Jump to content

Oxford Science Enterprises

From Tilcayo Cats, the lean encyclopaedia by Tilcayo Knowledge Systems

Oxford Sciences Innovation is an early-stage investment firm based in Oxford, UK. It operates in partnership with the University of Oxford, as the University’s preferred investor and several prominent financiers back the firm, including Chinese telecommunications firm, Huawei.[1][2] [3] The firm uses academic research from the university’s science departments to form commercial businesses, also known as spinouts. [4] [5][6]

Oxford Sciences Innovation
TypeVenture Capital
IndustryVenture Capital
PredecessorIP Group
Headquarters
Oxford
,
UK
Key peopleCharles R. Conn David Norwood
Websitewww.oxfordsciencesinnovation.com

Founding & Management

The company was founded in 2015 by David Norwood, who was previously the founder of the IP Group, which initially invested only in spinoffs from the university's Chemistry department.[7] Oxford Sciences Innovation initially raised £600m from investors, which included Lansdowne Partners and  Google Ventures.[8] [9] [10][11]Google Ventures partners Tom Hulme and Dr Krishna Yeshwant also joined OSI’s advisory board, along with Google AI researcher Demis Hassabis, founder of DeepMind.[8] [12]

Charles Conn, previously CEO of the Rhodes Trust, was appointed CEO in March 2019. Former Google CFO Patrick Pichette joined him as Board Director.[7]

Structure

OSI is structured differently from other venture capital firms, being an evergreen patient capital, privately held company and not bound by an LPA .[13][14][15] As such, the company holds long-term investments, pursuing a patient capital model. OSI differentiates itself from classic venture firms because of its relationship with the university.[16] Unlike most university-linked venture firms, Oxford University is a shareholder in the company, with OSI receiving half of the university’s stake in the intellectual property of a spinout.[17]

OSI works with the University's technology transfer office, Oxford University Innovation, which helps manage the intellectual property and patent estate of the University.[18] In July 2019, The company files accounts which showed Chinese telecommunications company Huawei owns £4.1m in OSI shares (approximately 0.7% of the total fund). The investment was not publicly announced and OSI's website does not show Huawei as a backer.[19]

Controversies

Investment Themes

OSI started making its first investments in 2015 and invests across the 29 Science departments in the University of Oxford.[4] The companies that OSI has worked with have also attracted interest from co-investors, which have included biotechnology investors like Syncona and Sequoia China, generalist technology investors such as General Catalyst and Kindred Capital, and institutional investors such as Goldman Sachs.[20][21][14][22][17]Due to its partnership with the university, OSI works with companies from a broad range of academic disciplines. The portfolio includes life science, computer science, and engineering companies, as well as several digital and mental health products.

Investments in the life sciences include Evox Therapeutics,[23] an exosome drug-delivery platform, Genomics Plc,[24] a genetics-based drug discovery platform founded by Sir Peter Donnelly, SpyBiotech, which builds vaccine-development technology, and Vaccitech, which is working on a universal flu vaccine and was spun out of the Jenner Institute.[11][25] OSI has also invested in several scientific device companies, including Oxford NanoImaging,[26] which creates super-resolution microscopes and Osler, which is developing a new technique for detecting diseases from small blood samples.[27]

From the Department of Computer Science, OSI’s portfolio includes DiffBlue, a machine learning platform for software developers, founded by Daniel Kroening,[28] and Chaired by Jane Silber, the former CEO of Canonical,[29] Latent Logic, a computer vision company which creates training environments for autonomous vehicles,[30] and

Navenio, an infrastructure-free indoor positioning system and task-assignment system,[31] created by computer scientist Niki Trigoni.

The Department of Engineering Science has also been the source of several of OSI’s investments. These include electrical engineering and metamaterials wireless-charging spinout Metaboards [30],[9] Augmented Reality company 6D.ai,[32] and  First Light Fusion, which is creating an inertial confinement fusion generator. Another Engineering Department spinout includes Opsydia, which announced in May 2018 that it would be partnering with De Beers to mark their line of synthetic diamonds,[33] using high precision lasers to make tiny marks less than 1/50th of the size of a human hair below the surface of gemstones. In July 2019, Opsydia announced that it had sold its first machine to the company.[34]

In the robotics and UAV space, biomimetic drone company Animal Dynamics is a spinout from the Oxford Department of Zoology, founded by biomechanics expert Adrian Thomas (zoologist).[35]

References

  1. ↑ "$474M Fund Will Support Oxford University Spinouts". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  2. ↑ "Oxford university start-up fund boosted by £230m injection". Financial Times. Retrieved 2019-09-13.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. ↑ "Backing from Google Ventures drives Oxford Uni spinout fund past £300M target". FierceBiotech. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "The Valley of Death: the students vying to be millionaires". The Telegraph. 2018-03-18. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  5. ↑ "UK universities getting better at commercialising research". www.newelectronics.co.uk. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  6. ↑ "City tycoon Spencer backs £70m blood-testing start-up Osler". Sky News. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Oxford Sciences Innovation Plc appoints new CEO and Chairman; prepares for next phase of growth | University of Oxford". www.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Burn-Callander, Rebecca (2015-06-19). "Google and Charles Dunstone back Oxford University spin-out fund". ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Matters, Business (2018-06-13). "Metaboards secures $5 million in funding led by Oxford Sciences Innovation". Business Matters. Retrieved 2019-09-13. {{cite web}}: |first= has generic name (help)
  10. ↑ McKee, Selina (2018-09-03). "Evox raises £35m for exosome therapeutics". PharmaTimes. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Ward, Andrew (May 10, 2016). "Oxford biotech deals highlight stature of UK university spinouts". Financial Times. Retrieved 2019-09-13.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  12. ↑ Price, Rob. "Google's European venture capital fund just made its second investment". Business Insider. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  13. ↑ "The missing ingredient in innovation: patience". World Economic Forum. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Ahmed, Murad (November 1, 2015). "Patient capital overtakes VC for UK tech groups". Financial Times. Retrieved 2019-09-13.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  15. ↑ "Patient capital overtakes VC for UK tech groups". Financial Times. Retrieved 2019-09-13.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  16. ↑ "Big deal: OSI grows to $730m - Global University Venturing". globaluniversityventuring.com. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 UK, Shona Ghosh, Business Insider. "An Oxford University artificial intelligence startup has raised £17 million to check code for errors". Business Insider. Retrieved 2019-09-13. {{cite web}}: |first= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  18. ↑ March 2019, Clare Sansom20. "Nurturing the next biotech generation". Chemistry World. Retrieved 2019-09-13.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  19. ↑ Fildes, Nic (October 2019). "Huawei buys access to UK innovation with Oxford stake". Financial Times. Retrieved 2019-10-08.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  20. ↑ "OMass raises £14m to boost drug development programme". Oxford University Innovation. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  21. ↑ McKee, Selina (2018-01-15). "UK startup developing flu jab attracts £20m investment". PharmaTimes. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  22. ↑ Archer, Joseph (2018-11-12). "Animal Dynamics secures £6m funding to build military drones". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  23. ↑ McKee, Selina (2018-09-03). "Evox raises £35m for exosome therapeutics". PharmaTimes. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  24. ↑ "Genomics collaboration with Vertex leads to £25m investment". Oxford University Innovation. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  25. ↑ "Oxford spinoff Vaccitech nets £10M for flu, cancer vaccines". FiercePharma. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  26. ↑ "Oxford Nanoimaging to provide desktop super-resolution microscopes". Oxford University Innovation. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  27. ↑ "City tycoon Spencer backs £70m blood-testing start-up Osler". Sky News. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  28. ↑ "The Valley of Death: the students vying to be millionaires". The Telegraph. 2018-03-18. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  29. ↑ UK, Shona Ghosh, Business Insider. "An Oxford University artificial intelligence startup has raised £17 million to check code for errors". Business Insider. Retrieved 2019-09-13. {{cite web}}: |first= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  30. ↑ Young, Tiffany. "15 Machine Learning Companies To Watch In Europe". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  31. ↑ Knapton, Sarah (2018-09-29). "NHS to trial Uber-style location service to match up patients, porters and equipment". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  32. ↑ Fink, Charlie. "6D.ai Funded To Build The AR Cloud". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  33. ↑ "How Oxford is leading the way to stop diamonds being faked". Oxford Mail. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  34. ↑ Belton, Padraig (2019-07-02). "How do you know your diamond isn't fake?". Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  35. ↑ Archer, Joseph (2018-11-12). "Animal Dynamics secures £6m funding to build military drones". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
Retrieved from "https://tilcayo.cat/w/index.php?title=Oxford_Science_Enterprises&oldid=10725"
This page contains text imported from the English Wikipedia (source revision 915475133). Its authors are credited under CC BY-SA 4.0: see the attribution record.