British Growth Fund (BGF), a UK- and Ireland-based growth capital investor, has successfully exited Oxford University spinout OrganOx, a medtech company that develops a liver preservation device, in a transaction valued at around $1.5 billion, making it one of the largest-ever exits for a UK medtech company.
BGF said in a statement that the transaction marks the biggest financial return to date for the investment firm, generating £175 million (more than $204.1 million) in proceeds. That equates to a 10x return on investment and an internal rate of return of approximately 69%.
According to the company, OrganOx's device, metra, assesses donor organs prior to transplant and allows the donor liver to continuously be perfused with oxygenated blood, medications and nutrients at normal body temperature and near physiological pressures and flows.
The device is fully automated and can preserve the donor liver for up to 24 hours.
BGF, which is the company's largest shareholder, began investing in OrganOx in 2019 and backed the company through seven rounds of funding.
After the deal, OrganOx will become part of Terumo Corporation, a global Japanese healthcare company, but it will still operate independently out of Oxford. Through the deal, Terumo will enter the organ transplant sector.
"At a ten-figure valuation, we are incredibly proud to have played a key role in one of the UK's largest medtech exits. It reflects a remarkable achievement by the OrganOx team, and we are especially proud that this success is tied directly to a positive impact in patient outcomes," Andy Gregory, CEO of BGF, said in a statement.
"By combining early and growth-stage investing across multiple sectors, BGF has created the right blend to deliver strong, sustainable and repeatable returns. Our ambition now is for more capital to flow into the UK's most promising companies — whether through co-investments with international, specialist investors, or domestic sources."
THE LARGER TREND
OrganOx, which spun out of the University of Oxford in 2008, raised $142 million in funding in February.
New investor HealthQuest Capital led the oversubscribed round, with participation from existing investors BGF and Lauxera Capital Partners and new investors Sofina, Soleus Capital and Avidity Partners. Existing investors also include the University of Oxford, Technikos, the Oxford Technology and Innovations Fund, and Longwall Ventures.
In 2023, the company secured £25 million ($32.6 million) in a growth round led by Lauxera Capital Partners with support from existing investors.
In 2020, OrganOx secured a £4.6 million ($5.36 million) investment from BGF to fund commercial expansion of its product metra in the U.S., building on commercial traction in Europe, Australia and Canada.
