Record-breaking deal
OrganOx, a medical technology spinout from Oxford University, has been sold to Japan’s Terumo Corporation in a $1.5bn deal in the largest acquisition of any UK university spinout to date.
The Oxford-based company develops “perfusion” technology, which keeps donor organs alive outside the body by circulating warm oxygen-rich fluid, giving surgeons more time to assess and transplant them.
Transplant breakthrough
Founded in 2008 by professors Constantin Coussios and Peter Friend, OrganOx’s system has already been used in more than 6,000 liver transplants worldwide. The company is also working on a kidney version, expected to launch by 2030.
In 2024, OrganOx reported £55m in sales and £7.2m in operating profit, underlining its commercial potential. Friend said the sale to Terumo would “accelerate global adoption” of the life-saving technology, while stressing that research and development work will remain in Oxford.
Investor windfall
The deal marks a milestone for UK start-up investors. BGF, the company’s largest shareholder, confirmed the sale was its biggest return yet, delivering £175m in proceeds. Other backers include Lauxera Capital Partners, Sofina, Soleus Capital, Avidity Partners, Technikos, Longwall Ventures, and the University of Oxford itself.
The sale follows a string of UK spinout successes, including Oxford Ionics, a quantum computing firm sold earlier this year for $1.1bn. But it also reignites concerns that Britain struggles to grow tech champions at home, with major firms opting for foreign buyers rather than UK listings.
University perspective
Oxford vice-chancellor Irene Tracey, who co-authored a 2023 review into university spinouts, welcomed the sale as a win for patients and the university, which will reinvest its share of the proceeds into research.
But she also warned: “The big challenge is to grow these companies ourselves in the UK, with investors bold enough to put sufficient capital into them.”
Despite Terumo’s shares dipping 4% on news of the acquisition, the Japanese group sees OrganOx as a strategic move to expand into transplantation, an area where it had no previous business.
For Oxford, the sale cements its reputation as a world-class hub for medical innovation – but also highlights the UK’s continuing reliance on overseas investment to take its brightest start-ups global.
