Membership in the network has grown to 200 angels hailing from 10 countries.
Isis Innovation has announced that its Isis Angel Network now counts a total of 200 business angels hailing from 10 different countries.
Isis Angels are an important component of Oxford University’s strategy to commercialise its research. To date, the angel network has supported the creation of 103 companies spun out from the institution.
The network celebrated a major success in February 2014 when spin-out NaturalMotion was acquired by US-based Zynga, a games developer, for $527m. Isis Angels had invested £2m ($3.38m) throughout three rounds, making it one of the largest fundings purely invested by angels in Europe.
Another recent success is OxSonics, which closed a £2.7m ($4.56m) round in January 2014. £1.85m ($3.12m) of this investment was made by Isis Angels. The spin-out has since secured a further £2.1m ($3.54m) from the UK government’s Technology Strategy Board and is on track to begin clinical trials in the near future for its ultrasound-based medical devices for drug delivery.
Andrea Alunni, who runs the network and is the seed fund manager at Isis Innovation, said: “Investment angels are becoming an increasingly important source of equity finance for Oxford University spin-outs. In fact, over the last four years, the number of investments from angel investors has outnumbered investments from seed and venture capital funds.”
