Penningtons Manches Cooper advises next generation virus diagnostic company OxDX on its spin-out from Oxford University

Posted: 18/02/2022

The corporate team at Penningtons Manches Cooper has advised OxDX on the completion of its spin-out from Oxford University and its £2.6 million pre-seed funding. The funding will be used to develop its AI-powered diagnostic technology, which will be used to improve the speed, cost and accuracy of diagnostics worldwide.

OxDX is building instant pathogen tests using super-resolution microscopy and machine learning. Their technology uses novel universal labelling technology in combination with machine learning analysis in a neural network to identify the specific pathogens causing infection in just a few seconds. The team at OxDX has demonstrated the ability to identify respiratory viruses in clinical samples and, in the case of COVID-19 and influenza viruses, directly identify the strain.

Alex Batchelor, Chief Executive Officer of OxDX, comments: “Our ability to take a sample from someone with an unknown infection and answer the open question 'what do they have?' within a minute is a gamechanger for infection diagnosis and treatment.”

The corporate team advising OxDX was led by partner Will Axtell and senior associate Dominique Sabatini with support from associate Leo Shrimpton. The wider team included support from corporate tax partner Kathy Hills, commercial partner Chris Shelley and employment associate Luke Shaw.

Will Axtell, corporate partner at Penningtons Manches Cooper said:

“The work that the team at OxDX are doing has the potential to transform how we deal with infection diagnosis and treatment. We are delighted to have advised the team on the spin-out and pre-seed funding and we look forward to continuing to support them on their journey.”

The initial funding was co-led by IQ Capital and Ahren Innovation Capital with participation from Science Creates Ventures.

This is the fourth deal in a week that has seen Penningtons Manches Cooper’s corporate team provide specialist corporate advice to innovative technology companies – having recently advised med tech business Orthox on their $12.5 million Series A financing round, innovative fuel cell company Bramble Energy on their £35 million Series B financing round and fusion energy company First Light Fusion on their $45 million Series C financing round.

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