LifeArc and Mundipharma .