Barinthus Biotherapeutics: One year from Oxford University lab to global life-saver
“As someone who is both a practicing academic at Oxford University and the co-founder of a business, I value working with investors that really understand both sides of what I do. We had been introduced to Future Planet Capital early on in our journey as a company, and they really knew our industry and our business. When the time was right to scale up our growth, we could trust they were a good partner to have behind us, particularly when approaching other investors in their network to support fundraising”
To make sure you are in the right place at the right time, it helps to be in the right place all the time. Before we invested into the University of Oxford spin-off biotechnology company, Barinthus Biotherapeutics (formerly Vaccitech), we already knew the company and its founders, thanks to our relationship with Oxford Science Enterprises.
Founded by the vaccinology academics, Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert and Professor Sir Adrian Hill, Barinthus Biotherapeutics focuses on developing novel vaccines and immunotherapies to tackle cancer, infectious diseases and other chronic illnesses that impact millions of people around the world. Today, the company is best known for being behind the development of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine – sold under the brand names Covishield and Vaxzevria – working alongside the University of Oxford’s Jenner Institute. With over 3 billion doses delivered across more than 180 countries, the vaccine saved 6.3 million lives in the first year of its roll out during the pandemic.
Today the company is best known for being behind the development of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine – sold under the brand names Covishield and Vaxzevria
However, when Future Planet Capital initially came in as an investor to Barinthus Biotherapeutics in 2020, this success was by no means assured and the results of the COVID-19 trials were still unknown. The company was in need of fresh funding to fuel its growth. After Future Planet Capital came on board as an investor, we played a key role in reopening the investment round, leading to the issuance of $43 million in convertible notes.
We understood the company’s portfolio and pipeline, the talent in the management team, and how the business compared favourably with international peers working on similar challenges. This allowed us to work with our partners at Oxford Science Enterprises and help the company to raise a $168 million Series B financing round, including convertible notes, alongside other investors such as M&G Investment Management, Tencent, Gilead Sciences, and our partner, the Monaco Constitutional Reserve Fund.
In April 2021, Barinthus Biotherapeutics successfully listed on the NASDAQ, raising total proceeds of over $110 million. The company is currently going through clinical trials for new treatments it has developed to address diseases including Hepatitis B, HPV, and prostate cancer.