About - o2h Ventures

we have a track record of nurturing and investing in emerging life science and tech companies

The biotech sector is one of the leading sectors in the UK economy. The large pharma companies now rely on the small innovative biotech’s for new ideas in disease areas such as cancer and neurosciences amongst others which has led to higher potential exit valuations. The fund will help widen the community of investors that will help expand early stage research in the UK. The o2h ventures 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.

Sunil Shah co-founded o2h ventures Ltd with his brother Prashant Shah in the year 2018. o2h ventures operate from their proprietary 2.7 acre The Mill SciTech Park where they are developing a unique model for incubating small life science companies.

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history in grassroots science

The team and the advisors operating o2h ventures have been active in grassroots science for over 20 years in the UK. They have developed a strong pipeline of early stage opportunities and have developed a model for assisting these small companies through key decisions and their unique resource requirements.

access to scientific talents

The team at o2h ventures has developed access to some of the most interesting scientific ideas and talents in the UK, achieving a clearly differentiated position through its live working relationships, fostered over many years, working as a discovery services company. This potentially gives o2h ventures earlier access than competitors to some of the most promising companies.

business model

The business model identified by o2h ventures gives it an edge both in terms of access to opportunities as well as an understanding of the support they require post-investment in terms of incubation. o2h ventures formulated its two-part differentiation by observing the approach of China’s Wuxi Ventures to access, and the approach of the USA’s Atlas Ventures with regards to incubation. The team believes combining these two approaches will increase the Fund’s prospects of making successful exits.

evaluation

Over the years, the o2h group has developed a rigorous process to evaluate its deal-flow for the purpose of making seed investments. The team will start out by screening companies that meet simple criteria of having a clear, novel, transformative drug therapeutic focus. The investment evaluation committee will assess each project for its scientific tractability where appropriate in conjunction with accomplished scientific advisors. The evaluation process will include an analysis of the rationale of the preclinical target, IP position, path to, and through the clinic as well as the determination of the team to navigate and overcome challenging hurdles. o2h ventures will also attempt to speak with potential acquirers of the company (mainly big pharma) during the evaluation process to determine if the company could be an interesting acquisition target should the company meet its scientific end goal.

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

What are the key risks?

• 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)

a passion for investing

1 – You could lose all the money you invest