Cardiff Capital Region celebrated the two-year anniversary of its £50m Innovation Investment Capital (IIC) fund at The Clubhouse in Principality Stadium. Fund advisors PwC and fund managers Capricorn hosted the evening reception to highlight the IIC’s progress and future investment plans.
The IIC is an equity fund designed to support high-growth, technology-focused companies based in South East Wales. Since inception, the fund has made three investments: AMPLYFI, the Cardiff-based disruptive artificial intelligence business, Mazuma Accountants, the Bridgend-based online accountancy firm, and Transcend Packaging Ltd., the Ystrad Mynach based sustainable packaging business.
Cardiff Capital Region Chair and Leader of Monmouthshire County Council, Cllr. Mary Ann Brocklesby, said:
“This is an important milestone for the fund, marking two years of our partnership with PwC and Capricorn Fund Managers. We’ve learned about the wider conditions we need to be creating to drive innovation-led growth, from our clusters to skills, talent and capability building, to how we support and cultivate inward investment – all of which are critical components of the wider picture.
“Highly innovative businesses exist all across our Region and by focussing on the wider factors that help businesses to be successful and opportunities for inclusive growth, we are creating high-quality jobs in communities right across South East Wales.”
Cllr. Anthony Hunt, Leader of Torfaen County Borough Council and Deputy Chair Cardiff Capital Region, said:
“We are driving innovation-led investment because we know it provides the most sustainable and impactful growth, delivering societal as well as economic impact. This is more than just raising productivity – it’s about local value creation that powers up high value supply chains, increasing wage levels, and ensuring we are up to the challenge of tomorrow’s demands for skills and talent.
“With consultation underway on a New Industrial Strategy for the UK, the IIC is uniquely placed to demonstrate how place-based industrial policy can work by focussing on clusters and targeted economic strengths, ensuring areas like the ones I represent in Torfaen, can pivot from legacy industries of the past, into the newly emerging economies of the future.”
Visit Innovation Investment Capital to learn more about the fund.
