Oxford University Innovation reported a record $698m of funding for its portfolio businesses in a year which brought its total number of spinouts to more than 170.
University of Oxford’s tech transfer office, Oxford University Innovation (OUI), generated a record 24 new spinouts and £546.9m ($698m at the end of 2018) of external funding for its portfolio last year, up from 21 spinouts and $367m in 2017.
The total includes seven spinouts and $172m of funding announced across 19 deals during the fourth quarter of 2018.
OUI now has more than 170 spinouts in total, marching past the 150-milestone it had achieved in late 2017 with the spin out of augmented and virtual reality spinout 6Degrees.
Companies added to the TTO’s roster in 2018 include CBD molecule developer Cortex Organics and oncological treatment macrophage maker Macrophox as well as OxStem Beta and OxStem Immuno, two offshoots of regenerative medicine spinout OxStem launched in October 2018.
OUI also marked the start of a social enterprise program to specifically provide resources to impact-orientated businesses and relaunched the OUI Incubator by refurbishing its facilities and halving the equity demand to 5% from 10%.
In the coming year, OUI hopes to help its spinouts make inroads into China from the university’s newly-launched Oxford Suzhou Centre for Advanced Research, which hosts projects focused on biomedical engineering and healthcare, in addition to environment and biotechnology and nanotechnology and biomaterials.
Matt Perkins, chief executive of OUI, said: “Looking forward, we intend to continue building, brick-by-brick, on this success with our Oxford cluster partners to create a world-leading innovation ecosystem with Oxford University at its heart.”
