Sometimes one exit tells the story of why we back science-led founders. Last month Terumo agreed to acquire OrganOx—the Oxford spin-out behind normothermic machine perfusion (NMP)—for $1.5 billion, the largest acquisition of any UK university spin-out to date.
OrganOx’s metra® system keeps donor livers warm, oxygenated and metabolically active outside the body. That means surgeons can test an organ’s health before transplant, extending preservation time from hours to a full day. In practice, this means 84% of operations now occur during the day instead of middle-of-the-night emergencies. More than 6,000 patients have already received life-saving grafts thanks to this technology and wait-list mortality has fallen by two-thirds where it is routinely used.
For the Amadeus Royal Society Enterprise Fund, which first backed OrganOx in 2011—this exit is 14 years in the making. It’s proof that patient capital, world-class engineering and regulatory grit can turn a lab insight into a global standard of care.
For the founders Prof. Peter Friend and Prof. Constantin Coussios, it’s almost two decades in the making, showcasing their vision, grit and talent.
Terumo’s scale will accelerate OrganOx’s mission to make every donated organ count, starting with livers and soon kidneys. It’s a landmark win for UK medtech—and a signal that deep tech persistence pays.
I share the whole story in our latest blog, which you can read here.
Read on for news from our portfolio and partners across Intelligence, Human, and Planet this month.
Intelligence
BT puts Sitehop through its paces. BT Group’s Gemini test facility validated Sitehop’s post-quantum–ready, ultra-low-latency encryption hardware—evidence that sovereign UK security tech can meet Tier-1 performance bars.
Recognised by Gartner. PolyAI was named in multiple 2025 Gartner® Hype Cycle™ reports (Customer Service & Support Technologies; CRM Technologies; Strategic Cost Optimisation), underscoring growing enterprise adoption of voice AI.
8 Female Founders to watch in quantum. Sifted’s list includes Nu Quantum’s founder, Carmen Palacios-Berraquero—building the networking layer to scale quantum computing.
Dame Anne Glover on the US/UK Tech Deal. Anne shared her thoughts on the US/UK tech prosperity deal announced last week – “Innovation isn’t enough, we must fuel it with patient, risk-embracing capital…”
The toolkit for Quantum Error Correction (QEC). Riverlane announced the first open-source software platform that enables quantum developers to learn, develop, and ultimately, adopt real-time QEC on the world’s leading quantum computers.
Cambridge Tech Week. Our Partner, Amelia Armour, took to the stage at Cambridge Tech Week to discuss the scaleup journey with leading gaming founder Kristian Segerstrale, and featured on BBC Look East.
Scaling up… the totem pole? We also brought together investors, CEOs, and builders from across the Cambridge startup and scaleup ecosystem during Cambridge Tech Week for a networking event at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Amelia Armour and our co-founder and Venture Partner, Hermann Hauser, shared quick lessons from the scaleup journey in front of the totem pole. Pictured here.
Human
Air transport approved. OrganOx’s metra® won FDA approval for operation during air transport—unlocking 24/7, device-to-donor support across the U.S. and expanding access to perfused livers.
Milestone deal to advance transplant tech. Amadeus Partner, Pierre Socha, covered Terumo’s acquisition of OrganOx for $1.5bn, a milestone for the founders and the Amadeus Royal Society Enterprise Fund.
In Focus: Quibim. CEO Ángel Alberich on AI that can “detect disease early, to diagnose better, to be able to give the right treatment to the right patient at the right time.” – In this video interview we cover his personal journey as an entrepreneur. Watch here.
AI in Healthcare. Our Partner, Pierre Socha, will be speaking at the Economist Impact AI in Health Summit as part of an all-star panel on “Using AI to transform drug discovery and development”. Details here.
Planet
Ten billion items of single-use plastic to be replaced. Xampla announced its latest funding round of £10.2m, with follow-on investment from Amadeus Capital Partners. Funding will see more than ten billion units of single-use plastic replaced with Xampla’s Morro™ materials in the next five years
Converting CO₂ into valuable chemicals. The Amadeus APEX Technology Fund co-led enaDyne’s €7m seed round. enaDyne’s fully electric, modular non-thermal plasma reactors convert CO₂ into valuable chemicals.
News from the team
Chariots of Fire. Several members of the Amadeus team laced up for the annual Chariots Fire charity run in Cambridge. We’re very proud of our colleagues and their family members who came together to support Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity.