Oxford Nanopore
Oxford University nanopore DNA-sequencing spinout; FTSE-listed reference exit for university IP funds.
Last refreshed: 21 May 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
How did an Oxford academic's nanopore research become a FTSE-listed company that reads DNA in real time?
Timeline for Oxford Nanopore
Mentioned in: Lansdowne hits €128.9m on BBB-anchored fund
UK Startups and Innovation- What is Oxford Nanopore and how does its sequencing technology work?
- Oxford Nanopore Technologies is an Oxford University spinout that makes DNA and RNA sequencing devices using nanopores, tiny holes in a membrane through which DNA strands pass. The electrical signal as each base passes through the pore identifies the sequence in real time. Its MinION device is portable enough to use in the field.Source: Oxford Nanopore
- Is Oxford Nanopore publicly listed?
- Yes. Oxford Nanopore listed on the London Stock Exchange in September 2021 at a market capitalisation of approximately £3.4bn, making it one of the largest UK biotech IPOs of that year.Source: London Stock Exchange
- Why does Lansdowne cite Oxford Nanopore as a reference in its new VC fund?
- Lansdowne Partners includes Oxford Nanopore on its track record to demonstrate prior exposure to Oxford University-origin deep technology companies that reached FTSE-listed scale, supporting its credibility for a new university spinout fund targeting similar sectors.Source: eu-startups.com
Background
Oxford Nanopore Technologies was cited by Lansdowne Partners as a portfolio reference in the announcement of its €128.9m first close on a new UK university IP spinout fund on 14 May 2026 . Its presence on the track record demonstrates that Lansdowne has prior exposure to Oxford University-origin deep technology companies that reached public markets, making it a credible anchor for the new fund's university IP strategy.
Oxford Nanopore Technologies is an Oxford University spinout founded in 2005, commercialising nanopore-based DNA and RNA sequencing technology originally developed by Professor Hagan Bayley. The company's devices enable real-time sequencing of long DNA strands using biological nanopores embedded in an electrically resistant membrane, a fundamentally different architecture from Illumina's short-read approach. Oxford Nanopore listed on the London Stock Exchange in September 2021 at a £3.4bn market capitalisation, making it one of the largest UK biotech IPOs in history at that point. The company's products include the portable MinION device, used in field research, clinical settings, and pandemic pathogen sequencing (including during COVID-19), and larger PromethION instruments for high-throughput genomics.
Oxford Nanopore's significance for UK innovation policy extends beyond its own trajectory. Its FTSE listing demonstrated that a UK deep-technology spinout from an academic institution could reach public-market scale without US listing, providing a template that Raspberry Pi's LSE listing subsequently followed. Both companies sit on Lansdowne's reference track record, implying that the new fund is positioning itself as a vehicle capable of backing companies from early-stage spinout formation through to FTSE-scale public markets. Whether Lansdowne's new fund, at €171.9m final target, can actually deploy capital at the scale Oxford Nanopore required from seed to IPO remains the key structural question.