Newsletter - Edition 29
The Isis College Fund
Following approaches from several individual colleges Isis proposed and supported the establishment of a multimillion-pound fund to provide second and third round finance for Oxford spin-out companies.
The Isis College Fund will allow the University and its colleges to back new scientific discoveries over the long term while at the same time reducing the potential risk to any individual investing body since each investment involves all the participants in the fund. The Fund will be managed on a commercial basis by Quester, an independent venture capital company, with only the University and it colleges or societies able to invest in the fund.
The University currently has equity in many spin-outs - including five listed companies: Oxford Asymmetry, Oxford BioMedica, Oxford GlycoSciences, Oxford Molecular and PowderJect Pharmaceuticals.
The new fund was announced in London, in the presence of Lord Sainsbury, the Minister for Science, at a special conference being held at the Department of Trade and Industry focusing on Oxford University's science and technology. The Fund closed on 27 October, having raised £10.7 million from the University and 27 of its colleges. It will seek to achieve superior investment returns by investing in a portfolio of initially unquoted companies, which are substantially based upon University technology. Investment decisions will be taken by the investment manager, after receiving advice from the Fund's investment advisory committee.
Mr Andrew Holmes, of Quester, the venture capital company, said: "We are convinced that the current range of University research and patented innovations in the pipeline, and likely to lead to anticipated or actual new `spin-out' companies, will provide a range of attractive investment opportunities for the Fund."
The move was strongly welcomed by the Vice-Chancellor, Dr Colin Lucas, speaking on behalf of the University at a conference focusing on technology transfer at the DTI: "The creation of this Fund comes at a highly opportune moment for the University. Oxford scientists are producing a wide range of exciting new discoveries and the Fund will enable us to transfer this technology to the market, to the benefit of us all."
The launch of the new Fund follows a number of recent successes for the University:
- At the last Research Assessment Exercise 40 University departments
achieved either a rating of 5* (all research of national excellence
and the majority of international standing) or 5 (research of international
quality in some areas and national excellence in all areas);
- Annual research income is set to top £120 million;
- Five successful bids under the Government's recent Joint Infrastructure
Fund;
- A £4 million government challenge grant aimed at boosting technology transfer work by Isis Innovation.
Newsletter - Edition 29 Contents
- Monoclonal Antibodies
- Reprogramming the Immune System
- Oxford Gene Technology
- Isis College Fund
- Oxagen Ltd