Oxford Investment Opportunity Network

The following four companies are seeking investment via the Network as a result of the 18 May 2010 OION investment meeting at the Said Business School in Oxford. The descriptions available summarise the investment proposal made by the company. The information is provided by the company and has not been vetted in any way by OION.

If you are interested in receiving further information on any of the companies then please contact us.

Company A has delivered video over wireless solutions for nearly 10 years and has a unique expertise and patents combining video processing with wireless transmission.

Company A's product launched to critical acclaim,becoming the only product to successfully deliver high quality HD video over long distance wirelessly. The “end to end” system solution, enabling it to deliver HD video,reliably in challenging home environments, is unique.

Company A licenses its technology to sit with or within a STB or TV from where it wirelessly distributes content to TVs, personal media devices or computers all around the home.

The quality, range and scalability are so dependable that Company A's products are being designed into stadium wide solutions delivering content to TVs, large screens and mobiles.

Company A's Licensee targets are - Retail Original Equipment Manufacturers, Operator OEMs, TV and Semiconductor manufacturers.

The market is changing, the number of sources of content, displays and use cases is expanding and Operators need to maximize revenues from these opportunities.

Company A is close to securing two lead customers, one for outdoor sports stadiums (with a major networking business) and second with a leading STB/router manufacturer.Company A is seeking to raise up to £1m

Company B has developed novel-patented technology for multiple applications in the medical field based on the detection of exhaled water/condensation in breath by a highly sensitive electrochemical sensor, including point of care screening for lung cancer; diagnosis and monitoring of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and the domiciliary diagnosis of sleep apnoea.

Their first product is simple application of their sensor technology and will enable them to take it to the market quickly. There are approximately 150 million operations carried out worldwide and post-operatively patients are monitored manually by a nurse with a stop watch at approximately15 minutes interval. The product will be used to monitor the respiratory rate in post-operative wards, in casualty and by paramedics providing early warning of a patient deteriorating so the health care professionals can intervene early.

Company B is currently seeking £0.5 million to support the industrial scale up and launch of the product in the UK in October 2010; complete additional feasibility studies in lung cancer and provide headroom for negotiating license deals. The existing Venture Capitalists investors have indicated that they are keen to follow their investment.

Company C is a 2 year old company founded by two academics with strong media-based research background. Company C received £250k of first round funding from a seed fund to develop its product. This is a tool that enables media asset organisations to quickly scan through their media files (both video and audio) and determine the content. Typically, a trained person takes about seven hours to catalogue a single hour. Compay C's product does this in one hour. There are over 20,000 companies worldwide who produce and catalogue media. The BBC alone has over 2m hours of footage and the rate of production is increasing. Most of the content of this expensively stored media is unknown. Media of known content can be re-used and sold and therefore a cost becomes an asset.
Company C's product is ready for market. To achieve swift growth company A needs to recruit specialist sales and marketing staff who know the media sector. Although company A already has a strong R&D team they need additional technical specialists to further develop and enhance their products. An exit via a trade sale in three years is expected. Company A is looking for a further £800k to achieve this.

Company D produces modular, easy-assembly, off-grid eco buildings, that can be used as spare bedrooms, offices, holiday homes or school classrooms. Working with the UK's leading sustainability architect, they are taking functional and aesthetic eco buildings to the mass market. Their all-natural buildings feature green roofs, solar and wind power, water harvesting, natural insulation, comfortable and elegant interiors. Their buildings tap directly into the urgent need for a new generation of low-cost low-carbon living solutions for the growing home office and holiday home markets.

Their basic product for gardens design features rounded roofs and walls, provides 15 sq meters of floor space, configurable interiors, and a 2 room rear shed, which can be delivered as a bathroom, kitchen, closet or storage unit combination. Their unique construction allows this base unit to be flexibly extended. Their competitive advantages over traditional garden building and caravan manufacturers include our overwhelming green credentials, unique rounded “living roof” design, integrated renewables and their exclusive partnership with UK's leading sustainability architect..

After six months of extensive market research, prototyping and marketing, they have begun small scale production in their Oxford warehouse facility and have a strong pipeline of orders. Seeking funding of £250K to move to larger scale production and to support marketing activities and new product development.

Company E is an engineering software company that has unique expertise in understanding how objects interact with one another and pack together in confined spaces.

The Company has developed the world’s first 3D software tool for nuclear decommissioning. This product will allow decommissioning companies to optimise the way in which a complete nuclear facility is dismantled, cut and packed into containers for storage; this will provide substantial savings to the industry by minimising the volume of nuclear waste produced and creating accurate and efficient decommissioning plans. The Company is currently completing the validation of the software in collaboration with the UK’s national Low Level Waste Repository and leading UK decommissioning contractors. The software may have applications in other sectors where complex dismantling operations are involved (e.g. oil/gas).

The development of the product was based on the Company’s first software product which allows customers in the chemicals and mining industries to predict the characteristics of packed structures (such as packing density and orientation) as well as simulating to the flow of heat or fluids through the structure. Company E has been financed through a combination of revenues from its existing products, a Grant for R&D and equity investment totalling £920k to date (including £185k from the Management Team).

Company F has developed a low cost, and simple to use system for rapid diagnosis of infectious diseases in point-of-care settings such as GP surgeries and community clinics. The system uses novel, patented sensor technology which benefited from over £10 million in investment prior to being acquired by Company F in 2005. Company A has subsequently raised £3.6 million to produce advanced functional prototypes and to enhance its IP portfolio.

The company has recently completed a successful external clinical study at Johns Hopkins Medical School in the US and is now raising £500k from private investors, as part of a £2 million financing. This will be used to transfer the product to manufacture and gain European regulatory clearance ahead of launching its first product. The management team is drawn from established diagnostic companies and has extensive experience of product development, launch, licensing and selling businesses.