University of Oxford Isis Fund II reaches funding target of £2m, closes
24 February 2015
Isis Innovation and Parkwalk announced today that the University of Oxford Isis Fund II has raised over £2 million, exceeding its funding target, and will close to new investors. The fund achieved its initial target in less than four weeks and will close at almost twice that level.
Isis Innovation executive director Linda Naylor said: “In 2014, Isis Innovation oversaw a record £2.6m in proof-of-concept funding flow into over twenty new Oxford technologies and ventures. The first University of Oxford Isis Fund was a cornerstone of this achievement, and we already have a pipeline of promising technologies which will apply to this second Fund over the coming year.
“These Funds will again play a critical role in providing finance so new companies are properly resourced for the initial stages of commercial product development.”
The University of Oxford Isis Fund I invested in stroke-diagnostics specialist Brainomix which went on to raise £1.2m and won numerous awards and grants, Oxtex, the developer of a novel intelligent tissue expander, Salunda, the manufacturer of a contactless sensor for condition monitoring and automated sentiment analysis company TheySay.
Parkwalk Advisors’ Moray Wright said: “These Funds provide private investors, particularly University of Oxford alumni and friends, with quite a unique chance to invest in early stage technology companies as they spin-out of the University.
“And as these companies become successful, investors in the funds also stand to gain from the tax reliefs offered under the Enterprise Investment Scheme and Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme.”
Since 1987, Isis Innovation has been responsible for creating spin-out companies based on academic research from the University of Oxford. It has spun-out a new company every two months on average. Over £266 million in external investment has been raised by Isis spin-out companies since 2000, and five are currently listed on London’s AIM market.
Parkwalk is a UK technology-specialist EIS fund management firm. Parkwalk aims to launch the University of Oxford Isis Fund III in Q4 2015 or Q1 2016. For further details please contact the Parkwalk funds team on 020 7759 2285.
About Isis Innovation
Isis Innovation is the research and technology commercialisation company of the University of Oxford. We provide access to technology from Oxford researchers through intellectual property licensing, spin-out company formation and material sales, and to academic expertise through Oxford University Consulting.
Isis is the highest university patent filer in the UK and is ranked 1st in the UK for university spin-outs, having created more than 100 new companies in 25 years. In the last financial year we completed 503 licenses and consulting agreements. Isis Enterprise, our innovation management consultancy, signed 85 deals with university, government and industrial clients from offices around the world.
Isis was named ‘Technology Transfer Unit of the Year 2014’ by Global University Venturing.
For updates on innovations from Oxford, follow Isis on LinkedIn and Twitter or subscribe at www.isis-innovation.com
About Parkwalk
Specialising in University spin-out companies, Parkwalk invests in innovative UK high-growth companies across various stages of their development: from growth, development and commercial capital through to acquisition finance. Investments range from early stage to AIM-listed. Parkwalk’s EIS Funds seek significant capital gains with the substantial benefits offered under the Enterprise Investment Scheme.
For updates from Parkwalk, please follow us on Twitter
Media enquiries to:
Renate Krelle
Media & Business Communications Manager, Isis Innovation Ltd
[email protected]
T: 01865 280867
