Target Audience
- Researchers and scientists familiar with DNA sequencing and genomics who are interested in how scientific technologies become commercial products.
- Readers interested in life sciences startups, deep-tech companies, and the challenges of scaling science-based businesses.
- Anyone seeking to understand Oxford Nanopore Technologies, its technology, products, business strategy, and position in the sequencing industry.
Summary
- Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) was founded in 2005 around research originating at the University of Oxford. Over approximately two decades, it has grown into a global DNA and RNA sequencing platform company.
- Rather than waiting for its technology to reach maturity, ONT introduced early versions of its products to researchers through an access program, using feedback from the scientific community to drive continuous improvement.
- The company expanded its product portfolio from MinION to GridION and PromethION, extending its reach beyond academic research into clinical, biopharmaceutical, and industrial applications.
- After years of substantial R&D investment, ONT went public in 2021. However, as of 2026, the company remains unprofitable, and establishing a financially sustainable business continues to be a major challenge.
- ONT's history illustrates several important elements of deep-tech commercialization: integrating intellectual property, securing long-term capital, co-developing technology with early users, expanding a technology platform, and eventually focusing resources on commercially promising opportunities.
1. Introduction: What Kind of Company Is Oxford Nanopore Technologies?
Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) is a life sciences company founded in 2005 around research originating at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.
The company develops and commercializes technology that analyzes molecules such as DNA and RNA by measuring changes in electrical current as they pass through extremely small openings known as nanopores.
One of ONT's most recognizable products is MinION, a portable DNA sequencer.
Traditionally, determining DNA sequences required large, expensive instruments and specialized laboratory facilities. MinION, by contrast, is portable, can be connected to a laptop, and enables sequencing data to be acquired and analyzed in real time.
ONT's technology is also characterized by its ability to read long DNA molecules continuously and to sequence RNA directly.
However, what makes ONT's history particularly interesting is not simply that it successfully commercialized an innovative technology.
The company began by assembling scientific discoveries into a commercially viable platform. Along the way, it encountered numerous challenges, including immature technology, manufacturing difficulties, intellectual property disputes with competitors, the need for sustained R&D investment, and fluctuations in demand associated with COVID-19.
Throughout this process, ONT adapted its target customers, products, financing strategies, and business priorities.
Its history can be divided into six broad phases.
| Period | Development Stage | Major Developments |
|---|---|---|
| 2005–2011 | Commercializing scientific research | Founded around protein nanopore research at Oxford; integrated intellectual property from external researchers and developed DNA sequencing technology |
| 2012–2016 | Bringing immature technology to market | Introduced MinION and launched an early access program in 2014, improving the technology alongside the research community |
| 2017–2019 | Expanding from portable devices to large-scale sequencing | Introduced GridION, PromethION, and RNA sequencing capabilities, extending into high-throughput genomics |
| 2020–2021 | Pandemic response and public listing | Gained international visibility through COVID-19 genomic surveillance and listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2021 |
| 2022–2025 | Expanding into clinical and industrial applications | Improved accuracy, throughput, cost efficiency, and usability while expanding into pharmaceuticals, oncology, infectious diseases, and clinical testing |
| 2026 onward | Transitioning from technology-led to customer- and market-led growth | Appointed a new CEO and prioritized target markets, product portfolio simplification, regulatory readiness, and profitability |
From a business perspective, each phase presented a different challenge.
| Phase | Primary Challenge | Main Response |
|---|---|---|
| Founding | Turning a scientific principle into practical technology | Intellectual property integration and long-term R&D investment |
| Early products | Creating customer value despite limited accuracy | Early access and careful selection of initial applications |
| Initial growth | Expanding beyond the portable sequencing market | Development of high-throughput instruments |
| Commercial expansion | Converting technological advantages into business success | Recurring consumables revenue and development of major customer accounts |
| Current phase | Achieving profitability while maintaining growth | Focusing on valuable customer applications, operational efficiency, and organizational reform |
In 2025, ONT reported revenue of £223.9 million. Revenue for the first half of 2026 reached £116.7 million.
However, the company also reported a net loss of £48 million for the first half of 2026.
ONT is targeting adjusted EBITDA breakeven in 2027 and positive free cash flow in 2028.[7][8]
These figures suggest that ONT has made substantial progress in commercializing its technology, but has not yet completed the transition into a consistently profitable business.
The following sections explore the company's approximately 20-year journey through its origins, technologies, products, financing, people, and major challenges.
2. The Founding of ONT: A Startup Built Around the Integration of Scientific Intellectual Property
2-1. The Scientific Origins Date Back to the 1980s and 1990s
The scientific roots of ONT extend approximately 15 years before the company's founding.
In 1989, Professor David Deamer of the University of California proposed the idea that changes in electrical current might be used to identify components of DNA as they passed through an extremely small pore.
Subsequent collaborative research with Dan Branton and colleagues at Harvard University led to a publication in 1996 demonstrating the electrical detection of nucleic acids passing through a nanopore.
Meanwhile, Professor Hagan Bayley at the University of Oxford was investigating the use of protein nanopores to identify individual molecules.[2][4]
The central challenge was the substantial technological gap between detecting that a molecule had passed through a pore and continuously determining the correct sequence of DNA bases.
Demonstrating the principle of nanopore-based molecular detection did not automatically produce a practical DNA sequencer.
Researchers needed to control the speed at which DNA molecules moved through the pore, measure extremely small differences in electrical current, and develop algorithms capable of interpreting those signals as nucleotide sequences.
Overcoming these challenges required combining scientific advances from multiple researchers and institutions.
2-2. Founded in 2005 as Oxford Nanolabs
ONT was established in 2005 under the name Oxford Nanolabs.
Three individuals played central roles in its founding: Hagan Bayley, Gordon Sanghera, and Spike Willcocks.[1][2][3]
Hagan Bayley
Bayley was a professor of chemical biology at the University of Oxford.
His academic research provided the scientific foundation for the company, particularly the use of protein nanopores for molecular detection.
Gordon Sanghera
Sanghera became ONT's founding CEO.
He had previously served as head of R&D at Medisense and brought experience commercializing blood glucose monitoring technology.
His role was central to transforming academic discoveries into practical products.
Spike Willcocks
Willcocks was a co-founder with a background at IP Group.
He helped connect intellectual property, investment, business development, and the commercialization of university research.
The initial seed funding was approximately £500,000.
The University of Oxford's technology transfer organization and IP Group, an investor specializing in university spinouts, played important roles in establishing the company.
Equity was allocated among the founders, the university, and IP Group, creating a framework for commercializing university-derived intellectual property.[2][3]
One notable aspect of ONT's founding was the composition of its team.
Rather than being formed solely by academic researchers, the company brought together scientific expertise, product development experience, fundraising capabilities, and intellectual property commercialization skills from the outset.
Sanghera's background is particularly relevant.
Blood glucose monitoring instruments are products that electronically measure biological information. His experience in this field was therefore closely related to the challenges ONT would face in developing an electronic molecular sensing platform.
2-3. A Single University's Invention Was Not Enough
Although ONT originated as an Oxford University spinout, its technology did not come exclusively from Oxford.
Beginning around 2008, the company introduced and utilized intellectual property developed by researchers at institutions including Harvard University and the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Two technological components were especially important:
- Engineered protein nanopores capable of distinguishing electrical signals associated with DNA bases.
- Enzymatic motors that control the speed at which DNA moves through a nanopore.
Simply passing DNA through a pore is not sufficient to determine its sequence.
The movement of the molecule must be controlled, and extremely small electrical differences must be measured accurately.
ONT combined these technologies around 2010, and by 2011 had advanced demonstrations that included algorithms for inferring nucleotide sequences.[1][4]
During this period, ONT was better understood not as a startup built around a single patent, but as a company integrating complementary inventions originating from different research groups around the world.
This integration required agreements with research institutions, intellectual property licenses, and long-term financial support.
ONT's founding illustrates an important feature of university-based deep-tech businesses: competitive advantage can depend not only on an organization's original discoveries, but also on its ability to combine external intellectual property into a functioning commercial system.
3. The Evolution of Products and Business: From Portable Devices to a Sequencing Platform
3-1. 2012–2016: MinION and the Model of Developing Technology with Customers
In 2012, ONT presented nanopore sequencing data at the Advances in Genome Biology and Technology (AGBT) conference.
One of the products that attracted considerable attention was MinION, a miniature DNA sequencer.[1]
At the time, DNA sequencing generally required expensive, large-scale instruments and specialized facilities.
MinION offered a different approach. It was portable, could be connected to a laptop, and enabled users to acquire sequencing data in real time.
It also offered the ability to continuously sequence long DNA molecules, creating capabilities that differed from existing technologies based on large numbers of short reads.
However, the technology was far from fully mature when it first appeared.
Rather than postponing its launch until sequencing accuracy reached a mature level, ONT chose to provide early instruments to researchers who understood the technology's limitations.
In 2014, ONT launched the MinION Access Programme (MAP).
Researchers could obtain an early instrument by paying a refundable deposit of $1,000.
This program served several purposes:
- Collecting practical feedback about performance, usability, and technical problems.
- Identifying applications where the technology could provide value despite its limitations.
- Encouraging independent research publications by external scientists.
- Building an existing user base that could expand its use of the technology as performance improved.
MinION transitioned to commercial availability in 2015.
In the same year, ONT established London Calling, its own conference where users could present research results obtained with the technology.[1][5]
This approach differed substantially from conventional medical device development.
Medical devices generally require rigorous validation before commercial deployment. In research settings, however, scientists can experimentally use new technologies while recognizing their limitations.
ONT first established a user base in the research market and then matured the technology through real-world use.
Even when early performance was insufficient for many applications, MinION provided value to researchers pursuing experiments that were difficult to perform using established technologies.
3-2. 2017–2019: Expanding the Product Portfolio
ONT did not remain exclusively a portable sequencing company.
While maintaining the technological foundations of its small and relatively accessible instruments, it expanded into markets requiring much greater sequencing throughput.
Three representative products from this period were GridION, PromethION, and Flongle.[1]
GridION: Commercial Expansion in 2017
GridION is a benchtop system that supports multiple flow cells simultaneously and incorporates computing capabilities.
It strengthened ONT's offering for medium-sized laboratories and sequencing service providers.
PromethION: Commercial Expansion in 2018
PromethION is a high-throughput platform capable of processing large amounts of DNA in parallel.
It enabled ONT to address applications such as human whole-genome sequencing and population-scale genomic studies, bringing the company into markets traditionally served by larger sequencing instruments.
Flongle: Introduced in 2019
Flongle is a smaller flow cell and adapter designed for lower-throughput, lower-cost sequencing.
It improves the economics of sequencing small numbers of samples and individual analyses.
These products reflect a distinctive strategy: applying a common nanopore technology across a wide range of sequencing throughputs and applications.
The same fundamental technology could serve both small-scale experiments and large-scale genomic analysis.
Through this expansion, ONT evolved from a company known for an unusual portable sequencer into a platform provider capable of serving laboratories and sequencing facilities with very different requirements.
3-3. Expanding Beyond DNA, Particularly into RNA
In 2017, ONT introduced RNA sequencing products and technology.
Research demonstrating direct RNA sequencing was subsequently published in 2018.[1][4]
Conventional RNA sequencing workflows generally involve converting RNA into DNA before sequencing.
ONT's approach makes it possible to analyze RNA molecules directly, potentially preserving information such as molecular modifications that might otherwise be lost during conversion.
An important point is that ONT's original vision was not restricted to DNA sequencing.
Its broader concept involved electronic sensing of molecules.
In practice, DNA sequencing became the first major commercial application. As the technology matured, ONT extended its platform into RNA and other molecular targets.
This illustrates a platform expansion strategy in which a technological foundation is first established in one application and subsequently adapted to additional molecules and analytical needs.
3-4. 2020–2021: COVID-19 Demonstrates the Technology's Societal Value
The COVID-19 pandemic marked an important turning point for ONT.
Nanopore sequencing was well suited to viral genomic surveillance because sequencing could be conducted in a wide range of locations rather than exclusively in centralized laboratories.
During 2020 and 2021, researchers and public health organizations in numerous countries used ONT technology to monitor viral variants.
ONT also developed LamPORE, a COVID-19 testing technology.[1][6]
However, an important business distinction must be made.
The adoption of a technology for viral genomic surveillance is not the same as establishing sustainable revenue from diagnostic testing products.
COVID-19 testing-related revenue was £48.3 million in 2020, declined to £6.7 million in 2021, and subsequently increased to £51.8 million in 2022.
Demand was strongly influenced by infection patterns and public testing policies.
Meanwhile, revenue from Life Science Research Tools (LSRT), the company's core research-oriented business, increased from £65.5 million in 2020 to £127 million in 2021.[6]
The pandemic therefore contributed to the adoption and visibility of nanopore sequencing.
At the same time, building a sustainable business that did not depend on temporary pandemic-related demand remained an important challenge.
3-5. 2022–2025: Expanding into Clinical, Biopharmaceutical, and Industrial Markets
From 2022 onward, ONT introduced products such as the smaller, high-throughput PromethION 2 series and increased its focus on applications in several markets.[1][7]
Research
Applications include whole-genome sequencing, structural variation analysis, epigenetics, and microbiology.
Clinical
Applications include the analysis of rare diseases, cancer, and infectious diseases.
BioPharma
Applications include pharmaceutical research and development, product quality control, and activities related to gene and cell therapies.
Applied Industrial
Applications include synthetic biology, food production, agriculture, and environmental analysis.
In 2025, several partnerships progressed.
These included AmPORE-TB, a solution for analyzing drug-resistant tuberculosis developed in collaboration with bioMérieux, and a partnership with Cepheid relating to infectious disease analysis.
Progress was also reported regarding the registration of GridION Dx, an instrument intended for in vitro diagnostic applications.[7]
However, regulatory registration and approval vary by jurisdiction and product.
Progress in regulatory registration does not mean that every ONT product or application has been authorized for diagnostic use.
ONT has continued to use its research market as a foundation while expanding into clinical and pharmaceutical applications that may offer larger and more sustained demand.
4. Changes in Strategic Focus Through Revenue Composition
ONT's strategic transition is also visible in the composition of its revenue by customer market.
The following table compares the company's customer market revenue composition in 2024 and 2025.[7]
| Customer Market | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Research | 70% | 67% |
| Clinical | 9% | 13% |
| BioPharma | 8% | 8% |
| Applied Industrial | 13% | 12% |
Note: Figures are approximate percentages based on reported revenue composition.
Research applications still account for approximately two-thirds of total revenue.
However, the proportion attributable to clinical applications increased from 9% in 2024 to 13% in 2025.
Year-on-year growth rates for 2025 were as follows.
| Customer Market | 2025 Year-on-Year Growth |
|---|---|
| Research | 15.1% |
| Clinical | 59.9% |
| BioPharma | 30.4% |
| Applied Industrial | 27.2% |
These figures suggest that although the research market remains ONT's commercial foundation, management sees considerable future growth potential in clinical and biopharmaceutical applications.[7]
Importantly, this does not mean that ONT intends to abandon its research customers.
Rather, the company is maintaining the research market as a source of technology development, validation, and customer relationships while expanding into applications that may generate larger and more consistent demand.
This transition reflects a common challenge faced by research instrument manufacturers seeking to expand into clinical and industrial markets.
Technological superiority in research settings does not necessarily guarantee adoption in other environments.
Meeting customers' requirements for performance, reliability, usability, regulatory compliance, and operating costs becomes essential.
5. The Evolution of Financing: Investors and the Public Listing That Supported Years of Losses
One of the most important aspects of ONT's history—perhaps even more important than the technology itself—is its financing.
The company required an exceptionally long period to move from scientific research to commercialization, raising hundreds of millions of pounds in the process.
5-1. Major Financing Events
The following table summarizes important financing rounds and capital transactions.[2][3][6]
| Year | Amount | Major Investors and Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Approximately £500,000 | IP Group and others; founding and fundamental technology development |
| 2014 | £35 million | Woodford-associated funds and others; manufacturing and commercialization preparation |
| 2016 | £100 million | GT Healthcare, Woodford, IP Group, and others; international expansion |
| 2018 | £100 million | GIC, CCBI, Hostplus, and others; manufacturing facilities and product expansion |
| 2020 announcement | £29.3 million in new financing | Accompanied by £80.2 million in transactions involving existing shares |
| 2021 | Approximately £350 million through IPO | London Stock Exchange listing and proceeds from newly issued shares |
| 2024 | £50 million | Subscription for new shares by Novo Holdings |
Note: This table highlights major publicly announced transactions and does not cover every financing round. The 2020 transactions involving existing shares are distinguished from capital newly received by the company.
According to a company announcement in early 2020, cumulative primary investment had reached approximately £480 million.
That represented a substantial commitment of capital over roughly 15 years from the company's founding.
Commercializing a technology such as DNA sequencing requires investment far beyond fundamental research.
Instrument development, manufacturing infrastructure, quality control, software, customer support, and international expansion all require substantial resources.
ONT's financing history illustrates the importance of investors capable of supporting the long development timelines characteristic of deep-tech businesses.
5-2. IP Group Provided More Than Financial Capital
IP Group plc was one of ONT's most important early supporters.
According to IP Group's published materials, its involvement included the following activities:[3]
- Initial seed investment.
- Additional investment over an extended period.
- Introduction of new investors.
- Support in recruiting executives and non-executive directors.
- Business support related to intellectual property commercialization.
This relationship offers an important insight into the development of university-based deep-tech companies.
The role of an early investor is not necessarily limited to supplying capital.
It can also involve maintaining the connections between technology, organizational capability, and financing throughout the commercialization process.
Scientific technologies originating in universities face many uncertainties before reaching commercial maturity.
These include technological direction, staffing requirements, intellectual property agreements, and the timing of market entry.
Sustained R&D financing and organizational capabilities that support commercialization are therefore particularly important.
IP Group appears to have fulfilled part of this role throughout ONT's development.
5-3. The 2021 IPO Marked a Major Milestone
On September 30, 2021, ONT announced an IPO price of 425 pence per share.[6]
The main terms were as follows.
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Stock exchange | London Stock Exchange |
| Ticker | LSE: ONT |
| IPO price | 425 pence per share |
| Market capitalization at IPO price | Approximately £3.4 billion |
| Gross proceeds from newly issued shares | Approximately £350 million |
The public listing provided capital to support further R&D and business expansion.
However, it also introduced new challenges.
As a private company, ONT had been supported by investors willing to commit capital based on the long-term potential of its technology.
Following the IPO, management faced ongoing expectations to explain not only revenue growth but also cost management, margins, cash flow, and capital efficiency.
Novo Holdings' £50 million investment in 2024 provides an example of ONT continuing to attract capital from specialized life sciences investors after becoming publicly listed.
5-4. Revenue Has Expanded, but Profitability Remains Elusive
ONT's annual revenue evolved as follows.[6][7]
| Year | Annual Revenue (£ million) |
|---|---|
| 2020 | 113.9 |
| 2021 | 133.7 |
| 2022 | 198.6 |
| 2023 | 169.7 |
| 2024 | 183.2 |
| 2025 | 223.9 |
COVID-19 testing revenue contributed substantially to the increase in 2022.
Revenue subsequently declined in 2023 as temporary demand subsided, before returning to growth in 2024 and 2025.
The company's 2025 financial results were as follows.[7]
| Metric | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | £183.2 million | £223.9 million |
| Gross margin | 57.5% | 58.6% |
| Adjusted EBITDA | −£117.9 million | −£86.7 million |
| Net loss | −£146.2 million | −£145.2 million |
| Cash and liquid investments | £403.8 million | £302.8 million |
These figures show that while revenue growth and improvements in operating performance are becoming visible, the company continues to consume cash.
A central challenge is ensuring that its remaining capital and operational improvements provide sufficient time for the business to reach a scale at which it can generate sustainable profits.
It should also be noted that adjusted EBITDA is a non-IFRS metric defined by the company.
It is not equivalent to reported net income or actual cash flow.
6. People and Organizational Evolution: From an R&D Organization to a Commercial Enterprise
6-1. 2005–2021: A Founder-Led Technology Company
Gordon Sanghera served as CEO from the company's founding through its public listing in 2021.
Several important additions to the technical team occurred in 2008.
John Milton
Milton brought management experience in DNA sequencing technology development from Solexa.
Clive Brown
Brown also had experience at Solexa and became ONT's CTO, leading the company's technology development.[1]
Solexa was a next-generation sequencing technology company that was subsequently acquired by Illumina.
In other words, ONT recruited individuals who understood the established DNA sequencing industry while developing a fundamentally different sequencing approach.
Even when a company is developing a novel technology, commercial success can depend on people who understand existing markets, customer requirements, and product development processes.
6-2. Expansion of the Workforce and Organizational Functions
ONT reported 803 full-time equivalent employees at the end of 2021.
By 2025, its annual average workforce had reached 1,335 employees.[7]
The average workforce composition in 2025 was as follows.
| Function | Average Employees |
|---|---|
| Research and Development | 504 |
| Manufacturing | 176 |
| Sales, Administration, and Other Functions | 655 |
| Total | 1,335 |
R&D remains a substantial part of the organization.
However, functions including sales, marketing, customer support, and administration have expanded significantly.
This reflects a transition beyond simply operating a larger scientific research team.
ONT has become an organization that supplies products internationally and supports customers through instrument installation, operation, and continued use.
6-3. 2025: Reassessing Priorities and Reducing the Workforce
In 2025, ONT's transition from an emphasis on growth toward greater operational efficiency became more apparent.
According to its annual report, restructuring activities included the following measures:[7]
- Reprioritizing R&D activities.
- Simplifying the product portfolio.
- Reducing the workforce.
- Increasing manufacturing automation and efficiency.
- Strengthening cost controls to improve profitability.
The restructuring resulted in the departure of 138 employees and related costs totaling £22.6 million.
At the same time, the company's annual average workforce increased by 1.5% compared with the previous year.
This reflected a combination of continued recruitment and organizational restructuring.
The changes can be interpreted as a transition from broad investment across numerous technological development opportunities toward concentrating resources on applications with stronger commercial potential.
6-4. March 2026: A Change in CEO
On March 2, 2026, Francis Van Parys became ONT's CEO.
Van Parys previously served as CEO of Radiometer, a Danaher company, and held leadership positions at Cytiva and GE Healthcare.
Gordon Sanghera stepped down as CEO and director, with plans to remain in an advisory capacity until early 2027.[8]
This leadership transition appears to be one of the most important developments in ONT's history.
The founding CEO had led the commercialization of a scientific innovation.
The new CEO brought experience in managing and scaling global diagnostics and life sciences businesses.
The change can therefore be understood as more than a routine leadership succession.
It represents a shift toward strengthening commercial execution and business operations while maintaining the company's technological capabilities.
Whether this transition ultimately produces sustained profitable growth remains to be demonstrated through future financial results.
7. Major Challenges and How ONT Responded
ONT's history includes numerous attempts to bridge the gap between scientific innovation and commercial success.
The following sections examine the company's principal challenges and responses.
7-1. Challenge 1: Reading DNA Is Not the Same as Reading It Accurately
Early nanopore sequencing offered important advantages in long-read and real-time sequencing.
However, sequencing accuracy was one of its most significant weaknesses.
Independent evaluations of early MinION instruments during 2014–2015 documented important performance limitations.[5]
ONT responded by improving multiple layers of the technology rather than relying on a single solution.
| Area of Improvement | Main Approach |
|---|---|
| Molecular components | Improving the structure and types of nanopores |
| Chemistry | Improving enzymes and reagents that control DNA movement |
| Electronics | Developing circuitry for more accurate measurement of very small currents |
| Software | Improving algorithms that infer nucleotide sequences from electrical signals |
| Statistical processing | Increasing consensus sequence accuracy using multiple reads |
Examples of this continuous improvement include R9 in 2016, the development of R10 beginning around 2018, and the Q20+ kit introduced in 2021.
In 2021, ONT announced that the Q20+ kit achieved single-read accuracy exceeding 99%.[1]
However, an accuracy figure of 99% does not necessarily indicate sufficient performance for every application.
For example, when detecting low-frequency variants, it is important to distinguish among single-read accuracy, consensus sequence accuracy, and variant detection accuracy.
The essential feature of ONT's response was not to develop a finished nanopore technology once and then sell it, but to create a system in which hardware, chemistry, and software could evolve continuously.
7-2. Challenge 2: Turning a Laboratory Experiment into a Reliably Shippable Product
An experimental instrument that functions in a laboratory is not necessarily a commercial product that can be distributed worldwide.
For nanopore technology, the stability of microscopic membranes and proteins presented a particularly important challenge.
ONT developed more robust membranes to replace conventional fragile lipid bilayers, enabling flow cells to be transported through ordinary distribution networks.
The company also needed to integrate a wide range of technologies, including dedicated application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), flow cell manufacturing, reagents, and analysis software.
In 2019, ONT began operating a new manufacturing facility at Harwell and subsequently continued increasing manufacturing automation.[1]
More recently, improvements in flow cell manufacturing yield have contributed to higher gross margins.[7]
This demonstrates that ONT's competitiveness depends not only on the underlying scientific principles of nanopore sequencing but also on manufacturing processes and supply capabilities.
Even an excellent molecular analysis technology cannot achieve widespread adoption in laboratories and healthcare institutions unless its products can be supplied consistently.
ONT's history illustrates the substantial gap between experimental technology and reliable large-scale manufacturing.
7-3. Challenge 3: Competition with Established Companies and Intellectual Property Disputes
ONT entered a DNA sequencing market in which established companies had already developed substantial commercial businesses.
As a result, the company faced not only technological competition but also intellectual property disputes.
A prominent example was a patent infringement lawsuit filed by Illumina in 2016.
Illumina asserted patents relating to the MspA nanopore and alleged infringement by ONT products.
ONT also became involved in patent disputes with Pacific Biosciences.
In 2018, the companies agreed to withdraw litigation in the United Kingdom and Germany. ONT also agreed not to sell its already outdated 2D kits in those countries.
It is not possible to quantify the full effects of these disputes from the available public materials.
Nevertheless, ONT continued pursuing both licensing arrangements for foundational technologies and the development of proprietary products and technologies.
In a market where competitors also hold relevant patents, intellectual property strategy cannot be separated from business strategy.
7-4. Challenge 4: An Innovative Product Does Not Necessarily Generate Profit
This remains one of ONT's most important business challenges.
Developing an instrument that researchers value highly is different from building a business that generates sustainable profits.
ONT provides not only instruments but also the flow cells, reagent kits, software, and services required to perform sequencing.
In this business model, the number of instruments installed matters, but so does how frequently customers continue using those instruments.
In particular, increased flow cell consumption by customers has contributed to revenue growth in the PromethION product family.
In its 2024 results, ONT reported underlying growth of 55.8% for the PromethION product family, while the MinION product family declined by 9.6% on the same basis.[7]
Evaluating future profitability therefore requires looking beyond instrument sales.
Important factors include utilization of installed instruments, consumables revenue, manufacturing costs, and customer retention.
Installing an instrument in a laboratory is not equivalent to establishing sustained usage and recurring revenue.
7-5. Challenge 5: Research and Clinical Applications Have Different Requirements
In research, a technology may be valuable because it enables novel experiments, even if using it requires substantial technical effort.
Clinical laboratories and routine pharmaceutical quality-control environments operate under different constraints.
In addition to analytical performance, they require:
- Consistent results across repeated analyses.
- Standardized workflows that different operators can perform reliably.
- Simplified procedures from sample preparation through result reporting.
- Compliance with quality management and regulatory requirements.
- Integration with existing laboratory testing systems.
In its first-half 2026 management update, ONT explained that even when customers recognize the technical value of its platform, broader adoption requires robust products, simple workflows, and clear validation results.[8]
This represents an important change.
Previously, the central question was, "What can nanopore technology do?"
Increasingly, the question is becoming, "How can this technology be integrated into customers' work and used consistently?"
A technology that has demonstrated value in scientific research does not necessarily translate directly into routine clinical adoption.
Reliability, regulatory readiness, operational simplicity, and economics become equally important.
ONT is now working through this next phase of commercialization.
8. ONT in 2026: Where Is the Company Heading?
In the company's interim results announcement on August 19, 2026, new CEO Francis Van Parys outlined four strategic priorities.[8]
8-1. Customer-Centric Growth
ONT intends to concentrate investment on applications within clinical, biopharmaceutical, and research markets where it can deliver clear value to customers.
8-2. Focused Innovation
The company aims to translate its technological advantages into products and workflows that are easier to adopt and operate.
8-3. Disciplined Business Operations
ONT is simplifying its product portfolio, standardizing processes, strengthening accountability, and improving profitability management.
8-4. A High-Performance Organization
The company is strengthening its leadership capabilities, regulatory and manufacturing quality functions, and ability to execute across organizational boundaries.
8-5. Financial Performance in the First Half of 2026
ONT's first-half 2026 results showed slower revenue growth than the previous full year, but also improvements in profitability.[8]
| Metric | First-Half 2026 Result | Additional Information |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | £116.7 million | Up 10.5% year on year |
| Gross margin | 62.2% | Improvement of 4.0 percentage points year on year |
| Adjusted EBITDA | −£22.1 million | Improvement from −£48.3 million in the prior-year period |
| Cash and liquid investments | £234.5 million | As of June 30, 2026 |
ONT has announced a target of more than $700 million in revenue by 2030, together with an adjusted EBITDA margin exceeding 15%.
These are management targets rather than guaranteed outcomes.
Important uncertainties remain, particularly the pace of adoption in clinical and biopharmaceutical markets, product reliability, and regulatory readiness.
In August 2026, ONT also announced a cross-licensing agreement with a diagnostics-related company, indicating opportunities to generate revenue directly from intellectual property.
ONT appears to be moving from a business primarily focused on developing technology toward one focused on embedding that technology into customers' operations and generating recurring revenue.
9. Five Lessons from ONT's History
Based on the publicly available information discussed above, five lessons stand out as particularly relevant to understanding the growth of deep-tech companies.
9-1. Commercial Success Does Not Require Every Foundational Technology to Be Invented Internally
ONT was built around university research, but also integrated intellectual property developed by multiple researchers and institutions.
Its competitive advantage was not limited to individual patents.
It also depended on the ability to combine those technologies into a functioning product.
A practical sequencer required the integration of nanopores, enzymatic motors, current-measurement electronics, sequencing algorithms, and numerous other components.
This kind of systems integration capability can be a major source of competitive advantage for deep-tech companies.
9-2. Selecting Customers Who Understand Early Technological Limitations Can Accelerate Market Entry
Early MinION instruments did not offer mature sequencing accuracy.
Nevertheless, researchers who valued portability, long reads, and real-time sequencing were willing to use them.
Rather than attempting to serve every potential customer from the beginning, ONT initially focused on applications that matched the technology's strengths.
This suggests that even an immature technology can attract real users if it offers a distinctive solution to a specific problem.
9-3. Technology Improvement and Customer Base Development Can Proceed Simultaneously
MAP and London Calling connected product testing, user support, scientific validation, and community development.
Research results published by users also provided evidence that other scientists could consider when evaluating the technology.
ONT did not treat product development and market creation as entirely separate activities.
Instead, it advanced both through engagement with the scientific community.
This approach was particularly well suited to the research market, where scientists may be willing to adopt emerging analytical technologies while understanding their limitations.
9-4. A Shared Technology Platform Can Address Multiple Price Points and Throughput Requirements
If ONT had remained focused solely on MinION, its market might have been limited primarily to portable and small-scale research applications.
GridION and PromethION allowed the company to expand into markets requiring substantially greater sequencing capacity.
The ability to share a technological foundation while differentiating products according to customer scale and performance requirements was an important part of this expansion.
ONT also extended its applications from DNA into RNA, and from research into clinical, biopharmaceutical, and industrial markets.
The potential to serve multiple markets from a common technological platform is one of the company's defining business characteristics.
9-5. Successful Commercialization Does Not Necessarily Mean Profitability
ONT has achieved scientific breakthroughs, developed commercial products, acquired customers internationally, and completed a public listing.
Nevertheless, the company remained unprofitable as of 2026.
Its current challenge is no longer simply to improve its technology.
Management must also decide where to invest, which activities to discontinue, and which applications deserve the greatest concentration of resources.
There remains a substantial gap between developing innovative products that researchers appreciate and building a sustainably profitable business.
ONT's ongoing management reforms can be understood as an effort to close that gap.
10. Conclusion: From Scientific Principles to a Sustainable Business
ONT's approximately 20-year history can be summarized as follows.
| Period | Central Theme |
|---|---|
| Around 2005 | Turning scientific principles into a business |
| Around 2014 | Bringing a valuable product to market before the technology was fully mature |
| Around 2018 | Expanding a shared technology across different scales and applications |
| Around 2021 | Raising substantial capital to accelerate commercialization |
| 2025–2026 | Converting customer value into sustainable profitability |
ONT began with research originating at the University of Oxford.
It subsequently established its business through the integration of external intellectual property, long-term R&D investment, user community development, expansion of its product portfolio, and a public listing.
Throughout this journey, the company encountered challenges involving sequencing accuracy, manufacturing reliability, intellectual property disputes, financing, and profitability.
One particularly interesting aspect of its history is that ONT did not begin by launching a fully mature product.
Instead, it introduced its technology to researchers at an early stage and continued improving it through user feedback and scientific results.
At the same time, the company expanded its products from small devices such as MinION to large-scale systems such as PromethION.
Its applications expanded from DNA to RNA, and from scientific research into clinical, biopharmaceutical, and industrial markets.
However, the extended period of R&D investment means that establishing profitability remains a major challenge as of 2026.
The CEO transition and strategic restructuring in 2026 appear to mark the beginning of a new phase.
Looking ahead, assessing ONT will require more than examining how much its nanopore technology improves.
It will also require understanding how the technology is incorporated into customers' workflows, how consistently it is used, and how much profit those applications can generate.
In other words, ONT's future growth may depend less on whether it possesses excellent technology and more on which customer problems it can solve, how effectively it can solve them, and whether it can do so economically.
ONT's history cannot be adequately described simply as that of a company that converted academic research into products.
It is more useful to understand it as a company that progressively assembled scientific intellectual property, secured long-term financing, co-evolved its technology with early users, expanded a product platform, and eventually began prioritizing commercially attractive opportunities.
Its journey provides a valuable case study of how scientific innovation can develop into a global business—and why commercial success remains challenging even after the technology itself has proven valuable.
11. Scope and Limitations of This Research
This article was prepared using several types of sources to avoid relying exclusively on the company's own announcements.
For information about the company's founding and financing, priority was given to materials published by universities, investors, and stock exchange-related sources.
Peer-reviewed scientific publications were used to understand the development and evaluation of the underlying technology.
Statutory disclosures, annual reports, and financial announcements were used primarily for information about business strategy, revenue, organizational restructuring, and financial performance.
Claims made by the company regarding technological performance and future expectations have been distinguished from independently verified results and established facts.
Although the principal events could be reconstructed from reasonably reliable public sources, several important topics remain insufficiently documented.
These include:
- The complete ownership structure and dilution across all financing rounds from founding to IPO.
- Product-level profitability.
- Specific technical failures and management decisions during the early development period.
- The outcomes of all historical patent disputes.
- Independent comparisons with competing sequencing products for specific applications.
A more detailed analysis would require further examination of the 2021 IPO prospectus, historical annual reports, patent and litigation records, and independent technical benchmarking studies.
The financial results and management strategy discussed in this article are based on publicly available information reviewed as of November 3, 2026.
Future developments in management plans, financial performance, product development, and regulatory approvals may change the outlook presented here.
References
[1] Oxford Nanopore Technologies, “Our History,” Oxford Nanopore Technologies. https://nanoporetech.com/ja/about/history
[2] University of Oxford, “Oxford Nanopore Technologies,” University of Oxford, Impact Case Studies. https://www.mpls.ox.ac.uk/research/impact-case-studies/oxford-nanopore-technologies
[3] IP Group plc, “Supporting Innovation Through to Unicorn Status with Oxford Nanopore,” IP Group, Case Studies. https://www.ipgroupplc.com/our-portfolio/case-studies/supporting-innovation-through-to-unicorn-status-with-oxford-nanopore
[4] M. Jain, H. E. Olsen, B. Paten, and M. Akeson, “The Oxford Nanopore MinION: delivery of nanopore sequencing to the genomics community,” Genome Biology, 17, Article 239, 2016. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/6733523/
[5] MinION Analysis and Reference Consortium, “A survey of current nanopore sequencing methods and analyses,” Genome Biology, 2015. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4722697/
[6] Oxford Nanopore Technologies, “Investor Documents,” Oxford Nanopore Technologies, IPO and Investor Relations Materials. https://oxfordnanoporedx.com/about/investors/documents
[7] Oxford Nanopore Technologies plc, Annual Report 2025, 2026. https://nanoporetech.com/api/assets/f/196663/x/e6a62a9b49/ont-ar25-interactive-final.pdf
[8] Oxford Nanopore Technologies plc, “Interim Results for the Six Months Ended 30 June 2026,” London Stock Exchange, August 19, 2026. https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/interim-results-for-the-6-months-ended-30-june-26-h9b6bq4ynfac1cr.html