Orbit Discovery raises £6.9m for peptide library

29th May 2018

Oxford Sciences Innovation leads round into Orbit Discovery, an Oxford University spinout developing a peptide platform.

Orbit Discovery, an Oxford University spinout developing a peptide identification and optimisation platform, has raised £6.9m in series A funding.

Orbit is developing technologies developed at the University’s Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine. Founded in 2015 by Professors Graham Ogg and Terry Rabbitts, the company is developing a diverse library of peptides. It has also launched a number of peptide drug discovery and development programmes, both internally and in partnership with biotech and pharma companies.

Oxford Sciences Innovation, the £600m investment fund focused on Oxford spinout companies, led the round. It was joined in participation by new investors RT Ventures, Borealis Ventures and Perivoli Innovations, as well as existing investors. In addition, Phil Ferneau, Managing Partner at Borealis, and James Mallinson, Partner at Oxford Investment Consultants, joined Orbit’s board of directors.

Alex Batchelor, CEO at Orbit, said: “We’ve been very successful in delivering on Orbit’s strategy, leading to growth in both capability development and commercial collaborations. This Series A funding allows us to greatly expand platform industrialisation whilst achieving the milestones in our existing three pharma partnerships. Moreover, we can support further strategic collaborations that align with development of our platform.”

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