Oxford Nanopore said on Tuesday that it has started preparing for a potential initial public offering, which could value the U.K.-based biotech revolutionizing real-time genetic sequencing at more than £2 billion .
That makes Oxford Nanopore one of the U.K.’s rare “unicorns” — an unlisted technology company valued at more than £1 billion. The company counts U.S. drug company Amgen AMGN, -1.75%, Singapore’s sovereign-wealth fund GIC, China Construction Bank International, and asset management company Schroders SDR, +0.94% among its investors.Read: Oxford Nanopore’s Gene-Sequencing Is Helping the Global Battle Against Covid. It’s Now Considering an IPO.
Since the outbreaks of COVID-19 last January, Oxford Nanopore’s sequencing technology, which competes with California-based Illumina ILMN, +1.75%, has been used to support scientists in more than 85 countries, including China and more recently Brazil, to track the emergence of new variants of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
The decision to list in London will be welcomed by the U.K. government, which has been trying to attract more British unicorns to choose the capital for their IPOs.In February, a U.K. government-backed report recommended London make it easier for founders to keep control after listing and reduce the amount of equity a company must sell to outsiders, to encourage tech companies to choose the city for their IPOs.