The company was founded in December 2008 by engineering Professor Constantin Coussios OBE FREng FMedSci and transplant surgeon Professor Peter Friend FMedSci through Oxford’s Institute of Biomedical Engineering and the Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences.
The acquisition marks the first exit under the pioneering partnership between the Department of Engineering Science and Technikos that led to the creation of the Institute of Biomedical Engineering (IBME). Technikos, a specialist medical technology venture capital fund based in London, partnered with the IBME in 2008 to commercialise its breakthrough research, and OrganOx was the first of over 30 companies created under this model to date.
This milestone more than validates Technikos’ early commitment and underscores the long-term value of investing in Oxford’s biomedical innovation. The acquisition represents a 50-fold return for 2008 founding investors, with later investors achieving 20-fold returns since 2013, 10-fold since 2019 and 2-fold since early 2025.
OrganOx specialises in cutting-edge organ preservation technology that allows donor organs to be kept functioning outside the body for significantly longer than traditional methods. Its devices use a technique known as Normothermic Machine Perfusion (NMP), which circulates warm, oxygenated blood-like fluid through the organ, closely replicating conditions inside the human body. This enables clinicians to assess organ function in real time and make better-informed decisions about transplantation. OrganOx’s innovations have been widely adopted across healthcare systems, with involvement in over 7,500 transplants to date, and recognised at the highest level, most recently with the 2025 MacRobert Award, the UK’s most prestigious prize for engineering innovation. The technology has helped increase the number of viable organs available for transplant, including those from marginal donors, and has reduced the need for emergency and night-time transplant procedures, generating several billions in economic impact and healthcare savings in 12 countries across 4 continents.