Genomics announces Vertex leads £25m financing

IP Group plc - Portfolio company Genomics announces Vertex Pharmaceuticals leads £25m financing round and signs collaboration

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 Genomics plc ("Genomics" or "the Company"), has announced that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has led an oversubscribed £25.0m Series B financing round and signed a three-year collaboration agreement.

Genomics, a spin-out from the University of Oxford, is a data science company specialising in the use of human genetic information to improve drug development.  The collaboration with Vertex will further advance Vertex's efforts to develop transformative medicines for people with serious diseases.

Other investors in the £25.0m financing, alongside IP Group, comprised Woodford Investment Management Ltd, Invesco Perpetual, Oxford Sciences Innovation (OSI), Lansdowne Partners and Tanarra. Genomics will use the proceeds of the fundraising to enable further expansion, to continue to enhance its powerful database and to pursue opportunities that emerge in this fast-growing space.

IP Group and its managed fund, IP Venture Fund II, committed £1.4m and £0.6m respectively to the fundraising. Following completion of the financing round, IP Group's undiluted beneficial holding of 12.4% in Genomics is valued at £9.0m and IP Venture Fund II's 5.3% holding is valued at £3.8m. As a result of the Group's 33% limited partnership interest in IP Venture Fund II, its effective beneficial interest in Genomics is approximately 14.2%.

Genomics has developed a unique analysis engine which uses genetics to understand human biology and the likely efficacy and safety of potential novel medicines. The Genomics engine is the largest of its kind in the world, with over 100 billion data points. It links human genetic variation at over 14 million positions in the human genome to changes in 7,000 molecular, cellular, and physiological measurements and disease outcomes. The company uses breakthrough proprietary machine learning and statistical algorithms to predict the impact of therapeutic interventions.

Scientists from Vertex and Genomics will work closely together to incorporate their deep understanding of human genetics into research and development related to target discovery and target validation in certain diseases. Both companies will also have the opportunity to suggest additional diseases for the collaboration, where human genetic evidence may be particularly powerful.

In addition to funding the resources committed by Genomics to the collaboration, Vertex will make milestone and royalty payments to the company for novel targets resulting from the collaboration that are taken through clinical development.

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About IP Group

IP Group is a leading intellectual property commercialisation company which focuses on evolving great ideas, mainly from its partner universities, into world-changing businesses. The Group has pioneered a unique approach to developing these ideas and the resulting businesses by providing access to business building expertise, capital (through its 100%-owned FCA-authorised subsidiaries IP Capital and Parkwalk Advisors), networks, recruitment and business support. IP Group has a strong track record of success and its portfolio comprises holdings in early-stage to mature businesses across life sciences and technology. IP Group is listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange under the code IPO.

IP Venture Fund II L.P. is a venture capital fund managed by Top Technology Ventures Limited, the Group's 100%-owned fund management subsidiary, which is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority. The Group has a 33% economic interest in IP Venture Fund II and its results are consolidated into those of the Group.

Group holdings in portfolio companies reflect the undiluted beneficial equity interest excluding debt, unless otherwise explicitly stated.

For more information, please visit our website at www.ipgroupplc.com.

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