Latest News from Origin
Unum: Take off!
We have made a significant investment in Unum, a new supplier to the market for business class aircraft seats. The company has developed a range of novel designs, focused on increased comfort and pitch density, lower weight, and a high level of sustainability in materials and processes. Origin was the largest investor in a round that closed in February 2023. For more information, see here.
Origin Capital News: Q4 2022
Read about Origin’s latest portfolio activity and recent performance data here.
Swytch powers ahead with £4m of new funding
Swytch, the leading provider of retrofit electrification for bikes, has raised nearly £4m to fund new product development and further growth. The raise was conducted at very significant premium to Origin’s 2018 entry valuation. More information here.
NatureMetrics raises $15m and delivers partial exit
Origin portfolio company NatureMetrics, a specialist in DNA-based environmental monitoring, has raised over $15m of further funding. Origin investors, who backed the business in 2016, sold down a portion of their holdings in a secondary transaction, realising a very substantial return on the corresponding invested capital. We retain approximately 40% of our original holding, and look forward to further growth in the years ahead. Read more here.
trivago invests £5m in UBIO
Origin portfolio company UBIO has raised £5m in investment from trivago, the global accommodation search platform.
UBIO provides robot process automation services to enhance performance of a wide range of e-commerce websites. The investment will be used to further develop the company’s technology suite and to significantly expand its commercialisation activities.
We invested in Ubio in 2018.
Read more here.
Cazana bought by Cazoo for £25m.
Origin portfolio company Cazana, a leading pan-European provider of historic vehicle transaction data, has been bought by on-line car retailer Cazoo, for £25m in cash. The transaction delivered a full exit for Origin, generating an excellent c. 4x return to investors. Read more here.
Origin increases holding in Echion
We have increased our stake in battery materials business, Echion Technologies, to just under 10%. Origin originally invested in Echion’s August 2018 seed round, reinvested in 2019, and was a significant participant in the company’s £10m Series A round, that has recently completed. See here for more information.
Origin Capital co-leads £2.1m investment in platform biotech Somaserve
Origin Capital was the largest investor in a £2.1m funding round recently completed by Somaserve, a developer of specialised nanoparticle technologies for delivery of pharmaceutical and other therapeutic agents to targeted cell types. Read more here.
CyTAL secures investment from Origin Capital
We have made a significant investment in CyTAL, a provider of cybersecurity product assurance services. The funding will support CyTAL’s accelerated growth plans for ProtoCrawler, its specialist “fuzz-testing” software application, used for identifying vulnerabilities in a wide range of connected devices. Read more here.
Origin Capital News: Q3 2020
We have published our latest newsletter! See here.