Oliver Sexton
About Oliver Sexton
Oliver Sexton is Investment Director at the UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund (UKI2S) and Head of Life Sciences at Future Planet Capital (FPC), which manages the fund. He is based in London. According to UKI2S, he joined in April 2014 to manage its engineering biology investments.
Earlier roles, per Crunchbase and UKI2S, include commercialising bioengineering and medical technologies at Imperial Innovations (later Touchstone), commercial and partnering work at Ark Therapeutics, and pharma strategy consulting. He also managed a team of biotech buy-side analysts at Instinet.
He has an MSc in Plant Science from the University of Bristol. His PhD research at the University of Nottingham was on engineering organisms to clean up contaminated sites. He sits on the boards of several portfolio companies.
Crunchbase lists one personal investment for Oliver, a seed round in Solasta Bio, and no lead investments, exits or founded companies. Most of his public investing activity is institutional rather than as a personal angel. He invests through UKI2S, which is publicly funded and managed by FPC. He is named as the manager of several UKI2S portfolio companies.
His Crunchbase biography says he has invested in AI businesses, but it does not name them. We found no AI company that is publicly attributed to him personally. His own public commentary concerns engineering biology. In a 2024 FPC article he described it as transformative as AI.
UKI2S is an early-stage fund that FPC describes as £102M in total, with £33m dedicated to engineering biology. Oliver has managed the engineering biology sub-fund since 2014. One portfolio profile describes the fund as an early-stage seed/Series A investor in science and engineering-led companies. These span therapeutics, medtech, agritech and industrial biotech.
In FPC's 2024 article he said the thesis favours companies that use engineering biology as a core technology, hold strong IP and address very large markets. The companies are UK research-based. Individual check sizes are not public.
- MitoRx Therapeutics: mitochondrial-protective therapeutics for degenerative diseases; UKI2S took part in the seed round and a seed extension, and Oliver is quoted on both.
- HutanBio: low-carbon biofuel platform; UKI2S joined the seed round alongside lead investor Clean Growth Fund.
- Cagen: protein nanocage company; seed funding from UKI2S and Imperial Innovations, with Oliver quoted at launch.
- Solasta Bio: Crunchbase lists his personal seed investment and UKI2S as a Series A investor.
- Ikarovec: ophthalmology company where he is listed as a team member. UKI2S also lists Pencil Biosciences, Twig Bio, Synthace, ArkVax and Revolver Therapeutics as his managed portfolio.
- crunchbase.com/person/oliver-sexton
- futureplanetcapital.com/oliver-sexton
- ukinnovationscienceseedfund.co.uk/uki2s-team/oliver-sexton
- ukinnovationscienceseedfund.co.uk/a-discussion-with-rainbow-seed-funds
- ukinnovationscienceseedfund.co.uk/portfolio
- futureplanetcapital.com/the-future-planet-blog/2024/3/4/engineering-bi
- mitorxtherapeutics.com/press/close-of-seed-financing-round
- biobased-diesel.com/post/hutanbio-advances-seed-round-to-3-million-wit
Investing activity
Oliver Sexton has made 1 investment according to Crunchbase across 1 portfolio company.
Deals
Frequently asked questions about Oliver Sexton
Is Oliver Sexton an angel investor?
Mainly he invests through a fund. He is Investment Director at the UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund. Crunchbase also lists one personal investment, in Solasta Bio.
What does Oliver Sexton invest in?
He focuses on early-stage life science and engineering biology companies. His biography cites healthcare, agtech, clean tech and AI. UKI2S portfolio pages show therapeutics, biofuels and synthetic biology.
Does Oliver Sexton invest in AI startups?
His biography says he has invested in AI businesses, but it names none. Most of his public portfolio is life sciences and engineering biology, so AI founders should expect a science or biotech angle.
What is Oliver Sexton's check size?
It is not public. The fund's overall size is public, but individual check sizes are not.
What stage does Oliver Sexton back?
UKI2S is described as a seed and Series A fund. The public examples are seed rounds, such as MitoRx, HutanBio and Cagen.
Where is Oliver Sexton based?
He is based in London, England. Future Planet Capital is headquartered in London.
How can founders reach Oliver Sexton?
Founders on Lounge can see Oliver Sexton's contact details in AI Investor Contacts (paid plans), check for a warm introduction through members who worked with them under Warm Paths, and add Oliver Sexton to their Investor Pipeline to track the conversation.