DNA design specialist and pioneer of genetic technologies, Oxford Genetics is to receive a further boost from investment group, Mercia Technologies.
The Midlands investor has partnered with a variety of companies from a whole range of engineering sectors. It is increasing its stake in Oxford Genetics to 36% with a £2m investment spread across eight months. Mercia Technologies has worked closely with Oxford Genetics since 2013, having made significant investment via its third party funds.
Dr Mark Payton, Chief Executive of Mercia Technologies was positive about increasing the stakeholder share in the company, saying that he had seen the business develop into a bespoke online service. He continued to say that Oxford Genetics was an exemplar of our Complete Capital Solution.
Mercia Technologies has made 16 major, direct investments over the course of the financial year. The Complete Capital Solution cited by Payton is a strategy by which the group selects the engineering industryâs most innovative, new players with the potential to be worldwide businesses. From an initial stake via third party funds and a hands-on approach to business development, Mercia Technologies then wholly backs a company with multimillion pound, direct investment.
With new financial backing, the hope is that Oxford Genetics will be able to increase the scope of its genetic engineering research as well as its reputation in the market. It was first noticed and acknowledged as a rising star by Mercia Technologies for its development of SnapFast. SnapFast allows DNA molecules to be joined more efficiently and mitigates the need for restriction enzymes, drastically improving the rate at which research and production can be carried out. Since Mercia Technologiesâ first investment in 2013, the company has successfully created one of the biggest collections of plasmid DNA for genetic engineering. The library of plasmids stands in excess of 2,000 and covers any and all research needs.
