Oxford Nanopore announces £48.4m of new funding

IP Group plc - Portfolio company Oxford Nanopore Technologies announces £48.4m of additional funding

IP Group plc (LSE: IPO) ("IP Group" or "the Group"), the developer of intellectual property-based businesses, notes that its portfolio company Oxford Nanopore Technologies Limited ("Oxford Nanopore"), has announced that it has raised an additional £48.4 million of new capital to support ongoing innovation and rapid growth. Oxford Nanopore is the company behind the only real-time DNA/RNA sequencer that can sequence any read length and is fully scalable from smaller portable formats to larger devices for population-scale sequencing.

The funding came from both new and existing shareholders in EMEA, US and Asia and adds to the £29.3 million of capital raised that was announced on 2 January.

Following completion of the funding round, IP Group holds an undiluted beneficial stake of 15.9%. The directors expect that the Group's holding will be valued at £257.7 million, a reduction of £6.1 million, although will review the carrying value of Oxford Nanopore, as usual, as part of the Group's Half-Yearly Results to 30 June 2020 in light of this funding round and all other relevant information.

Oxford Nanopore's sequencing devices are being used in scientific research worldwide, and increasingly in regulated environments such as healthcare and food safety. The technology is being used extensively for epidemiology and research purposes in the current COVID-19 pandemic. The company also announced last week that it has a new category of COVID-19 test, LamPORE, in advanced 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.

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

ENDS