Discovery Park Ventures grows portfolio with addition of two new investments

Sandwich, Kent, April 11 2023 – Discovery Park Ventures (DPV), the early stage life sciences fund associated with Discovery Park, has made investments in two high potential businesses, AbsoluteAi and Oxford Medical Products. The funding, which  takes the number of companies in its portfolio to six, makes a significant contribution  to the growth trajectory of both firms as they work towards their next milestones.  Established in 2022, DPV invests in novel and disruptive technology usually related to  Discovery Park’s focus areas(1) and has plans to expand to up to £25m.  

AbsoluteAi is helping drug developers navigate the toxicity landscape of drug  discovery with state-of-the-art scalable toxicity screening tools for the pharma and  biotech industry. It provides insights across a range of toxicity problems, enabling  improved drug design optimisation from the start of the discovery process. The  company believes that proactive use of its technology has the potential to save  industry significant amounts of time and billions of pounds each year via reduced  failure risk and creation of improved drug candidates. Also backed by Sustainable  Ventures, AbsoluteAi has completed its first strategic partnership and is now raising a  £1.5m seed round.  

Oxford Medical Products, led by CEO Dr Camilla Easter, has developed the novel weight-loss product Sirona. Excessive weight increases the risk of poor health and is estimated to cost the global economy over $2tn every year. Based on a proprietary  hydrogel and now in clinical trials, Sirona comprises a self-expanding pill which  occupies physical space in the stomach, reducing hunger and leading to significant  weight loss in a non-invasive way. In addition to Discovery Park Ventures, Oxford  Medical Products is backed by Ada Ventures, Nesta VC, Selvedge Venture and OION.  

Sam Windsor, CEO of AbsoluteAi, said, ‘We are delighted to be backed by Discovery  Park Ventures. Its team’s extensive experience of company building, business  development and fundraising will be invaluable to AbsoluteAi as we create  partnerships around our toxicity screening technology and build our offering.’ 

Dr Camilla Easter, CEO of Oxford Medical Products, said, ‘Discovery Park Ventures  is a very welcome addition to our investor base. With Sirona in clinical trials this is an  exciting stage of development for Oxford Medical Products and we look forward to  working with the DPV team as we progress towards the market.’ 

Mayer Schreiber, Chairman of Discovery Park Ventures, said, ‘Although very different  businesses, Discovery Park Ventures is excited by the significant growth potential of  both AbsoluteAi and Oxford Medical Products. We’re pleased to welcome them to the  DPV portfolio and network and look forward to helping them succeed.’ 

ENDS

1 Manufacturing, digital and AI, cell and gene therapies, synthetic biology and neurology, including  ophthalmology