IP Group investment into Oxford uni spin-out

RNS Number : 9248J

IP Group PLC

07 July 2011

 



 

FOR RELEASE ON

07 JULY 2011

IP Group completes first investment under Technikos alliance into Oxford university spin-out

IP Group plc (LSE: IPO) ("IP Group" or "the Company" or "the Group"), the developer of intellectual property based businesses, is pleased to announce that it has completed its first investment as part of its alliance with Technikos LLP ("Technikos").

IP Group has agreed to invest a total of up to £400,000 into Oxyntix Limited ("Oxyntix"), a company spun-out from the Engineering Department of the University of Oxford by Isis Innovation Ltd., in two tranches conditional on certain milestones being achieved. Oxyntix's scientists are proposing a new method of achieving extreme intensity bubble collapse, which has numerous potential applications. The investment, which is part of a wider £1m fundraising, will give the Group a 21.4% stake in Oxyntix assuming the second tranche completes.

IP Group announced in January that it had broadened its relationship with the University of Oxford through the acquisition of a strategic stake and alliance with Technikos, a specialist technology fund with a long term commercialisation agreement with the University of Oxford's Institute of Biomedical Engineering (IBME). IP Group already has a long-term commercialisation agreement with the University of Oxford's Department of Chemistry.

For more information, please contact:

IP Group plc	www.ipgroupplc.com
Alan Aubrey, Chief Executive Officer	[phone]
Liz Vaughan-Adams, Communications	[phone] / 07979 853 802 [e-mail]
Financial Dynamics (for IP Group plc)
Ben Atwell, John Dineen	[phone]
Technikos
Stephen Brindle	[phone]
Isis Innovation
Simon Gray, Marketing & Communications Manager	[e-mail]

Notes for editors

About IP Group

IP Group is an intellectual property ("IP") commercialisation company that specialises in commercialising university technology. Founded in 2001, IP Group listed on AIM in October 2003 and moved to the Official List in June 2006. It has made two acquisitions to date - Techtran, a company set up to commercialise university intellectual property under a long term contract with the University of Leeds, in 2005 and Top Technology Ventures, an investment adviser to early stage technology venture capital funds, in 2004.

IP Group has formed long-term partnerships with ten universities - the University of Oxford, King's College London, CNAP/University of York, the University of Leeds, the University of Bristol, the University of Surrey, the University of Southampton, Queen Mary (University of London), the University of Bath and the University of Glasgow.

The Company's portfolio is diverse with exposure to five main sectors - Energy & Renewables, Medical Equipment & Supplies, Pharma & Biotech, IT & Communications and Chemicals & Materials. To date, thirteen portfolio companies have listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange, one on PLUS Markets and there have been five trade sales.

For more information, please visit our website at www.ipgroupplc.com.

About Oxyntix

Scientists at Oxford University are proposing a new method of achieving extreme intensity bubble collapse. This technology has numerous potential applications, notably in nuclear fusion power generation and in sonochemistry, among others. Using state-of-the-art computational simulation techniques, descriptions of unprecedented detail and insight into the collapse events have been achieved. These have led to the discovery of processes and devices allowing control and intensification of the collapse. Oxyntix Ltd has been established to allow development and validation of the Oxford team's existing research findings, which are already patent-protected.

About Technikos

Technikos is a London based venture capital fund specialising in early stage medical technology. In 2006 Technikos entered into a long term commercial partnership with Oxford University's Institute of Biomedical Engineering.

About Isis Innovation

Isis Innovation is the University of Oxford's technology transfer company and manages the University's intellectual property portfolio, working with University researchers on identifying, protecting and marketing technologies through licensing, spin-out company formation and material sales. Isis files on average one new patent application each week, has concluded over 500 technology licensing agreements, and established 71 new spin-out companies from Oxford since 1997. Isis also manages Oxford University Consulting, which arranges consulting services providing clients access to the world-class expertise of the University's academics to enhance innovative capability. Last year OUC arranged over 150 consulting deals. Isis has a separate business division, Isis Enterprise, offering consulting expertise and advice in technology transfer and open innovation to university, government and industrial clients around the world. Isis was founded in 1987 and is today one of the world's leading technology transfer and innovation management companies. www.isis-innovation.com.

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