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Evotec OAI (formerly Oxford Asymmetry International plc)

The story behind Oxford Asymmetry International plc (now Evotec OAI) demonstrates the catalytic role that both networks and business angel funding can play in a company's success.

The company's founders were:

In 1991 a business networking event at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory provided the occasion to link Prof Davies with Nicholas Cross, Ian Laing and Dr Tim Cook.

During the early 1990s Cross and Laing were seeking opportunities to invest in early stage technology businesses in Oxfordshire. In the absence of any formal investment network they faced a frustrating and time-consuming process, and had engaged the services of Dr Tim Cook to search on their behalf. Prof Davies had seen BP Ventures withdraw funding from his first company (Oxford Chirality), as part of a strategic move by BP Ventures to pull back from such investments. He was seeking capital to develop his research on chiral compounds.

Dr David Kingham, then Assistant Director of The Oxford Trust, alerted Nicholas Cross to the business opportunity. A meeting was arranged between Davies, Cook, Cross and Laing and the decision taken to provide the substantial risk capital required to commercialise Davies' research. In 1992 Oxford Asymmetry Ltd was established as a spin-out company of four employees from Oxford University, led by Dr Tim Cook as managing director. The company was funded by a mixture of business angel investment from Cross, Laing and Cook.

Rapid growth followed and in 1998 Oxford Asymmetry Ltd was floated on the London Stock Exchange. In December 2000 the company merged with Evotec Biosystems AG to become Evotec OAI, a powerhouse for the discovery and development of new drugs. By then Oxford Asymmetry employed over 250 people, was valued at more than £300m and was making £3.7m per year profit. The merger was widely regarded as bringing together two world-leaders in the provision of biology and screening services and chemistry services.

Website: www.evotecoai.com

Foundation of The Oxfordshire Investment Opportunity Network (OION)

The brief history of Oxford Asymmetry illustrates the importance of networking opportunities that link entrepreneurs and private investors, to enable businesses to start up and grow. Based on this, The Oxford Trust went on to found The Oxfordshire Investment Opportunity Network (OION) which began operating as a business angel network in 1994 and was officially launched in January 1995. During the last two years over £9m has been raised through OION for more than 30 innovative new ventures.

"OION has made a real difference to the local market for risk capital for SMEs. Both investors and new business ventures benefit from the improved deal flow made possible by the activities of OION, which bring the parties together with the minimum of formality consistent with quality control. Oxfordshire is blessed with a large and excellent research base and a wealth of entrepreneurial managers able to re-invest the proceeds of earlier successes. The potential is huge."

Prof Steve Davies continues to pursue his innovative research in Chemistry and is in the process of setting up a new company in the biosciences area:

"Early stage funding from business angels is an investment that enables the potential value of research to be realised, for the benefit of researchers, investors and the general public. As was the case with Oxford Asymmetry, the involvement of business angels often brings valuable management experience as well as risk capital. It meant that the company was taken to operational stage, in a highly efficient and effective manner, whilst I could concentrate on the research."

Dr Tim Cook is Managing Director of Isis Innovation Ltd, the technology transfer company of Oxford University:

"The methodology we developed spinning out Oxford Asymmetry has been the basis for the 30 spinouts Isis has managed over the last five years. That is: the initial investors are nearly always business angels, the founding academic usually stays in the university and we rely heavily on local networks to provide funding and management. OION and Isis Angels Network work together to maximise the links between investors and new companies. As part of this, we hold an annual joint presentation to both groups of investors."

Dr David Kingham is Chief Executive of Oxford Innovation Ltd, which now manages OION:

"Linking Nick Cross, Ian Laing and Tim Cook with Steve Davies was the result of "deliberate serendipity". We were setting out to help new companies raise finance and gain management strengths, but our processes were pretty simple and luck played a big part in finding the right investors. However, once it became clear that Oxford Asymmetry was going to do really well, we set about improving the matchmaking process and trying to substantially increase the number of deals.

The business angel funding now available through OION is one of the core services that Oxford Innovation provides to innovative start-ups. As we are now the UK's leading operator of innovation centres, offering office and lab premises on flexible terms to over 200 early stage businesses we know exactly how essential this sort of funding can be."