o2h Ventures scoops top award as life science investments hit sweet spot
To date, o2h Ventures has invested in 35 portfolio companies, working on impactful areas of high unmet medical needs including cancer, depression, diseases of the ear and eye, psoriasis, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, anti-ageing, and infectious diseases.
The Biotech Fund invests early, is often the first investment cheque, and has been a prolific supporter of early-stage biotech in Cambridge. In its annual report, the Biotech Industry Association (BIA) recognized o2h Ventures as the joint highest and most active investor in UK biotechs by number of deals. For an emerging Biotech Fund, it is making a significant impact in this sector and on the Cambridge Biotech cluster.
The award highlights the company’s unwavering passion for nurturing the biotech ecosystem and what Sunil Shah calls “its commitment to being a true investment specialist.”
He added: “It has been a positive quarter for the funds and we have seen an uptick in activity since the UK and US elections.”
o2h Ventures has shared some significant successes from its burgeoning portfolio. For example, ViaNautis has announced a strategic collaboration with Eli Lilly and Company, the largest pharmaceutical company in the world, to advance the development of genetic nanomedicines. This news follows a successful $25 million funding round the previous November. o2h Ventures has participated in every one of ViaNautis’s investment rounds since its inception, initially as an SEIS investment.
Another success story is CardiaTec Bio, a TechBio company spun out of Cambridge University, again a SEIS investment by o2h Ventures, it has recently raised $6.5m to advance its therapeutic programme-based computational biology platform in the area of cardiovascular therapeutics.
Stratosvir, one of the company’s recent SEIS investments alongside Cancer Research Horizons and Prostate Cancer Research, has received a prestigious non-dilutive grant from Innovate UK to develop viral immunotherapies to target cancer. o2h has also invested this quarter in another Cancer Research UK spinout, Enedra Therapeutics.
PhoreMost closed a Series B financing round, raising over $50m to advance its high-oncology programme. This funding will support expanded drug discovery operations and multiple next-generation degrader programs. o2h founders have invested from the start in PhoreMost.
Monument Therapeutics, a Cambridge cognition spin-out, secured £1m in investment for schizophrenia clinical development and Sunil teases that more exciting news is due to follow on this one!
Sunil said: “It is an exciting time for biotech, with growing investor confidence and good momentum. Whether through syndication with other funds, collaborations with Big Pharma and technology transfer groups, or stand-alone investments, we remain committed to identifying and supporting groundbreaking opportunities in human health.”
Sunil’s comments are timely as the British Business Bank has just conducted a highly positive and in-depth analysis of the performance of life science funds versus other sectors (including technology). Its research found that life sciences investments were outperforming rival attractions. Sunil concluded: “This reinforces our own belief in investing in human health across our SEIS and Knowledge-Intensive EIS funds.”