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Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment and you are unlikely to be protected if something goes wrong. Take 2 mins to learn more

o2h Ventures Announces Seed Investment in AscendBio, A Company Advancing Therapies for Metabolic and Respiratory Diseases
o2h Ventures Announces Seed Investment in AscendBio, A Company Advancing Therapies for Metabolic and Respiratory Diseases
May 3 2024

Cambridge, UK

o2h Ventures is pleased to announce its recent seed eis investment in AscendBio, a company dedicated to pioneering synthetic biology solutions for combatting life threatening metabolic and respiratory diseases.

AscendBio is developing a revolutionary integrated cell programming platform to generate therapeutic cell types with unprecedented function and scalability for treating diseases. This innovative platform integrates design, engineering, and manufacturing processes, unlocking novel therapeutic possibilities and has been validated by producing therapeutic-grade liver cells with superior performance. They aim to fully exploit this integrated programming platform to develop multiple curative cell therapies across major therapeutic areas such as metabolic diseases, respiratory disorders, gastroenterology conditions as well as orphan indications. 

Their Integrated Programming platform represents a significant leap in innovation, combining directed differentiation, forward programming, and tissue environment engineering to produce novel cell types tailored for therapeutic applications. The technology will also generate transformative organ-on-a-chip discovery platforms to revolutionize medicine development.

Sunil Shah, CEO of o2h Ventures, said:  

Marcus has an amazing track record and a strong mix of both business and science, and we are very happy to support him on his entrepreneurial journey. 

Dr Marcus Yeo, CEO of AscendBio, said: 

We are delighted to receive preseed funding from a specialist Cambridge EIS technology fund and we look forward to developing a high-value company which can deliver curative therapies for patients.

About Ascend Bio

AscendBio’s mission is to transform the lives of patients with life-threatening metabolic and respiratory diseases. We have developed an optimized synthetic biology technology platform to generate new classes of highly functional curative cell therapy medicines by the Integrated Programming of stem cells.

About o2h Ventures 

The o2h Ventures ‘Human Health’ SEIS and EIS funds make tax-efficient investments in Pre-Seed and seed-stage companies that address human disease: we fund the development of novel therapeutic treatments; we help build new services and tools offerings throughout the biotech ecosystem, and we spur the creation of software & artificial intelligence that will change healthcare.

The o2h team are leaders in the biotech community and have been actively involved as investors, holding various board/industry positions as well as being engaged in grassroots scientific activity for over 20 years. o2h Ventures operates from their proprietary 2.7 acre Mill SciTech Park where they are developing a unique model for incubating small life science companies.

For more information or to invest in the fund, please visit www.o2hventures.com

Media Contact:

Juhi Shah

Marketing Manager

juhi.shah@o2h.com

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Please refer to the relevant fund’s full risk warnings contained in their Information Memorandums.
Your capital is at risk. Investing in early stage businesses involves risks, including illiquidity, lack of dividends, loss of investment and dilution, and it should be done only as part of a diversified portfolio. o2h Ventures’ funds are targeted exclusively at sophisticated or high net worth investors who understand these risks and make their own investment decisions. Tax relief depends on an individual’s circumstances and may change in the future. In addition, the availability of tax relief depends on the company invested in maintaining its qualifying status. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. You should not rely on any past performance as a guarantee of future investment performance.
o2h Ventures Limited is regulated and authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 812245). Capital at risk, only suitable for high net worth and sophisticated investors.
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Risk Information

Due to the potential for losses, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) considers this investment to be high risk

What are the key risks?

1 – You could lose all the money you invest

• If the business you invest in fails, you are likely to lose 100% of the money you invest. Most start-up businesses fail.

2 – You are unlikely to be protected if something goes wrong

• Protection from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), in relation to claims against failed regulated firms, does not cover poor investment performance. Try the FSCS investment protection checker here. (https://www.fscs.org.uk/check/investment-protection-checker)

• Protection from the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) does not cover poor investment performance. If you have a complaint against an FCA-regulated firm, FOS may be able to consider it. Learn more about FOS protection here. (https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumers)

3 – You won’t get your money back quickly

• Even if the business you invest in is successful, it may take several years to get your money back. You are unlikely to be able to sell your investment early.

• The most likely way to get your money back is if the business is bought by another business or lists its shares on an exchange such as the London Stock Exchange. These events are not common.

• If you are investing in a start-up business, you should not expect to get your money back through dividends. Start-up businesses rarely pay these.

4 – Don’t put all your eggs in one basket

• Putting all your money into a single business or type of investment for example, is risky. Spreading your money across different investments makes you less dependent on any one to do well.

• A good rule of thumb is not to invest more than 10% of your money in high-risk investments (https://www.fca.org.uk/investsmart/5-questions-ask-you-invest)

5 – The value of your investment can be reduced

• The percentage of the business that you own will decrease if the business issues more shares. This could mean that the value of your investment reduces, depending on how much the business grows. Most start-up businesses issue multiple rounds of shares.

• These new shares could have addition rights that your shares don’t have, such as the right to receive a fixed dividend, which could further reduce your chances of getting a return on your investment.

If you are interested in learning more about how to protect yourself, visit the FCA’s website here (https://www.fca.org.uk/investsmart)