LONDON, March 27, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Milltrust International, the award-winning investment organisation focused on ‘Sustainable Prosperity’ across both public and private capital markets, is launching the British Innovation Fund II along with a dedicated venture investment platform, Milltrust Ventures. The fund will target high-impact, early-stage companies with links to UK University science and innovation.
Following the success of Milltrust’s British Innovation Fund, British Innovation Fund II leverages deep connections with leading British research institutions, universities and NGOs, to go further in actively supporting promising start-ups with cutting-edge IP capable of disrupting a range of industries. A particular focus will be directed toward global food systems and health, which have been identified as key post-pandemic priorities, both for the UK and internationally.
British Innovation Fund II is already investing across three thematic verticals of Green Earth, Smart Proteins and Future Health, supporting UK science and innovation by providing timely capital and high value-add support to early-stage companies in the following fields: medical and diagnostic technologies, recycling and waste management, animal welfare and sustainable food production.
Milltrust Ventures has put together a dedicated team of investment managers and advisors with a number of notable appointments in recent months.
Dr Bernard Ng, a medical and clinical affairs leader and former Chief Medical Officer at Bayer consumer division, joins Milltrust as Chief Scientific Officer. In addition, Hadyn Craig a leading agriculture and food-systems specialist, has been appointed to the board of Milltrust Ventures and brings unique expertise developed in previous roles as CEO of Capital Agri International, and as a senior consultant at AbacusBio Limited.
Finally, Harry Paul joins as venture partner, bringing 30 years of experience in both medical tech and agri-investment, including a former role in Milltrust’s successful farmland investments, sold to LPPI in 2022. He has also held senior roles at Boston Scientific and Roche earlier in his career.
Having made 69 prior and 16 new fund investments, Milltrust International has a strong track record of identifying winning companies, including Roslin Technologies, a cutting-edge biotech company operating in the cultivated meat industry, Vaccitech, a vaccine developer at the University of Oxford’s Jenner Institute, and Oxford Science Enterprises, the UK’s largest university-linked incubator. Other investments include Attomarker, a unique blood testing diagnostic platform revolutionising personalised medicine, and Polymateria, a technology developed at Imperial College, developing biodegradable plastic as a solution to the plastic waste crisis.
Simon Hopkins, CEO, Milltrust International adds: “The creation of Milltrust Ventures represents a significant step forward in our strategy to foster Sustainable Prosperity across the globe, recognising the outsized positive impact that rapidly-growing, IP-rich companies can have and the unique alpha they can provide to investors.”
Alexander Kalis, Managing Partner and senior portfolio manager of the British Innovation Fund II commented, “The successful exit from BIF I has enabled us to reinvest at an advantageous time, with valuation metrics far more appealing for investors today, and our connections with Asia and the continent set to open up new markets for our investee companies.”
About Milltrust International Group
Under a single mantra of Sustainable Prosperity, Milltrust International Group is a specialist, award-winning investment organisation co-headquartered in London and Singapore offering a range of life-changing investment solutions seeking to address some of the greatest themes of our generation including the development of emerging economies, rising food demand, technological revolutions and climate change. Clients include pension funds, sovereign entities, family offices, entrepreneurs and HNWIs. The firm operates in a regulated capacity across multiple jurisdictions including the UK, Singapore, Ireland, and Cayman. www.milltrust.com
Further Information
Simon Hopkins, CEO Milltrust International Group, info@milltrust.com, www.milltrust.com
