IP Group portfolio firm Oxford Nanopore raises another £84.4m

Intellectual property-based business investor IP Group announced on Tuesday that its portfolio company Oxford Nanopore Technologies has raised an additional £84.4m of new capital from existing and new investors, including International Holdings Company (IHC) and RPMI Railpen.

The FTSE 250 company said the funds would be used by Oxford Nanopore to support the rapid acceleration of its commercial and manufacturing operations, as well as ongoing innovation in the field of nanopore technology.

It said the round took the amount raised in the year to date by Oxford Nanopore to £162.1m, following fund raisings in January and May of £29.3m and £48.4m, respectively.

Following the capital raise, IP Group has a 15.0% undiluted beneficial stake in Oxford Nanopore, valued at £257.7m.

The board said it would review the carrying value of Oxford Nanopore, as usual, as part of its annual results in light of this funding round and all other relevant information.

It noted that last week, Oxford Nanopore announced that its ‘LamPORE’ test was now CE-marked for in vitro diagnostic use for the detection of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19, using its ‘GridION’ device.

The LamPORE test was now in the process of initial rollouts in the UK, Germany, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates.

“The company previously announced that it had partnered with the UK's Department of Health and Social Care with an initial order of 450,000 LamPORE SARS-CoV-2 tests and the potential to increase to millions of tests per month as indicated by the recent publication of a contract award notice of £112.6m on the Tenders Electronic Daily website,” the board noted in its statement.

“Further regulatory approvals are being pursued in other countries, including Emergency Use Authorisation in the United States, and with its partner G42 in the United Arab Emirates.”

At 0843 BST, shares in IP Group were up 0.75% at 80.6p.