Technology funder Mercia backs synthetic biology firm with £1m

SPECIALIST technology funder Mercia Technologies has announced a follow-on investment of £1m into a synthetic biology company with significant expertise in DNA design.

The Warwickshire-based funder is backing the ongoing expansion of Oxford Genetics, which has recently grown its board and moved into new facilities at Oxford Science Park.

Oxford Genetics first received seed investment via Mercia’s third party managed funds in 2013 as a founding investor before transitioning it to Mercia’s direct investment portfolio of ‘Emerging Stars’ in December 2015.

Mercia has now invested £2.2m to date and holds 47.2% of the total issued share capital. This further capital support will enable Oxford Genetics to continue licensing its proprietary technology, SnapFast, which makes DNA assembly significantly more efficient for research and production purposes within the rapidly expanding markets of Cell and Gene Therapy.  

Ryan Cawood, CEO of Oxford Genetics, said: “We are delighted to receive this continued support from Mercia, which follows a period of sustained growth for Oxford Genetics. The company has expanded significantly in the last year, and is now looking to reinforce its position as an important player in DNA design, protein expression and virus & cell line engineering.”
 
Mark Payton, CEO of Mercia Technologies, said: “Synthetic biology is a key sub-sector for Mercia and we are pleased to be able to make a further investment in Oxford Genetics as it moves into a pivotal stage of its DNA design development.

“We are confident that with our support Oxford Genetics will continue to scale becoming what we believe will be a global provider of synthetic biology solutions, in what is a very attractive and growing market.”

Click here to sign up to receive our new South West business news...
Close