Chinese tech giant Huawei has bought a stake in the company that commercialises research at Oxford University, according to the Financial Times.
Oxford Sciences Innovation which is the largest fund dedicated to academic spin-offs in the world has raised £600 million in four years from 70 shareholders led by the university and including Google’s venture arm GV, Sequoia Capital and Temasek, the Singaporean sovereign wealth fund.
In July, Huawei Technologies Cooeperatief, a Dutch arm of Huawei, acquired 4.1 million shares over the previous year, roughly a 0.7% stake.
The investment was not publicly announced and Huawei’s name is not featured on the OSI web site as a backer.
Buying into OSI will give Huawei a view of OSI’s portfolio companies and intellectual property.
Its investment came shortly before Oxford university cut its ties with Huawei, saying it would not accept any more research funding or philanthropy from the Chinese company.
A spokesperson for Huawei said that the investment in OSI was part of its “long term commitment to the UK”.
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