Oxonica is a nanomaterials company, with products in markets such as energy, medical diagnostics, security and others. The company had been spun out of the University of Oxford in 1999, and funded by angels, but it needed to raise a more substantial amount of money in order to commercialise a number of products under development.

FirstCapital participated in a selection process, and was chosen on the basis of its understanding of the company’s technology and market position, and its connections within the target investor community.

The company was developing products based on novel materials, and this was a business model and a technology platform which was not well understood at the time by the investment community. Furthermore the external environment was challenging, coming on the back of the dotcom crash and subsequent decline in venture capital funding.

We worked closely with the client to develop a funding strategy that was achievable in the light of the company’s stage of development, market opportunities and investor appetite, and presentation and due diligence materials that supported this strategy. We then helped to engage with a strategic investor who was operating in the company’s target markets. Their involvement provided technical and commercial validation of the opportunity in the due diligence process, and helped to secure an international syndicate of investors. 

Oxonica successfully raised £4.2mn in an oversubscribed series A round of funding, despite challenging external markets. The syndicate included a strategic investor, a US venture capital fund and several UK funds. We continued to provide strategic advice to the board on funding strategy over the following couple of years. The company subsequently successfully floated on the AIM market in July 2005.

www.oxonica.com

Testimonials

"FirstStage Capital have put together an excellent syndicate of venture capitalists and corporate venturers with the expertise to help grow our business."
Dr Kevin Matthews, CEO, Oxonica