About us: Biology for anyone, anywhere

Oxford Nanopore Technologies aims to disrupt the paradigm of biological analysis by making high performance, novel DNA/RNA sequencing technology that is accessible and easy to use.

Our novel, electronics-based DNA/RNA sequencing technology is being used in nearly 100 countries, for a range of biological research applications. These include large scale human genomics, cancer research, microbiology, plant science and environmental research.  You can read about the variety of applications here.

Nanopore sequencing is also being explored beyond research, where it has the potential to provide rapid, meaningful information in the fields of healthcare, agriculture, food and water surveillance and education.

Oxford Nanopore’s proprietary technology is fully scalable for any requirement.  Small formats such as Flongle address the need for on-demand, rapid, smaller tests or experiments, and can be used in labs or in the field. The pocket-sized MinION is a powerful and portable sequencing device that can deliver high volumes of long read sequence data.  The benchtop GridION Mk1 can run up to five MinION Flow Cells at a time, on-demand, for larger genomics projects.  The recently launched PromethION is the largest format for nanopore sequencing, designed to offer on-demand use of up to 48 Flow Cells – each of which can offer as much as 200Gb of sequencing data. 

Focusing on ease of use, nanopore sequencing offers easy and rapid preparation, including a ten minute library preparation kit and the automated, programmable VolTRAX.

Supported by a broad patent portfolio, the Oxford Nanopore pipeline includes multiple generations of nanopore-based sensing technologies, including those based on both biological and solid-state nanopores.

The Company

Oxford Nanopore Technologies Ltd is a private company headquartered at the Oxford Science Park outside Oxford, UK, with satellite offices in Cambridge (UK), New York, Cambridge, San Francisco (US), Singapore, Shanghai, Beijing, and a broader commercial presence that includes Japan, Germany, France and India.

The Company was founded in 2005 to develop a disruptive, electronic, single-molecule sensing system based on nanopore science. The first product, MinION, was introduced into early access in 2014 and made commercially available in 2015. The scaled-up GridION was commercially launched in 2017 and PromethION in 2018. Flongle, the adapter for MinION/GridION for rapid, cheaper, smaller tests was launched in 2019.  The Company has a rich development pipeline that includes solutions to enable any user, anywhere, including the mobile-phone-compatible SmidgION and low cost, portable sample prep Ubik.

The Company now has more than 450 employees from multiple disciplines including nanopore science, molecular biology and applications, informatics, engineering, electronics, manufacturing and commercialisation. The management team, led by CEO Dr Gordon Sanghera, has a track record of delivering disruptive technologies to the market.

Read more about the company history.

The Company has raised £451m to date in the following fundraising rounds, and is currently well funded for the next phase of corporate development. The Company does not have traditional Venture Capital investment; instead, the investor profile more closely mirrors those of publicly listed companies.

Funding rounds

Oxford Nanopore has raised a total of £451M.

• Seed funding was obtained in two rounds, from IP Group in 2005.
• In June 2006 the company raised £7.75m
• In March 2008 the company raised a further £10m.
• In January 2009 the Company announced an $18m (£11.9m) and a separate £2.1m investment
• In February 2010 Oxford Nanopore raised £17.4m from existing investors and new, undisclosed US-based investors.
• In April 2011 the Company raised £25m from existing and new institutional and independent investors based in the UK and US.
• In May 2012 the Company raised £31.4m ($50.8m), the majority of which was from existing investors.
• In October 2013 Oxford Nanopore raised £40m from new and existing investors in the US and Europe.
• In August 2014 Oxford Nanopore raised £35m from new and existing investors in the US and Europe.
• In July 2015 Oxford Nanopore raised £70m from new and existing investors in the US and Europe.
• In December 2016 Oxford Nanopore raised £100m from new and existing investors worldwide.
• In March 2018 Oxford Nanopore raised £100M ($140M) from global investors,

Investment opportunities

At this stage, Oxford Nanopore is not seeking additional investment. However, if you are interested in receiving
information at the next opportunity then please use our contact form.