Mercia Technologies completes £2m follow-on investment in Oxford Genetics

AIM-listed Mercia Technologies has completed a £2m follow-on direct investment into synthetic biology company Oxford Genetics.

The investment is part of a £7.5m funding round which also sees a new investor, Invesco, joining the syndication as a partner. Mercia pointed out that Invesco is one of the largest investment managers in the UK and said its involvement in this funding round demonstrates "the significant potential" seen in Oxford Genetics by both the teams.

Mercia has worked with Oxford Genetics since 2012, initially investing via its third-party managed funds before becoming an Emerging Star direct investment in December 2015. This latest funding round increases the group's total direct investment to £4.7m and Mercia's direct equity stake rises to 40.5%.

Proceeds from the investment round will be used to further expand Oxford Genetics' operations in the US with the opening of a new office in Boston, as well as extending its UK research and development facility.

Chief executive officer Ryan Cawood said: "The next few years for Oxford Genetics will be exciting. The industry for complex biologics has taken such huge steps forward to delivering real patient benefit and we are pleased to be providing our technology to many of the companies tackling some of medicine's most important unmet needs."

At 1010 BST the shares were flat at 35.01p.