Our Model

We partner the best scientists from the world’s #1 research university with the best business brains to create and build world-changing businesses capable of solving society’s biggest challenges.

In addition to long-term investment capital and business-building expertise, we provide access to a global network of entrepreneurs and advisors, and state-of-the art lab and start-up space essential for our companies to thrive.

Our Unique Partnership with Oxford University

The University of Oxford is home to some of the world’s most innovate science thinkers and is renowned for its world-leading research. We receive an automatic stake in all science spinouts from the University and the University owns a stake in us.

This unique partnership enables us to work with Oxford’s brightest academic minds tackling the world’s toughest challenges and guarantees us unrivalled access to their scientific research and IP.

A key player in Oxford’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, we are highly motivated to foster an environment that catalyses pioneering research and steers it to commercial success. We are committed to doing this in an inclusive and sustainable way.

Our Investment Approach

We are an investment company, not a fund. Our evergreen structure means we are not constrained by restrictive timelines and can adopt a flexible, long-term investment approach, recognising the path from ground-breaking research to global markets takes time and resilience.

This gives us greater flexibility to make decisions based on the nature of the challenge and the needs of the business. Allocating capital in ways that allow innovation to flourish:

• We invest in original research and breakthrough scientific ideas early to solve the world’s toughest problems.
• We invest from initial idea to IPO and beyond, to maximize the impact of the science.
• We invest in the specialist lab and start-up space needed to nurture our businesses.

Our Business-Building Expertise

We match Oxford science with exceptional business-building talent from around the world – seasoned C-suite executives, entrepreneurs and advisors, who want to make a difference.

Our approach to company creation is bespoke – guided by the scale of the unmet need, the complexity of the science, and its potential to solve the world’s toughest problems.

In addition, we have added over 55,000 sq ft of dedicated lab and start-up space in Oxford to support our companies as they emerge and grow.

Our Portfolio

We have created a diverse portfolio of enterprises that address problems affecting people in life-changing ways: their health, the availability of food, their security and the survival of the planet.

We are actively focused on a core portfolio of around 40 companies spanning three high-growth, high-impact sectors:

• Life Sciences, novel platforms, technologies, and approaches advancing the discovery of new therapeutics and vaccines to treat and prevent a range of diseases
• Health Tech, life science tools, medical devices, digital diagnostics, AI-powered clinical imaging and virtual reality therapy and solutions to improve healthcare delivery
• Deep Tech, quantum computing and enabling technologies, fusion energy, industrial heat, novel computer hardware, electrified transportation, and solutions to tackle depleting food resources

Since 2015, we have invested £0.5 billion in over 80 ambitious companies built on Oxford science, helping progress 27 from seed to Series A, and 21 to Series B and beyond, including 2 IPOs and 5 trade sales. Our companies have attracted over £1 billion of additional investment capital from global co-investors.

Notable portfolio companies in which we have made significant investments, include:

• Vaccitech, co-creators of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, enabled the development of a safe and effective vaccine in months rather than years.
• Base Genomics created technology that could make late-stage cancer diagnosis a thing of the past, saving lives, and sparing unnecessary suffering (acquired by Exact Sciences for $410 million in 2020).
• OMass Therapeutics has developed a powerful platform for designing medicines against ‘undruggable’ targets.
• First Light Fusion is making clean, virtually limitless energy a reality and achieved projectile fusion in 2022.
• ORCA Computing provided the first quantum computer to the UK Ministry of Defence to enhance its data processing capabilities in 2022.
• moa Technology is developing safe and sustainable herbicides to improve crop yields and feed a growing global population.