10 Startups Founded Out Of Oxford University

Written by Ella Shindler

As one of the top universities in the world, Oxford University has been the birthplace of a number of startups. This list explores some of the most exciting and innovative companies to come out of the academic institution.

Here are 10 of the startups that came out of Oxford University

• ​​Onfido
• FlexSR
• MatchBio
• AlveoGene
• Auctomatic
• Veer Technologies
• Oxonomics
• Barinthus Biotherapeutics
• Natcap
• GoCardless

​​Onfido: AI Startup 

Founded by Husayn Kassai and Eamon Jubbawy, Ondifo uses artificial intelligence to verify customer identities. 

The software company has been sold to Entrust Corp, as of April 2024, which is a global leader in data security as well as trusted payments. The AI technology was developed by student founders Husayn Kassai, Eamon Jubbawy, and Ruhul Amin and founded in 2012.

According to the Oxford Mail, Professor Chas Bountra, pro-vice-chancellor for Innovation at the University of Oxford, said that the now worldwide company has grown to have over £140 million in revenue.

FlexSR: Transforming Speech Recognition

Professor Lahiri carried out investigations into variations of speech, leading to the research that facilitated the creation of this company. 

The Oxford team developed a speech recognition system and a language learning app with powerful analytical tools to provide detailed feedback and a personalised approach to language. This is particularly groundbreaking, as different accents and pronunciations are taken into account.

This is the newest company on the list – it was incorporated in February 2024. 

MatchBio: Innovation In Antigens

This technology company was incorporated in August 2023 and founded by Professor Omer Dushek and Professor Anton van der Merwe at Oxford.

They are changing the future of immunisation as this technology can improve the function of antigen receptors, for example by tuning the antigen sensitivity of their existing products.

AlveoGene: Cutting Edge Gene Therapy 

The team behind this startup comes from scientists at Imperial and Edinburgh, as well as Oxford. 

The team worked together for over 20 years on gene therapy development related to respiratory diseases and have now transformed the outcomes for those with rare respiratory diseases using inhaled gene therapy. 

The lives of those with such diseases can now be much more ‘vibrant’, according to AlveoGene’s website.

Auctomatic: For The Online Seller 

The tech startup was founded by Kulveer Taggar and Harjeet Taggar and was acquired by Communicate.com.

Back in 2008, Chris Sacca, investor and Google’s former Head of Special Initiatives, named Auctomatic as the ‘company to watch’, according to the BBC. The company was acquired by Live Current Media in the same year.

The company created a marketplace and auction management system, used by individual sellers on Amazon, Ebay and other similar sites. Sellers can list items and manage sales. Crucially, the application allows users to optimize selling and profits by providing data about sales management.

Veer Technologies: The New Way To Recruit

This startup is an innovative recruitment platform, with a strong focus on the use of video. 

It was created by computer scientists at Oxford and recently incorporated in 2023. The scientists and engineers have transformed recruitment with this online platform which continues to grow.

Oxonomics: Improving Cancer Diagnostics

The company innovates cancer diagnostics and focuses on how they can scale technology for the entire cancer diagnostics market.

It was founded by professors in Experimental Neuroimaging, Neuropathology, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, and Metabolomics. Combining this expertise with Pharma industry experts, the company incorporated in March 2023 is altering the future of diagnosing cancer.

Barinthus Biotherapeutics: Vaccines For The Future

This spin-out founded at Oxford has vitally changed the technology used for vaccines.

They acquired Avidea Technologies at the beginning of 2022 and was listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange in 2021.

Vaccitech were highly significant to the reduction of COVID-19’s spread. Clearly, this company has helped to reopen the world since the pandemic.

Natcap: Vital Nature Intelligence

This advisory service startup has all the tools you need to measure, report, and act on nature-risks and opportunities.

Their work is aligned with global regulations and standards and aims to ‘accelerate the nature-positive transition’ of companies, according to their website.

It was founded at Oxford by Professor Baroness Kathy Wilis in 2018 and incorporated in December 2022. 

GoCardless: Making Money Simpler

Founded in 2011, CoCardless is a fintech startup specialising in bank payments. The company makes it simple to create hasslefree payments, and is used mostly by businesses.

 It was founded in Oxford by Hiroki Takeuchi, Tom Blomfield and Matt Robinson.

According to the Fintech Times, GoCardless processes $30 billion worth of transactions annually (as of 2022) and operates in the UK, European Union, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States.