Nominations for Global University Venturing's 2014 Awards ahead of the ceremony at the GUV Summit 2014.
The Global University Venturing Awards are now entering their second year. Recognising the best deals, spin-outs, and university-linked funds over the past academic year, the awards will be presented at the GUV Summit 2014. The awards ceremony will take place on the 21st of October at the Crystal in London after the first day of the summit.
The nominations for this year’s awards are:
Deal of the year
Inside Sales
Stanford spin-out InsideSales.com, launched in 2004, raised $100m in a series C in April to further develop its predictive analytics software for salespeople. The US-based company didn’t start accumulating venture backing, save for a small investment by the founder’s mother-in-law, until 2011 when it raised $4m in a venture round, followed by a further $4m in 2012 and $35m series B last year, bringing its total to $143m.
Currently, the spin-out has no plans for an initial public offering (IPO), but is looking for another round in the future with the aim of becoming a multi-billion dollar business. Investors include Stanford University, Polaris Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caulfield and Byers, Acadia Woods, Epic Ventures, Salesforce.com, Zetta Venture Partners, Hummer Winblad Venture Partners and US Venture Partners.
Otonomy
Otonomy, launched in 2008, is a US-based life sciences firm focusing on commercialising treatments for ear disorders. The company was founded by Avalon Ventures partner Jay Lichter and his physician Jeffery Harris, from the University of California San Diego, after Lichter was diagnosed with Ménière’s disease and found limited options for treatments.
The company raised $49m in a series D in May, bringing its total funding to $143.4m. One of the investors includes Osage University Partners, a coalition of US universities investing in spin-outs and companies licensing university intellectual property. Other backers include Jennison Associates, Perceptive Advisors, Federated Kaufmann Funds, Ally Bridge Group, OrbiMed Advisors, Novo Ventures, TPG Biotech, Avalon Ventures, Domain Associates, RiverVest Venture Partners, and Aperture Venture Partners.
Juno Therapeutics
Clocking in at $176m, Juno Therapeutics has raised one of the largest series A rounds in history. Launched only last December, the oncology therapeutics spin-out of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre and Seattle Children’s Research Institute, raised the round over a first raise of $120m at launch and a further $56m in April.
While the US-based firm is in the running for its series A, it’s also worth noting that the company raised a series B as this magazine was going to press, worth $134m and bringing its total venture backing to $310m raised in nine months. Backers include Venrock, Bezos Expeditions, Alaska Permanent Fund, and ARCH Venture Partners.
Adaptive Biotechnologies
Another spin-out of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre, oncology firm Adaptive Biotechnology secured $105m in combined series C and D rounds in April this year. Adaptive, which launched in 2009, is developing three products all linked to cancer screening. The sole public investor is Viking Global.
Exit of the year
Kite Pharma
Last year’s deal of the year winner makes this year’s exit of the year list as the University of California Los Angeles spin-out raised $128m in its IPO. The company surpassed its target of $115m in its floatation and raised $85m prior to joining the Nasdaq. The money from the round will go towards accelerating its lymphoma treatment through clinical studies and gaining Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval.
NaturalMotion
Founded in 2003, Oxford University spin-out NaturalMotion made headlines across the world in January when it was acquired by online games developer Zynga for $527m, netting over $50m for the institution. NaturalMotion started life by offering its animation engine which has been used in numerous top-selling games, most notably gaming giant Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto IV, Red Dead Redemption, and Max Payne 3. The company then went on to release games itself for mobile. Its biggest success has been CSR Racing, which topped App Store gaming charts in 70 countries and, at one point, brought in $12m in revenues a month. Through the acquisition, Zynga now owns both NaturalMotion’s games back catalogue, as well as two of the most widely used animation engines in the games industry.
Wolfson Microelectronics
Edinburgh spin-out Wolfson Microelectronics was the subject of a surprise acquisition deal reported on back in May which saw the microchip and audio component manufacturer sell to US-based peer Circus Logic for $490m. Wolfson, which holds a partnership with tech firm Samsung, has struggled to keep up with the pace of smartphone component development. Last year, the company recorded a $20.3m pre-tax loss, blaming a faster than expected take up of 4G technology over Wolfson’s key 3G market.
Circassia
In the largest UK biotech floatation this side of the millennium, Imperial College London (ICL) spin-out Circassia brought in $332m in its March IPO. Trading at the top of its range, the IPO saw ICL’s tech transfer unit Imperial Innovations deliver over a three-fold return on investment for its £25.5m ($42.64m) stake, now worth £82m. Circassia’s primary products are focused on treating common allergies, such as cat allergy and hay fever. Should it received the FDA approval the company is now aiming for, its cat allergy treatment alone will be on the way to providing relief to 24 million people in the US.
Fundraising of the year
Cambridge Innovation Capital
Launching last October with $80m in backing, Cambridge Innovation Capital is an evergreen fund aiming to invest across sectors and all stages of development into companies within the Cambridge tech cluster. The fund, which includes Cambridge’s endowment fund, semiconductor designer and Cambridge spin-out Arm, Lansdowne Partners, Invesco, and IP Group as backers, will look to hold an IPO to bring its total funding up to $160m in the next two and a half years. All profits made from its investments will be ploughed back into the fund, with the aim of continually building an investment pot for Cambridge companies.
Stanford/StartX
Using its student-led incubator StartX as a sounding board for investment, Stanford University and Stanford Hospital announced an uncapped fund for investment into startups graduating from the programme. While the university’s Office of Technology Licensing has no oversight of the fund, spin-outs along with regular startups are eligible for funding, so long as they get through StartX.
Qiming Venture Partners
China-based venture firm Qiming Venture Partners raised $500m in April, its fourth such fund, targeting early and expansion stage deals with investments ranging between $500,000 and $30m. The fund makes the nomination list due to its limited partners, which include Mayo Clinic, Princeton University, New York University, the University of Texas, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
Syncona Partners
Appearing at the start of the year with a $329m evergreen fund from charity investor the Wellcome Trust, Syncona wasted no time in getting straight to work with a $20m investment into Oxford life sciences spin-out NightstarX. While the fund itself doesn’t have money directly from a university supporting it, the impact it will undoubtedly have on life sciences from institutions (with investments ranging between £1m and £20m) cannot be understated.
Technology transfer unit of the year
The four nominations for this year’s technology tr
ansfer unit of the year are based on the volume of news and dealflow, size of any university venture funds, and general activity recorded by GUV over the past academic year. The four most active units by these measurements are:
Isis Innovation (Oxford University)
- Largest university exit of 2014 (NaturalMotion)
- Launched enterprise fund
- Most active TTO of H1 2014
Cambridge Enterprise (Cambridge University)
- At the centre of the biggest tech cluster in Europe
- Tied to the launch of Cambridge Innovation Capital
- Second most active in dealflow H1 2014
Office of Technology Licensing (Stanford University)
- Third most active in dealflow H1 2014
- Stands to benefit from Stanford/StartX fund
- One of the key drivers of innovation in Silicon Valley
Imperial Innovations (Imperial College London)
- Circassia exit is largest UK biotech IPO since turn of millennium
- Raised $255m through placing of shares in June
- Signed deal to commercialise IP from University College London, Oxford, and Cambridge
Lifetime achievement award
Richard Jennings – Cambridge University
The deputy director of Cambridge Enterprise has enjoyed a 20-year history in working at the top of Cambridge Enterprise, and has built up an extensive record of building industry relationships with the university as well as commercialising Cambridge IP through spin-outs, consultancy, and licensing.
Katherine Ku – Stanford University
During her time at Stanford’s OTL, Ku and her team have been an instrumental part in the continuing evolution of the surrounding Silicon Valley. While the projects the OTL has worked on since 1991 have been numerous in size, scope, sector, and success, to list in full, the shining jewel in Ku’s accomplishments is the emergence of Google. Since originating from research conducted at Stanford in 1996, the company, which built its first computer out of spare computer parts and Lego bricks, has become one of the most successful and globally recognisable spin-outs of all time.
Lita Nelsen – MIT
A cornerstone of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Lita Nelsen’s near 30 year tenure at the institution’s Technology Licensing Office (TLO) has been instrumental in driving MIT’s innovation policy for over two decades. The MIT native, awarded both the Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) and the Association of University Technology Managers’ (AUTM) Bayh-Dole Award for her work in technology transfer, has led the institution’s TLO since 1992 after joining the unit back in 1986.
Personality of the year
Simon Bond – SetSquared
Rising to innovation director of SetSquared, an incubator partnership of Exeter, Southampton, Surrey, Bristol, and Bath, in March after ten years with the company, Simon took the reins of an incubator going from strength to strength. Named the top incubator in Europe for the second year running by the UBI Index and announcing £1bn raised in external fundraising for 1,000 companies in its 11 years of operation, SetSquared looks to continue having an impressive impact on UK startups for the foreseeable future.
Russ Cummings – Imperial Innovations
Stepping into the shoes of Susan Searle, who took Innovations through its IPO and built the roadmap to its multiple successes, is no simple feat. And yet, Russ Cummings has made it look easy. The 20-year-plus venture capital veteran found himself in a fortuitous position with Circassia’s IPO, and has built on that success with a $255m fundraise via the placement of shares. Russ also looks to build on the relationships Innovations has made with other universities in the Golden Triangle, giving the TTO a commanding presence in UK tech transfer.
Tom Hockaday – Isis Innovation
Tom Hockaday’s leadership of Isis stretches back to when NaturalMotion first spun out of Oxford in 2003, and took great personal pleasure in seeing the company’s $527m acquisition 11 years later. Tom has also been behind Isis’ outreach to China and its recent Isis fund. Isis is also the most active TTO GUV has recorded so far this year, all of which leads to a strong nomination for Tom this year.
Sean Flanigan – Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM)
Sean Flanigan has used his three-year presidency at international tech transfer organisation AUTM (now in its final year as AUTM’s immediate past-president – the organisation has three presidents at any one time) to prepare the organisation for fresh challenges over the coming years. He has driven an agenda of refocusing AUTM as a global organisation (75% of its membership comes from the US), changing the governance of the organisation, and updating its meetings from a trading of war stories between tech transfer professionals to an event where members can walk away with deals in their pockets. Sean has also kept plates spinning at his home tech transfer office at Ottawa University, which is currently expanding, and his chair of the governance committee of the Alliance of Tech Transfer Professionals (ATTP), which sits above AUTM and peer organisations such as PraxisUnico and SNITTS.
Technology of the year
Juno Therapeutics
Juno’s $310m may be impressive, but what has attracted that money is the technology behind it. The firm is developing oncology treatment based around chimeric antigen receptors, and is capable of reprogramming T-Cells, a natural defence mechanism in the body, to identify and target cancer cells. In trials into CARs, patients have shown a high rate of complete remissions of terminal leukaemia, demonstrating that the technology could be one of the most formidable weapons against cancer developed to date.
Spectromics
The Manchester University spin-out is commercialising research that will let doctors select the most effective antibiotic to treat a disease in a specific patient. The technology looks to combat the growing problem of bacteria resistant to drugs by identifying whether a patient needs the drug prescribed, and if a particular infection has become resistant to the drug prescribed.
Disruptive Materials
Recently launched by Uppsala University, Disruptive is commercialising upsalite, a material that will let drug developers reconsider all their drugs previously rejected during R&D by increasing the solubility of drugs and therefore the body’s ability to absorb a drug.
OxSonics
The Oxford University spin-out is developing ultrasound therapies aimed at cancer and back pain. The company uses ultrasound sensitive nanoparticles which can deliver real time information to a clinician about whether drug delivery or surgery has been successful.
Investment unit of the year
IP Group
Over the past year, the IP Group has not only consolidated their position as one of the most foremost commercialisation firms in the UK with partnership and investments stretching across the country and the acquisition of fellow commercialisation firm Fusion IP, but has also made in-roads to the US with the signing of deals with Columbia, Pennsylvania, and Princeton universities.
Osage University Partners
Osage continues to be a major force in supporting investments into university-linked businesses in the US. Since the beginning of the 2013/14 academic year, the unit has made seven investments into university spin-outs or companies using university intellectual property. The VC has 56 university partners, and controls a $100m fund.
Cambridge Innovation Capital
As mentioned in the fundraising category, Cambridge Innovation Capital came into existence last year with a $50m evergreen fund looking to
invest into the Cambridge cluster. The first wave of investments were made as this magazine was going to press.