Oxford Investment Opportunity Network

The following five companies are seeking investment via the Network as a result of the 18 October 2011 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 is a medical imaging software company. Its products improve the quality and reliability of medical ultrasound scans. The company’s proprietary software makes many more patients amenable to successful diagnosis using low-cost ultrasound technology than is currently the case.

The company’s products are built on two proven platforms:

- a suite of products, sold to manufacturers of ultrasound equipment and image review systems that improve significantly the quality and diagnostic power of ultrasound scans - across applications and without requiring costly hardware upgrades.

– a service sold directly to hospitals, to ensure the delivery a consistently high-quality ultrasound scanning service that minimises the risks and costs associated with poor scan quality, missed and wrong diagnoses.

The value propositions for the company's products are simple and compelling, the business models straightforward and the market opportunities substantial, without any immediate competitive threat.

Company B s a small R&D company which has a track record of innovation at the world level. It invented a novel technology for electrical DC-DC conversion (a core technology in many ‘Green Energy’ applications), ultra-high torque electric motors for vehicle drives, and a sailing based wind turbine, and was a technical collaborator in developing drive circuits for LED lighting.

Patents have been granted or are in application for each technology, and multiple technical awards have been won. Each technology has been put into spin-out companies. Company B retains a significant shareholding in each. The DC-DC products are now on the market, selling to customers in the fields of fuel cells, solar power, and hydrogen generation.

The LED product launches this month. First Wind Turbine sales are scheduled for 2012. All of these companies have multiple £M futures. The jewel in the crown however is the new electric motor technology, which does not use any rare earth (Neodymium) magnets, to which Company B owns the patent applications. The company is seeking £250K for cash-flow and future projects.

Company C is an Oxford University medical device company developing affordable, exceptionally strong, tissue regenerative, cartilage repair implants. The technology is based on processing commercial silk protein to capture the remarkable strength of spider silk.

Through investment of >£1.8m, Company C has established manufacture and demonstrated preclinical validation of lead product, a device for repair of the meniscal cartilage in the knee. With ~2m meniscal surgeries each year, the annual opportunity for the product is over $1bn, and current market competition is limited.

Grants totalling >£1.25m have recently been awarded, taking funding available to Orthox to >£1.75m. Equity investment of £1m is required to launch clinical trials.

The products are protected by 7 patents, have strong clinical and health economic endorsements, and Company C has significant traction with several orthopaedic multinationals. The regenerative orthopaedic sector is notable for early stage deals at attractive multiples:

• Nanotope: product license to Smith & Nephew, $26m in 2010 (preclinical)
• Osteobiologics: acquired by Smith & Nephew, $72m in 2006 ($3.3m annual sales)
• Apatech: acquired by Baxter, $330M in 2010 ($60m annual sales)

The management team, comprising experienced clinical, scientific, and industry executives, consider a trade sale exit can be achieved in the next 1 – 3 years.

Company D is a web-based software that automatically designs goal-based activity and training plans for individuals of all abilities.

Company D is conducting trials for weight management, fitness, sporting events and corporate wellness. Making intelligent decisions, the system provides scalable, personalised, high quality services to diverse user segments: performance athletes, general health and fitness, weight loss and clinical patients.

Company D's product analyses activity sessions and automatically updates the exercise prescription to keep the individual on track.

Company D has US Patent pending which affords substantial IP protection and lucrative revenue streams.
The company is led by an experienced team of entrepreneurs, senior advisors and world-renowned experts, e.g. Elite Training Coaches (Team GB) and Cardiac and Nutrition research:

The company is raising £400k via equity investment to develop strategic sales channels and build a lead generation and sales team as well as further enhancing the platform to maintain its competitive advantage. Company D’s founding partners have invested £2m cash.

Television is at an inflection point; traditional linear broadcast programming is set to be overtaken by interactive television incorporating internet services. The increasingly complex services, devices, and networks leave TV operators uncertain about the quality that each customer is receiving, and exposed to customer’s expectations that it will all ‘just work’. 2011 is the year that TV operators have started requiring software agent-based monitoring for every Set Top Box (STB) or TV.

Company E’s highly experienced team has built and sold its monitoring solution around the world, including to COMSTAR (Russia), Telecom Italia (Italy), Tele2 (Netherlands) and MTA (USA). Company E has proven product sales of over £2m, and the product is priced on average at £2 per STB or TV monitored. The Digital TV market is very exciting, with the most accessible segment, interactive TV, forecast to have 385m users by 2014, an £800m opportunity for monitoring.

Company E's product combines a software agent in every STB or TV with sophisticated central analysis software. Operators receive alerts to problems, so they can respond proactively, reducing cost and improving customer satisfaction. The agent also reports consumption and behaviour, enabling additional revenue from targeted programming and advertising.

Company E is currently seeking £500k to £1m for expansion, to add sales, marketing, and delivery capability.