Home>All News>Oxitec Oxford Closes Second Round Funding
Oxitec Oxford Closes Second Round Funding
8th June 2005
Oxitec Limited announces the completion of its second funding round of £1.3m, led by Oxford Capital Partners. The existing investors, East Hill Advisors, LLC from Boston and the University of Oxford (through the Isis College Fund), have made further investments in the company as part of this round. Oxford Capital Partners invested £550,000.
Oxitec Oxford
Oxitec was formed in 2002 as a spin out from the University of Oxford. The Company is pioneering environmentally safe methods of insect control. It has developed technology (RIDL™) that will radically reduce the cost of existing sterile insect programmes, and open up new markets. The Company operates from a state of the art facility near Oxford, comprising molecular biology laboratories, insectaries and offices.
Oxitec Oxford has three RIDL products ready for field trials – the Mediterranean Fruit Fly (“medfly”), a world-wide pest of citrus, the mosquito Aedes aegypti, primary vector of dengue and yellow fever, and the Pink Bollworm, an important pest of cotton. The new funds will be used to progress these lead products through regulatory programmes, and initiate research on new targets.
Ted Mott, Managing Partner at Oxford Capital Partners, said: “Oxitec is at the forefront of non-insecticide solutions for the management of disease carrying and crop pests. We have followed the company since inception and have been encouraged by its progress. The new investment from Oxford Capital Partners and existing investors confirms the company’s position as a leader in the sector.”