On Monday, we released “The Wei Forward “ Report, a practitioner’s guide to impact investing in a post-pandemic world. The report, written by Lord Wei of Shoreditch, the social entrepreneur and Conservative peer, and commissioned by Future Planet Capital, the international impact investment group, sets out how venture capital can provide the solution to harnessing university-originated innovation, enabling a next generation of entrepreneurs to supercharge efforts to solve the biggest problems like climate change, health, educations, and security issues, whilst still delivering profits for investors.
New report by Lord Wei calls on investors and governments to support impactful investing
New report by Lord Wei calls on investors and governments to support impactful investing
Lord Wei of Shoreditch, Future Planet Capital Advisory Board Member
Many of the challenges we face require levels of innovation that only impact investing can foster and provide. To keep taxes low and come through the ongoing energy crisis, we need breakthroughs in tackling climate change. To ride through the current and any future pandemic, we need to future proof and decentralise our healthcare system through technology. To prepare for a huge shift in our labour force, for automation and its impact on skills requirements, and for supply chain disruption – we need new technology to enable training and education.
Lord Nat Wei of Shoreditch, Future Planet Capital Advisory Board Member
“The Wei Forward Report”, written by Lord Wei of Shoreditch, the social entrepreneur and Conservative peer, and commissioned by Future Planet Capital, the international impact investment group, sets out how venture capital can provide the solution to harnessing university-originated innovation, enabling a next generation of entrepreneurs to supercharge efforts to solve the biggest problems like climate change, health, educations, and security issues, whilst still delivering profits for investors.
Backing innovative solutions to solve pressing issues does however require collective action, the report calls for a concerted effort to be made by all stakeholders to unlock venture’s potential and proposes a series of policy measures, including:
Governments must play a larger role as a procurer of innovation and encourage impactful venture investing with green and impact-oriented tax breaks, rewarding the next generation of young savers to back impactful investing
Pensions industry regulators should take a more balanced risk approach and favour impactful investing. To not do so, given the societal and planetary risks we face, is a risk itself; one that the regulatory system should be accountable for, alongside protecting the immediate financial returns and assets of members.
Society and the general consumer must play a more active role in holding legislative, ruling and regulatory bodies to account, using tools such as the Companies Act 2006, Section 172.
Lord Wei of Shoreditch, Member of the Future Planet Capital Advisory Board, commented: “We have come a long way in reversing the crises of our age, but to secure this progress for future generations requires us to go further; to not just talk green but act green. The technologies needed to achieve Net Zero simply do not exist today, nor do the tools to protect us against the next pandemic. To secure these, there needs to be a dramatic increase in the flow of capital to the world’s best scientists and engineers.”
“While much of the responsibility for expanding impact investing rests with VC investors and founders, policy makers, regulators, LPs, pension funds and consumers must all play a critical role in bringing impact to mainstream adoption must be recognised and harnessed. Through this report, I hope to kickstart a practical conversation as to how we can all endeavour to deliver positive change.”
Douglas Hansen-Luke, Chair of Future Planet Capital, added: “We at Future Planet Capital have always believed in the power of profit and purpose; creating channels for large scale investment to back the best brains tackling the biggest global issues. There is now a general recognition that science and centres of innovation have a fundamental role in addressing global challenges and that the government and private sectors can materially accelerate and scale the impact of their work. We grew out of that desire to make difference, and I look forward to working with many likeminded stakeholders to help put this report’s ideas into practice.”
Vaccitech raises $168M Series B to progress three Phase 2 trials
Oxford, UK – Vaccitech Ltd (“Vaccitech”), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery and development of novel immunotherapeutics and vaccines for the treatment and prevention of infectious diseases and cancer, today announces that it has raised $168 million in a Series B financing. This includes $43 million in convertible loan notes previously issued by Vaccitech that converted into Series B shares.
The Series B financing round was led by M&G Investment Management (part of M&G plc), with further participation from new investors including Tencent, Gilead Sciences, Monaco Constitutional Reserve Fund, and Future Planet Capital among others. The Series B financing round was also supported by existing investors, including Oxford Sciences Innovation.
“We expect this financing to enable us to reach key value inflection points for our lead programs,” said Bill Enright, Chief Executive Officer of Vaccitech. “We now look forward to advancing key programs towards generating proof-of-concept data in indications with significant need of effective new treatments.”
The proceeds from the financing will support the continued development of three infectious disease and immuno-oncology programs. The programs include:
A Phase 1/2 clinical trial of VTP-300 in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. The first patient in the trial was dosed in February 2021.
A Phase 1/2 clinical trial of VTP-200 in patients with persistent, high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) infection.
A Phase 1/2 clinical trial of VTP-850 in combination with a checkpoint inhibitor in patients with prostate cancer.
Vaccitech’s proprietary prime-boost platform combines modified simian adenoviral vectors (known as ChAdOx1 or ChAdOx2) to prime a targeted immune response with the Modified Vaccinia Ankara virus (MVA) to boost the targeted immune response against cells infected with a virus or tumor cells. Vaccitech’s heterologous prime-boost approach has been demonstrated to drive powerful immune responses, including the leading CD8+ T cell stimulation profile in humans, to date. In addition to the HBV, HPV and prostate cancer programs, Vaccitech’s pipeline includes product candidates targeting infectious disease (including MERS coronavirus and Herpes Zoster) and cancer (including non-small cell lung cancer).
“Vaccitech is aiming to address serious global public health challenges in both infectious disease and cancer with their T cell inducing immunotherapy platform,” said Jack Daniels, Chief Investment Officer of M&G plc. “We believe their innovative approach, based on foundational research performed at the Jenner Institute at the University of Oxford, could provide a solution for many serious diseases.”
Media contacts:
Katja Stout, Scius Communications (EU)
Direct: +44 (0) 7789435990
Email: katja@sciuscommunications.com
Ryo Imai / Robert Flamm, Ph.D. (US), Burns McClellan, Inc.
212-213-0006 ext. 315 / 364
Email: Rimai@burnsmc.com / rflamm@burnsmc.com
Henry Hodge, Vaccitech
Direct: +44 (0) 7533 421 442
Email: henry.hodge@vaccitech.co.uk
Future Planet backs Oxford Vaccine Company
“A biotechnology company whose research and intellectual property has helped to create the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccine has raised new investment from venture capitalists.
Oxford-based Vaccitech has agreed the funds – understood to be as much as £10million – from Future Planet Capital which also invests in health, climate change and education projects.
It is believed the capital will be used to help the roll-out of the Oxford vaccine, which could get UK approval as soon this week.”
Daily Mail, 26th December 2020
Future Planet was delighted to have welcomed Vaccitech to its Portfolio and today’s news demonstrates that cutting-edge technology from the world’s top universities has the potential to solve global social, economic and environmental challenges.
Douglas Hansen-Luke, Executive Chairman - FPC
"FPC was founded with the vision of financing the brightest minds to profitably address global challenges. Today, as the Oxford vaccine’s results are published and an end to the coronavirus crisis is in sight, Future Planet is one step closer to realising its vision. We’re delighted to welcome Vaccitech to the Future Planet family.”
Bill Enright, CEO - Vaccitech
“Future Planet and their practical and ethical policy of impact investing were a welcome investor at an important time for our company. Funding from Future Plant will help us to continue to progress our product candidates through clinical development.”
Ed Phillips, Head of Origination and Deal Lead - FPC
"Priced at the cost of a cup of coffee, and stored in a fridge, Vaccitech’s ChAdOx may represent the superhero of vaccine technologies we’ve all been waiting for. We are confident in the long-term prospects of the company’s platform. Not just for COVID, but also for prophylactic and therapeutic approaches for many other indications in oncology, infectious disease and chronic illness”
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Future Planet Capital Limited is a global venture capital and impact investor, connecting the world's largest investors to the best minds in order to address global challenges. The firm is focussed on providing growth capital to leading entrepreneurs and businesses from the world’s top universities and has deployed over $100M on behalf of institutional investors to date. Future Planet's deal team was led by Ed Phillips, supported by Lyle Pentith.
Vaccitech, Future Planet backed Oxford Spinout, Offers Global Path to End of COVID-19
Future Planet Backed Oxford Spinout Offers Global Path to End COVID
This week, interim Phase III data was released for the Oxford / AstraZeneca Vaccine, co-invented by our portfolio company Vaccitech. From late December, assuming the full dataset has been analysed and confirmed to meet formal regulatory requirements, AstraZeneca has announced that they believe they will be in a position to provide a vaccine for a quarter of the world's population. The vaccine will not just benefit the UK, EU and US who have ordered millions of doses, but the developing world, too. The Serum Institute of India has already begun producing 1 billion doses for the global south.
The results & data have now been independently verified in one of the world's leading medical journals, The Lancet. This is the first set of COVID-19 vaccine data to undergo scientific peer-review & demonstrates the efficacy & safety of the vaccine.
Future Planet made a direct investment into Vaccitech earlier this year. The clinical-stage biotech company owns rights to the viral vector technology, ChAdOx, which is used in the Oxford / AstraZeneca Vaccine. The company has a diverse pipeline in development across oncology, infectious disease and chronic illnesses affecting millions of people a year.
Future Planet was delighted to have welcomed Vaccitech to its Portfolio and today’s news demonstrates that cutting-edge technology from the world’s top universities has the potential to solve global social, economic and environmental challenges.
Douglas Hansen-Luke, Executive Chairman - FPC
"FPC was founded with the vision of financing the brightest minds to profitably address global challenges. Today, as the Oxford vaccine’s results are published and an end to the coronavirus crisis is in sight, Future Planet is one step closer to realising its vision. We’re delighted to welcome Vaccitech to the Future Planet family.”
Bill Enright, CEO - Vaccitech
“Future Planet and their practical and ethical policy of impact investing were a welcome investor at an important time for our company. Funding from Future Plant will help us to continue to progress our product candidates through clinical development.”
Ed Phillips, Head of Origination and Deal Lead - FPC
"Priced at the cost of a cup of coffee, and stored in a fridge, Vaccitech’s ChAdOx may represent the superhero of vaccine technologies we’ve all been waiting for. We are confident in the long-term prospects of the company’s platform. Not just for COVID, but also for prophylactic and therapeutic approaches for many other indications in oncology, infectious disease and chronic illness”
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Future Planet Capital Limited is a global venture capital and impact investor, connecting the world's largest investors to the best minds in order to address global challenges. The firm is focussed on providing growth capital to leading entrepreneurs and businesses from the world’s top universities and has deployed over $100M on behalf of institutional investors to date. Future Planet's deal team was led by Ed Phillips, supported by Lyle Pentith.
Align17 Announce Future Planet Capital as Founding Investment Partner
Future Planet Capital, the world’s first global platform to invest in leading universities and the “centres of innovation” that surround them, was today announced as a founding investment partner of Align17 at the World Economic Forum in Davos
Align17, a private impact investment platform that offers vetted co-investment opportunities to private wealth alongside world-class impact investors, will work to connect the $63.5tn of private wealth to the world-changing companies emerging from Future Planet Capital’s portfolio. FPC will offer the platform an unrivalled level of access to alumni and growth stage companies from Cambridge, Harvard, MIT, Oxford, Stanford, Tsinghua and the University of California through its series of partnerships.
Georgie Benardete, Co-Founder at Align 17, commented: "We are incredibly excited to have Future Planet Capital as one of our founding investment partners. Through their distinct set of university partnerships, they will bring unique opportunities for our private clients to achieve impact at scale through innovation."
