Oxford Nanopore float offers London a proper tech future

Planned IPO of life science group will test LSE's appetite for funding high-growth tech

• Oxford Nanopore to float on London Stock Exchange

Another day, another tech float on the way for London. This one involves proper technology too: cutting-edge DNA sequencing and analytics, as opposed to takeaway food delivered by bicycle. Oxford Nanopore's likely arrival on the London Stock Exchange later this year is therefore very welcome. The UK market is short on life sciences companies capable of commanding multibillion-pound valuations.

Let's not pretend, though, that the choice of London is some sort of national triumph. Oxford Nanopore was founded in 2005 as a spin-out from Oxford University. Its manufacturing and research base is near the city. And the company received a useful leg-up last year, courtesy of the UK government, via a contract for Covid testing worth up to 113m, which is not bad for a business whose revenues in 2019 were 52m. It would have been very unsporting to run off to the US to join the biotech brethren on Nasdaq.