South: University of Oxford Isis Fund makes first investments

The £1.25 million University of Oxford Isis Fund, set up by Parkwalk Advisors and Isis Innovation in February, has made its first investments in medical device spinout Oxtex and in Brainomix, a start up from the Isis Software Incubator which is developing software to improve stroke diagnosis.

Brainomix is pioneering a system which puts the expertise of the best stroke physicians into the hands of frontline medical staff.  The University of Oxford Isis Fund joined an investor group led by Mark Jaffray of Chimera Partners, and including Parkwalk Advisors, in a £1.2m funding round that Brainomix will use to further develop and launch the software for clinical use.

Brainomix CEO Dr Michalis Papadakis said: “Currently up to half of the patients who should be receiving treatment for stroke are not being treated because of the difficulty in reading CT scan images. The imaging software we are developing will be the first to automatically interpret the CT scans of stroke patients, enabling hospitals to improve their existing treatment.

“This investment highlights the value of the Oxford University community and the Isis Innovation infrastructure, which will allow us to introduce our technology into clinical care, delivering real healthcare benefits.”

Chimera Partners’ Jaffray said: “We are delighted to be partnering with Brainomix in order to deliver core healthcare technology that will target efficient outcomes and save stroke patients' lives.”

Spun out by Isis in 2011, Oxtex has raised over £1.4m in start-up funding and will receive £150,000 from the University of Oxford Isis Fund. This will be used to strengthen the company’s senior management, scale up the device manufacturing and launch its first commercial product for the veterinary market.

Developed by surgeons at the John Radcliffe Hospital and scientists from the Department of Materials, the company’s tissue expander has applications in human reconstructive, dental and veterinary surgery.

Isis Innovation executive director Linda Naylor said: “This is a great start to what we are certain will be a speedy and successful investment round for the Fund. We have a large group of investment-ready technologies which will benefit enormously from proof of concept and seed funding.

The University of Oxford Isis Fund raised £1.25m and allows private investors to make tax-efficient investments in a range of new Oxford technology companies.  Parkwalk currently manages nine other “Enterprise Investment Scheme” funds.

Parkwalk’s Moray Wright said: "These first two deals show the University of Oxford Isis Fund is helping alumni and friends of the University facilitate the spinout of groundbreaking new technologies from one of the world’s most prestigious R&D intensive Universities.”

A second fund is planned once the current fund is fully invested.