Oxford Capital, one of Oxford’s most successful investment firms, is celebrating 25 years in business. Starting out in a garage in Cumnor Hill, the venture capital company made its first investments in 1999, just as the internet was taking off. It has been based in Oxford for all of its 25 years.
Oxford Capital has invested more than £500m across more than 100 technology companies. These include Oxford-based startups such as Latent Logic (machine learning company sold to Alphabet-owned Waymo in 2019), Oxford Biotherapeutics (clinical stage oncology company) and Oxitec (biotech company), as well as companies based across the UK such as Moneybox (valued last month at £550m), Hometree and Spoke.
Oxford Capital has backed dozens of entrepreneurs and their companies in the Oxford area, including spinouts from Oxford University and firms located in the science parks at Oxford, Harwell, Milton and Begbroke, as well as supporting companies founded by Oxford graduates.
Oxford Capital specialises in helping individual investors back startup companies via the Enterprise Investment Scheme. It manages investments in high-growth companies in sectors such as fintech, digital health, cyber security, business software, advanced computing, e-commerce and more.
Last month Oxford Capital was named Investor of the Year at the Great British Entrepreneur Investor Awards. Oxford Capital is led by David Mott, founder partner, whose family have long-standing connections to Oxford, and Lucia Gunn, director of finance and operations, who is an Oxford University graduate.
David Mott said: “We love backing the founders of new companies, which makes Oxford the perfect place to be. Becoming an entrepreneur is now a career choice for graduates as the cost of starting a business has plummeted over the years – and we see that massively in Oxford. Our city now has a buzzing start-up scene with lots of cutting-edge new companies spinning out of the university’s science departments and emerging in the science and business parks in the area. We look forward to the next 25 years of backing founders.
“The success of a venture capital firm like ours is down to the trust placed in it from investor clients and the success of the founders that we back. It has been an enormous privilege to work with so many wonderful people in Oxford and beyond over the past 25 years.”
Lucia Gunn said: “Oxford is booming – there are exciting new buildings popping up everywhere, often backed by generous philanthropists from around the world who love Oxford. There are new labs and thriving networks of entrepreneurs and investors. There are brilliant new companies being created – tiny to begin with, but full of ambition, and many of them will grow with the help of Oxford’s unique ecosystem.”
Having hit the 25-year milestone and met thousands of entrepreneurs, David Mott offers this advice to people starting a business:
1. Two founders are better than one or three
2. Focus on execution – keep things simple and do things properly
3. You are the sales person – always be closing
4. Find mentors – many experienced entrepreneurs like to give back in this way
5. Don’t run out of cash – take tough decisions, survive – no-one remembers the companies that run out of money and fail
In October 2024 Oxford Capital achieved a 17x return for investors for part of its stake in Moneybox, the award-winning savings and investment platform with a community of one million customers.
