Alumni and private investors have successfully raised over £1.25m ($2.09m) for the University of Oxford Isis Fund, which will now close and invest the money into a range of technology and intellectual property from Oxford, including new Oxford-based software companies.
The University of Oxford Isis Fund was set up in February 2014 by Parkwalk Advisors and Isis Innovation, the university’s research commercialisation arm. The minimum subscription fee was £25,000. It followed the success of the university’s spin-out NaturalMotion, which was acquired by US-based games company Zynga for $527m and Oxford Immunotec which listed on Nasdaq in late 2013 with an initial public offering worth $64m.
Isis Innovation is the highest university patent filer in the UK and one of the top ranked tech transfer units in the UK for university spin-outs. It has created 100 new companies in 25 years. Parkwalk Advisors on the other hand is a London-based independent investment management firm, specialising in university spin-outs, having entered this particular space in 2009 thanks to the Enterprise Investment Scheme.
Moray Wright, of Parkwalk Advisors, said: “We are delighted with the extremely high levels of interest in the University of Oxford Isis Fund – it was oversubscribed in approximately a month and shows alumni are keen to invest and support the alma mater as well as taking part in what is currently a thriving innovative and entrepreneurial environment at the University.”
A second fund is planned once the current fund is fully invested.
