Jim Warwick, an active Cambridge Angels investor, shared his path from Computer Science grad to technology investor, via a successful career at Abcam. Read more about Jim's journey in this interview.
Can you give a bit of background about yourself?
I’m originally from the South Coast near Portsmouth, and came to Cambridge to do a Computer Science degree in 1983 when that was still a novelty for the University (not viewed as a “proper” subject back then). After graduating, I spent the initial part of my career in a telecoms consultancy before getting involved in a start-up that was sourcing and selling antibodies for life sciences research. That company, Abcam, did very well and I exited it at the end of 2016 to get back to working with smaller companies, ultimately as an angel investor.
I’m married - I met my wife at university and she is now an academic at the Institute of Criminology here in Cambridge where we have lived for the past 30 years, and we have two grown up “kids”.
How long have you been angel investing? What made you apply to join CA and what do you think makes it different?
I joined Cambridge Angels in early 2018, which is when I became serious about making angel investments. It was always the start-up phases of companies that I found exciting; the journey of transforming a (hopefully) brilliant idea into a (hopefully) world-beating business is fascinating. Cambridge Angels is great, being a relatively small group of investors (which helps, because you can realistically know each angel individually) but having a large proportion of exited entrepreneurs who’ve been along this path before and are able to offer more than just seed capital to a start-up business.
Can you give a couple of examples of CA deals you've invested in that you're currently excited about?
Because of my Abcam background, I’ve stayed involved in the life sciences research sector; the complexities of the processes that go on at a cellular level to enable us all to stay alive never ceases to amaze me. One of my current investments is Qkine – which works on creating growth factor proteins. All the cells within our body contain a complete genome for expressing any tissue type or cellular function and come originally from what is termed (pluri-potent) stem cells. The process by which stem cells develop is controlled by a cocktail of signalling proteins (growth factors) which, depending on order and timing, govern this process. Being able to control this in the lab, enables us to grow samples of tissue and indeed mini-organs (organoids) which are a window into disease development and treatment. It’s also a cornerstone for new industries such as cultivated meat. It’s an extraordinary thing!
Another business I’m invested in and excited about is Nova Pangaea which has a process that converts woody/agricultural plant waste into sustainable biochemicals and potentially biofuels – they’re now part of a project with British Airways to scale up their process for sustainable aviation fuel production; aviation being a high-profile area we need to address for the climate emergency. They’re not the whole solution here, but nor is anything else. I believe the answer here has to come from many projects like this all making their contribution; it’s important stuff.
Do you have any sector focus and if you do, why?
Because of my background I’m pretty sector agnostic and I remain a sucker for really neat pieces of technology, which is not always a good indicator of what will make a good business (!). Recently I’ve been more interested in climate change and net-zero oriented investments. That’s partly because it’s a really important problem that we need to solve, and partly because it is an area ripe for innovation and disruption – ideal for the right start-ups. There are issues with the sector, not the least because of the capital intensive nature of some of the endeavours, but these are being addressed and in the meantime there are some really exciting technologies being developed.
How do you tend to get involved with your investments?
Mostly I’m a hands-off investor after the due diligence stages, but I do sit on the boards of two of my start-up investments. Part of the Cambridge Angels ethos is to help and advise entrepreneurs, so hopefully some of that informal feedback via CA helps here.
What have you learnt about being an Angel investor since you've started?
It takes longer than you think to get an exit.
Is there an investment exit you are most proud of and/or an investment horror story you would be prepared to share?
Actually not too many horror stories, mostly the companies that have failed I feel sad about – the founders have generally remained engaged and enthusiastic up until the end and it’s a painful experience for them to realise their company is doomed. I’ve only had one deal where the directors were (in my opinion) crooks - bleeding funds from the company to line their own pockets, whilst re-assigning the company IP to other companies they owned. This was an investment that was made more at arms-length; I now take much more care over where the company has come from and who knows the founders. This is another important benefit of working with a group like Cambridge Angels.
