RPMI Railpen, the UK’s railway industry pension scheme, has invested in Oxford Nanopore Technologies, a company developing DNA and RNA sequencing technology.
New funding raised for the UK-based gene technology business totals £84.4 million (€93.3 million) and comes from existing investors, as well as new investors including Railpen and International Holdings Company (IHC).
Oxford Nanopore is said to have developed and commercialised a new generation of DNA/RNA sequencing technology that is used by researchers to explore human genetics, cancer, infectious pathogens, plant and animal genomics and environmental science.
This technology is increasingly being used in ‘applied markets’ to generate actionable insights such as in food safety or infectious disease, including Covid-19, according to Oxford Nanopore. The new capital is intended to support the acceleration of the company’s commercial and manufacturing operations.
Syed Basar Shueb, managing director of IHC, said: “Oxford Nanopore has developed distinctive and proven technology and has been highly effective in taking products from innovation to market within tight timeframes.”
Julia Diez, portfolio manager at Railpen, added that Railpen is looking forward to “sharing this journey” and see it capitalising on possible future opportunities.
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