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25/07/2015 09:41

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RNS Number : 6002T
IP Group PLC
21 July 2015 
 
 FOR RELEASE ON  21 July 2015  
 
 
21 July 2015 
 
IP Group plc - Portfolio company Oxford Nanopore announces £70m fundraising 
 
IP Group plc (LSE: IPO) ("IP Group" or "the Group"), the developer of
intellectual property-based businesses, is pleased to note that its portfolio
company, Oxford Nanopore Technologies Limited ("Oxford Nanopore" or "the
Company"), has raised £70.0 million in a new financing round via a private
placement of ordinary shares. 
 
Oxford Nanopore, a spin-out company from the University of Oxford specialising
in nanopore-based electronic molecular analysis systems, recently commented
that its handheld MinION device is commercially available and registration has
opened for its PromethION Early Access Programme (PEAP). PromethION is a
standalone device, which offers the nanopore sensing technology of MinION but
enables higher throughput and sample numbers. 
 
Both new and existing investors in the UK, US and mainland Europe subscribed
to the fundraising to support the Company's development and commercialisation
of electronic molecular analysis systems. Funds will be used to support
improvements to Oxford Nanopore's existing range of products and services and
to further develop and expand the Company's innovative pipeline. Manufacturing
and commercial activities will be expanded. 
 
Following completion of the financing round, IP Group's undiluted beneficial
stake of 19.9% in Oxford Nanopore will be valued at £192.9 million,
representing an unrealised fair value gain to the Group of £50.3 million. IP
Group has committed a further £13.9 million to Oxford Nanopore as part of this
funding round. 
 
This transaction brings the total funds raised by Oxford Nanopore since its
formation in 2005 to
£251.0 million. 
 
Alan Aubrey, Chief Executive of IP Group,said: "IP Group has been proud to
support Oxford Nanopore since the Company's formation ten years ago. The
Company has made excellent technical and commercial progress and the
significant developments announced at its recent London Calling
nanopore-sensing conference further reinforce our confidence in the Company's
technology. I would like to congratulate the Oxford Nanopore team for all of
their successes so far and we look forward to working with them as they seek
to achieve their goal of making nanopore-sensing valuable, integral and
available to anyone with a question about a living thing." 
 
For more information, please contact: 
 
 IP Group plc                          www.ipgroupplc.com    
 Alan Aubrey, Chief Executive Officer  +44 (0) 20 7444 0050  
 Greg Smith, Chief Financial Officer                         
 Vicki Bradley, Communications                               
 FTI Consulting                                              
 James Melville-Ross/Simon Conway/     +44 (0)20 3727 1000   
 Victoria Foster Mitchell                                    
 
 
Notes for editors 
 
About IP Group 
 
IP Group is a leading UK intellectual property commercialisation company,
developing technology innovations primarily from its research intensive
partner universities. The Group offers more than traditional venture capital,
providing its companies with access to business building expertise, networks,
recruitment and business support. 
 
IP Group's portfolio comprises holdings in around 90 early-stage to mature
businesses across the Healthcare, Biotech, Cleantech and Technology sectors.
These businesses include Oxford Nanopore Technologies, the DNA sequencing
development company, Revolymer, best known for its removable chewing gum, and
Xeros, which has received many accolades for its revolutionary clothes washing
techniques with a much reduced requirement for water. 
 
For more information, please visit our website at www.ipgroupplc.com. 
 
About Oxford Nanopore Technologies 
 
Oxford Nanopore Technologies is developing and commercialising a new
generation of nanopore-based electronic systems for analysis of single
molecules, including DNA, RNA and proteins. The handheld MinION device, the
high-throughput/high sample number PromethION and GridION systems are designed
to provide novel qualities in molecular sensing such as real-time data
streaming, improved simplicity, efficiency and scalability of workflows and
direct analysis of the molecule of interest. The devices may be used in
scientific research, personalised medicine, crop science, security and defence
and environmental applications and a number of applications, methods and tools
have been published by MinION users. Products and services are priced for low
total-cost-of-ownership DNA sequencing (or other analyses). Oxford Nanopore is
developing or providing products and services to simplify all parts of the
nanopore-based molecular analysis workflow. For sample preparation this
includes VolTRAX, a rapid, programmable, portable, disposable sample
preparation device designed to convert complex samples such as blood, saliva
or environmental samples directly onto a nanopore sensing device. For analysis
this includes Metrichor, a cloud based service for real time molecular
analyses, vertically integrated with nanopore sensing devices. MinION is
commercially available and registration has opened for the PromethION Early
Access programme (PEAP). 
 
Supported by a broad patent portfolio, the Oxford Nanopore pipeline includes
multiple generations of nanopore-based sensing technologies, including those
based on both biological and solid-state nanopores. 
 
www.nanoporetech.com 
 
ENDS 
 
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange