Latest News from Origin

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.

Follow-on investment: Echion Technologies

Origin has completed a follow-on investment in Echion Technologies  a developer of innovative anode compounds for Lithuim-Ion batteries. The materials enable far faster charging times than currently available, but without sacrificing other key performance parameters. We first backed the company in 2018.

Origin propels Muve forward

We are delighted to announce our investment in Muve, a specialist conveyancing business. Origin led a £1.1m funding round, which included the Angel Co-Fund and a family office as co-investors. Read more..