Oxford Nanopore Technologies plc has secured £50 million in investment from Scandinavian life sciences investor Novo Holdings.
Oxford Nanopore, spun out of Professor Hagan Bayley’s University of Oxford lab, has developed a real-time DNA/RNA sequencer and can assist with accurate, rapid testing in cancer and infectious disease.
The company, which received a £70m funding injection from French firm bioMérieux SA last year, serves thousands of customers across a wide range of scientific communities in more than 120 countries around the world.
Announcing its latest oversubscribed £80m share placing, it said Novo – which originally intended to subscribe for £60m – will look to make further market purchases of up to £10m.
“We are delighted to welcome this new, strategic investment from Novo Holdings, alongside continuing support from our existing investors,” said Dr Gordon Sanghera, CEO.
“Over recent years, we have further iterated our technology platform and commercial infrastructure and are poised to gain further traction in broad sectors including scientific research, clinical and applied industrial markets.
“The investment from Novo Holdings reflects our ambition in the biopharmaceutical sector. Our technology platform is uniquely suited to address the needs of this industry where information-rich, rapid and simplified sequencing are critical to developing and delivering biopharmaceuticals faster and with less complexity.
“We look forward to their support.”
The new shares represent approximately 8% of the company prior to the equity issue.