[3][4] The firm uses academic research from the university's science departments to form commercial businesses, also known as spin-outs.

[5][6][7] The company was founded as Oxford Sciences Innovation (OSI) in 2015 by David Norwood, who was previously the founder of the IP Group, which initially invested only in spinoffs from the university's chemistry department.

[8] Oxford Sciences Enterprises initially raised £600m from investors, which included Lansdowne Partners and Google Ventures.

OSI's CFO became acting CEO until the appointment of Alexis Dormandy, another former McKinsey partner, in October 2020[14] In July 2019, The company announced an investment from Chinese telecommunications company Huawei of £4.1m in OSI shares (approximately 0.7% of the total fund).

[15] In September 2023 Ed Bussey was named CEO of the company, and at the same time Jack Edmondson was appointed to the newly created role of CIO.