Portfolio company Oxford Nanopore raises finance

RNS Number : 4124F

IP Group PLC

26 April 2011

 



26 April 2011

IP Group - portfolio company Oxford Nanopore announces £25m fundraising

IP Group plc (LSE: IPO) ("IP Group" or the "Company" or "Group"), the developer of intellectual property based businesses, is pleased to note that portfolio company Oxford Nanopore Technologies Limited ("Oxford Nanopore"), a spin-out company from the University of Oxford, has raised £25 million in new funding. Oxford Nanopore is developing nanopore technology for the direct, electronic analysis of single molecules.

Following completion of the financing round, IP Group's 21.5% beneficial stake in Oxford Nanopore is valued at £33.4 million. The round was funded by existing and new institutional and individual investors from the US and UK, including Lansdowne Partners, IP Group, Invesco Perpetual, Redmile Group, Illumina and other undisclosed investors. The fundraising will result in an unrealised fair value gain to IP Group of £6.4 million. Oxford Nanopore has previously raised £49 million since its formation in 2005.

The funds will support further development, external technology validation and production capabilities for Oxford Nanopore's proprietary technology for molecular analysis applications that include DNA sequencing and protein analysis.  In addition to the development of techniques using biological nanopores, Oxford Nanopore has also strengthened existing projects and collaborations in the development of solid-state nanopores.

The Oxford Nanopore platform technology, GridION^TM, consists of a scalable modular instrument and self-contained consumable cartridge. GridION is adaptable for the analysis of different types of molecules including DNA and proteins by changing the types of nanopore included in the cartridge. 

Oxford Nanopore's technology integrates techniques from disciplines that include nanopore science, electronics, high-speed data processing, fluidics and software development. Oxford Nanopore has built broad expertise and an intellectual property estate of more than 250 patents and patent applications in nanopore sensing technology, through a combination of in-house discoveries and a network of academic collaborations.  New funds will also be used to support Oxford Nanopore's leadership position in current and future nanopore science.  For example the Oxford Nanopore recently extended various academic partnerships, including an agreement with Harvard University that added graphene to an existing project in solid-state nanopore technology.

For more information, please contact:

IP Group plc
Alan Aubrey, Chief Executive Officer	[phone]
Liz Vaughan-Adams, Communications	[phone] / 07979 853 802
Financial Dynamics	[phone]
Ben Atwell, John Dineen
Oxford Nanopore Technologies Ltd	[phone] x2013
Zoe McDougall, Communications [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 Oxford Nanopore Technologies

Oxford Nanopore Technologies Ltd is developing a novel technology for direct, electronic detection and analysis of single molecules using nanopores. The modular, scalable GridION technology platform is designed to offer substantial benefits in a variety of applications. 

The Company is developing two techniques for DNA sequencing: Exonuclease Sequencing and Strand Sequencing, both of which combine a protein nanopore with a processive enzyme for the analysis of DNA.  Oxford Nanopore is also developing a Protein Analysis technology that combines target proteins with ligands for direct, electronic analysis using protein nanopores.  Both techniques are designed to multiplex on a silicon chip within the GridION system.  The Company also has collaborations for the development of solid-state nanopores.

Oxford Nanopore has collaborations and exclusive licensing deals with leading institutions including the University of Oxford, Harvard and UCSC. The Company has funding programmes in these laboratories to support the science of nanopore sensing. Oxford Nanopore has licensed or owns more than 250 patents and patent applications that relate to all aspects of nanopore sensing from protein nanopores to solid state nanopores and for the analysis of DNA, proteins and other molecules. This includes the use of functionalised solid-state nanopores for molecular characterisation, methods of fabricating solid-state nanopores and modifications of solid-state nanopores to adjust sensitivity or other parameters.

For more information visit www.nanoporetech.com.

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