OXFO VENTURES RESPONDING TO COVID-19

13 ventures in our Oxford Foundry venture portfolio are responding directly to the challenges resulting from the pandemic. Innovation and a fast response are vital in this global crisis. The OXFO COVID-19 Action Plan supports them to exponentially scale so their products and services can help those most in need. 

Below you can find specific asks of how you can actively help, and the venture's contact forms.

Download the full report of Oxford Foundry Ventures Responding to COVID-19 here.

Critical Impact Area: HEALTHCARE

nye health team

NYE HEALTH

Nye Health are now giving over 10 million patients across the UK the opportunity to speak with their GP - both practice and hospital GPs- through an encrypted NHS-compliant communications platform. 

WHAT THEY NEED NOW:

  • Referral to your local clinicians, GP practices or hospitals
  • Marketing & communications support - amplify and help them spread the word
  • Support from within UK Government
  • Introductions and networks in international health systems and ministries
  • Investment

Press:

23 April 2020, Express News, NYE HEALTH: Free call and video service brings patients and their doctors safely together

21 April 2020, BBC News, Coronavirus: The Tech Minnows Changing the NHS

1 April 2020, Metro, I created vital tech for the NHS and I’m giving it away for free

15 April 2020, BBC News, Coronavirus: Intensive care video chat for relatives

iLoF Team

iLoF

iLoF is developing a low-cost, rapid stratification tool for COVID-19 infection and clinical outcome risk assessment, targeted at asymptomatic, but strategic/high-risk patients. They are working with European hospitals to stratify tens of thousands of patients daily.

    WHAT THEY NEED NOW:

    • Networks and introductions to leading institutions in healthcare in the UK (and abroad where relevant) to collect COVID-19 samples. This will help, alongside their current partners, to develop better quality data 
    • Funding and grants – They require additional funding to fast-track technological development and hire additional team members 
    • Sector (and non-sector)-specific experts and mentors 

    Press: 13 April 2020, Sifted, These 19 European startups have pivoted in the face of coronavirus

    Mehak Mumtaz, iLoF's COO
    Mehak Mumtaz, Co-Founder & COO, iLoF

    Managing critical clinical resources is fundamental right now. By developing a stratification tool, we hope to be able to optimize resources, sending mild patients to quarantine in their homes and ensuring that the serious ones can get the rapid treatment and attention they deserve.

    albus team

    ALBUS HEALTH

    Albus Health have developed a small non-contact device that can automatically and continuously monitor a cough, respiratory rate and other symptoms at home to help experts understand disease progression, symptom severity, diagnosis of COVID-19 and identifying those who need care before it is an emergency.

    WHAT THEY NEED NOW:

    • Contact with researchers working on COVID-19 so they can help them get key insights on disease and symptom progression
    • Short chats with clinicians or healthcare authorities to help understand how they can make this available to them
    • Funding, resources and expertise (listed below) to make this scalable:
      • Data scientists (time series analysis) (mid/senior)
      • Fullstack developers (senior)
      • Redesigning for bulk manufacturing

     

    Archangel Team

    ARCHANGEL IMAGING

    Archangel Imaging are developing and enhancing their proprietary technology, working with several key partners to offer automated temperature and fever detection cameras, integrated with follow-up support services, that work right out of the box. These will be used to support governments, hospitals, companies with essential workers, and the police.

    WHAT THEY NEED NOW:

    • Experts and mentors who might be able to support within tech, roll-out and hardware development
    • Introductions to key networks and essential businesses still open during the lockdown, to roll-out this solution as soon as possible
    • Capital and funding – they are now moving away from priority areas to support the COVID-19 pandemic, and need fast-tracking and accelerating technological development. They are also keen to bring in additional hires to make this happen as soon as possible.

    Press: 13 April 2020, Sifted, These 19 European startups have pivoted in the face of coronavirus

    Novoic team

    NOVOIC

    Novoic are co-developing a medical app in collaboration with experts, with help from DeepMind, the NHS and Clifford Chance. The app will provide triaging/screening for suspected COVID-19 cases based on cough sounds and other medical data from thousands of patients.

    WHAT THEY NEED NOW:

    • Expert advice and mentoring – they are keen to build advisory relationships with leading experts in deep learning, NLP, speech processing, linguistics and neurological disease
    • Talent – they are looking for an outstanding Lead Engineer to help them productionise their research, develop their HIPAA-compliant architecture, grow out a full-stack/DevOps team, and build a world-class engineering organisation
    • Academic collaborations – they are actively looking for more collaborations with universities, hospitals and industry partners for grant applications and co-publishing research.