OrganOx
Oxford organ-perfusion technology company backed by Longwall Fund 1; sold to Japan's Terumo in 2025 for more than $1.5bn.
Last refreshed: 29 May 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
How did an Oxford liver-perfusion device become the UK's biggest university spinout exit?
Timeline for OrganOx
State £50m backs the tier funds skip
UK Startups and Innovation- How much did Terumo pay for OrganOx and when did the deal close?
- Terumo agreed to acquire OrganOx for approximately $1.5bn in August 2025; the acquisition completed on 29 October 2025.Source: Oxford University / Terumo press release
- What does OrganOx's metra device do and why is it important?
- metra is a Normothermic Machine Perfusion device that keeps donor livers alive and assessable outside the body, extending the usable transplant window well beyond the 12-hour limit of cold storage. It received FDA approval in 2021 and has been used in over 6,000 liver transplants worldwide.Source: MedTech Dive
- Why is the Terumo acquisition of OrganOx significant for UK universities?
- At $1.5bn, it is the largest-ever acquisition of an Oxford University spinout, validating 17 years of long-term deeptech investment and delivering a 19.2x return on the British Business Bank's original capital.Source: Oxford University
Background
OrganOx was acquired by Japan's Terumo Corporation in October 2025 for approximately $1.5bn, completing the largest acquisition of a University of Oxford spinout on record. The deal delivered a 19.2x return on the British Business Bank's original investment via Longwall Ventures' Fund 1, validating the UK's long-term deeptech funding model at a moment of intense debate about whether domestic capital reaches FAR enough.
Founded in 2008 by Professor Peter Friend and Professor Constantin Coussios as a University of Oxford spin-off, OrganOx developed Normothermic Machine Perfusion (NMP) technology to keep donor livers viable outside the body for extended periods. Its metra device received FDA approval in 2021 and launched in the US market in 2022; by the time of acquisition it had been used in over 6,000 liver transplant procedures worldwide. The technology addresses a critical bottleneck in transplantation: traditional cold storage typically limits a donor liver's usable window to 12 hours, whereas NMP extends viability and improves organ assessment.
OrganOx's exit is now widely cited as the benchmark for UK university deeptech commercialisation, illustrating both the potential scale of returns and the 17-year timeline investors must accept to realise them.