QUBIS

QUBIS Limited was incorporated in Northern Ireland on October 11, 1984, with its registered office at Queen’s University Belfast, 63 University Road, Belfast.⁠[1]

QUBIS describes itself as the commercialisation arm of Queen’s University Belfast, helping academic staff create technology spin-outs and providing hands-on support from intellectual property discovery through IPO to business growth strategies.⁠[2]

QUBIS’s spin-out timeline begins with Textflow Services Ltd in 1985, followed by APT Ltd and BIOSYN Ltd in 1986, MARENCO Environmental Consultants and Kainos Group PLC in 1987, Lumichem in 1989, and Amphion Ltd and Andor Ltd in 1990.⁠[3]

Kainos was originally established as a joint venture between ICL and QUBIS.⁠[4]

The QUBIS timeline lists ten spin-outs for 2001, including Avalon Instruments Ltd, Datactics Ltd and Meridio Ltd; six for 2002, including Trucorp Ltd and Fusion Antibodies PLC; and five for 2004, including Almac Diagnostic Services Ltd.⁠[3]

On June 22, 2011 Queen’s University Belfast vice-chancellor Peter Gregson stated at a meeting of the Northern Ireland Assembly’s Committee for Employment and Learning that the university spun out companies through QUBIS Ltd, its technology transfer arm, and that QUBIS companies turned over more than £100 million a year and provided 1,000 high-value jobs.⁠[5]

In 2015 Kainos listed on the London Stock Exchange at £1.39 per share, in an offering expected to raise about £52 million and valuing the company at about £161 million.⁠[4][6]

In June 2016 PhilipsPhilipsPhilips (Koninklijke Philips N.V.) is a health technology company founded in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, in 1891 by Gerard Philips and his father, Frederik Philips, and now headquartered in Amsterdam; it was long known for lighting and consumer electronics such as the compact cassette and the CD, and was one of TSMC’s founding shareholders.Open the full entry acquired PathXL, a Belfast digital pathology software company, without disclosing financial terms. PathXL was set up in 2004 within pathology informatics at Queen’s University Belfast by Peter Hamilton and Jim Diamond and had about 30 employees at the time. QUBIS lists the acquisition among its success stories.⁠[7][8]

On December 18, 2017 Fusion Antibodies, established in 2001 as a spin-out from Queen’s University Belfast, was admitted to AIM on the London Stock Exchange, placing 6,707,317 new shares at 82 pence to raise £5.5 million before expenses, for a market capitalisation of £18.1 million at the placing price.⁠[9]

The shares closed their first day at 124 pence, lifting the market value to just over £27 million.⁠[10]

On November 11, 2019 Octopus VenturesOctopus VenturesOctopus Ventures is a London-based venture capital investor and part of Octopus Investments, a business of Octopus Group. It invests mainly from pre-seed to Series A across B2B software, bio, climate, consumer, deep tech, fintech and health.Open the full entry and Ideas 2 Impact published the first Entrepreneurial Impact Ranking, which placed Queen’s University Belfast first, ahead of the University of CambridgeUniversity of CambridgeThe University of Cambridge is a university in Cambridge, England, United Kingdom. It gives 1209 as its founding date, is made up of Schools, Faculties, Departments and autonomous Colleges, and is a member of the Russell Group.Open the full entry and Cardiff UniversityCardiff UniversityCardiff University is a research university in Cardiff, Wales. It opened in 1883 as the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire and is a member of the Russell Group.Open the full entry; the ranking measures how effectively universities generate intellectual property, create spin-outs and achieve successful exits relative to the funding they receive.⁠[11]

In the 2020 ranking, published in November 2020, Queen’s University Belfast held first place for the second year running.⁠[12]

On March 3, 2020 Titan IC, a network intelligence technology company spun out from QUBIS and the Centre for Secure Information Technologies (CSIT) at Queen’s University Belfast, announced an agreement to be acquired by Mellanox Technologies; no price was disclosed. Titan IC’s team was to become Mellanox’s centre for advanced network intelligence R&D. David Moore, then QUBIS’s head of spin-outs and investments, said QUBIS had supported Titan IC since its incorporation.⁠[13]

On March 29, 2021 QUBIS announced the QUBIS Innovation Fund, set up with Sapphire Capital Partners LLP as fund manager: an early-stage fund qualifying for SEIS and/or EIS tax reliefs that invests in spin-outs from Queen’s University Belfast and other partner universities.⁠[6]

The same announcement stated that QUBIS had been involved in more than 90 spin-outs, three of whose portfolio companies had completed IPOs, with about £75 million in equity realisations, about £190 million in unrealised equity holdings and about £10 million in cumulative dividend income.⁠[6]

On August 31, 2021 QUBIS announced the launch of the fund at £1.2 million, investing in university spin-outs and start-ups in fields such as life sciences, artificial intelligence and engineering, with QUBIS acting as portfolio mentor. QUBIS stated that Queen’s science and technology spin-outs generated £323 million in annual revenue and 3,100 jobs.⁠[14]

On July 5, 2022 QUBIS announced that board member Helen Kirkpatrick would succeed James O'Kane as chair and that Nicola Broughton and Eoin McMullan had joined the board; the chief executive at the time was Brian McCaul, who was also head of innovation at Queen’s University Belfast.⁠[15]

On May 11, 2023 QUBIS announced that its 100th spin-out, AilseVax, had raised £1.5 million in seed investment. AilseVax, spun out of Queen’s University Belfast and Trinity College Dublin, develops therapeutic cancer vaccines; its investors included QUBIS, Co Fund NI and TechStart NI from Invest Northern IrelandInvest Northern IrelandInvest Northern Ireland (Invest NI) is Northern Ireland’s regional economic development agency, a non-departmental public body and arm’s-length body of the Department for the Economy. It was established on April 1, 2002, under the Industrial Development Act (Northern Ireland) 2002 and is headquartered in Belfast.Open the full entry’s Access to Finance suite of funds, and Sapphire Capital.⁠[16]

On June 27, 2023 QUBIS announced its selection as an investor partner in Innovate UK’s Investor Partnership Programme, a three-year scheme that matches R&D grant funding with investment from investor partners to support deep tech small and medium-sized enterprises in net zero, healthy living and agriculture, and next-generation digital technologies. QUBIS also describes itself as a key delivery partner in the Innovate UK-funded ICURe programme.⁠[17]

In February 2024 Beauhurst, in collaboration with QUBIS, published Deeptech Index 2024: Northern Ireland. It counted 82 active innovation-driven enterprises founded in Northern Ireland between 2017 and 2023 (49 deeptech and 33 digital), which raised £139 million in equity from 2017 to 2023, including a record £47.5 million in 2023.⁠[18][19]

Of these enterprises, 23 were academic spin-outs, 18 of them from Queen’s University Belfast; QUBIS took part in 12 funding rounds, ranking third among investors by number of deals.⁠[18]

In 2024 QUBIS held a 40th anniversary celebration at the Titanic Hotel, attended by staff, current and former board members, representatives of the Department for the Economy (DfE) and Invest Northern Ireland, and spin-out companies. In June 2025 it launched a 40th anniversary commemorative book at the Naughton Gallery.⁠[20][21]

On June 17, 2025 QUBIS announced that Paul Terrington had joined its board as chair designate. Terrington was a PwC partner for more than two decades, chairman of PwC Northern Ireland for nine years and a former chairman of the Institute of Directors in Northern Ireland, and was appointed CBE in 2021. Companies House records his appointment as a director on April 9, 2025.⁠[22][23]

In July 2025 QUBIS announced that its spin-out Re-Vana Therapeutics had entered a collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim on treatments for eye disease, supporting up to three new projects a year; if all targets are met the deal could be worth more than $1 billion to Re-Vana, plus royalties. QUBIS says it was Re-Vana’s first investor and worked with the academic team of Raj Thakur and David Jones on its commercial pathway.⁠[24]

In December 2025 David Moore, head of spin-outs and investments, left QUBIS after about 25 years; he had worked with Avalon Instruments, TruCorp, PathXL and Titan IC from before incorporation to exit, and served Fusion Antibodies as non-executive director and company secretary from start-up to IPO. Brian McCaul also left QUBIS in 2025 after 11 years.⁠[25][26][27]

On January 15, 2026 Queen’s University Belfast and QUBIS launched a four-year partnership with Techstars and Ormeau Labs at Ormeau Labs in Belfast, including the Founder Catalyst Programme, capability-building events, mentoring and access to accelerator funding opportunities, aimed at increasing tech start-up formation in Northern Ireland.⁠[28]

Marina Donohoe became chief executive of QUBIS on February 2, 2026, succeeding Brian McCaul, who had led QUBIS for about ten years. She previously led the Research, Innovation and Infrastructure Division at Enterprise Ireland for three years and is the first woman to lead QUBIS.⁠[29][27]

On May 19, 2026 QUBIS announced the appointment of Artin Moussavi as chief investment officer, responsible for investment strategy, evaluating new opportunities, supporting the creation and growth of spin-outs and managing portfolio performance; he has more than 20 years of experience building, financing and investing in businesses in fields including life sciences and deep technology.⁠[30]

As of November 2026 the QUBIS website listed 105 companies, more than 4,500 employees and more than £100 million in total capital raised; its timeline lists six new spin-outs for 2025, including InnovaScope and ReNewVax.⁠[31][3]

QUBIS states that business relating to spin-out companies is handled by the QUBIS team, while Queen’s University Belfast’s IP management team handles invention protection, patent filings and licensing negotiations, and its business and commercial alliances team handles collaborative industry projects and commercialisation.⁠[32]

Queen’s University Belfast’s QUBIS page lists ways to engage with QUBIS, including direct funding for ideas, step-by-step guidance on developing a company, and enterprise programmes such as ICURe, EIT Food Seedbed and The Engage Programme.⁠[33]

QUBIS Limited is classified at Companies House under other professional, scientific and technical activities not elsewhere classified; its financial year ends on July 31, and its latest accounts were made up to July 31, 2025.⁠[1]

As of November 2026 the QUBIS team included chief executive Marina Donohoe, interim chief operating officer Andrew Norton, chief investment officer Artin Moussavi and company secretary Shehrezade Chaudhry. In February 2026 the QUBIS board was chaired by Paul Terrington.⁠[34][29]

Companies House lists 13 active officers, including Queen’s University Belfast vice-chancellor Ian Greer (appointed June 25, 2026) and Archie Clements (appointed August 1, 2024).⁠[23][21]

Former chief executives include Edward Cartin. Former chair Helen Kirkpatrick was appointed OBE in the 2026 King’s Birthday Honours for services to economic development and innovation.⁠[35][36]

Other success stories listed by QUBIS include the sale of Amphion SemiconductorAmphion SemiconductorAmphion Semiconductor was a semiconductor intellectual property (IP) licensing company in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Formerly Integrated Silicon Systems, it was founded by J. G. Doherty and John McCanny on the basis of signal processing research at Queen’s University Belfast and licensed hardware IP cores mainly for video and image compression. Conexant Systems acquired it in June 2004, and its Belfast video codec team subsequently moved with the set-top box business to NXP Semiconductors, Trident Microsystems and Entropic Communications.Open the full entry to Conexant Systems; PerkinElmerPerkinElmerPerkinElmer is the name and brand of a business in analytical and testing instruments and services that has been used by three different entities: Perkin-Elmer, the optical company founded in 1937 by Richard Perkin and Charles Elmer (recapitalized as PE Corporation in 1999 and renamed Applera Corporation in 2000); EG&G, which acquired Perkin-Elmer’s analytical instruments business and name in 1999 and renamed itself PerkinElmer, Inc., a listed company that in 2023 sold its applied, food and enterprise services businesses, together with the PerkinElmer name, to New Mountain Capital and renamed itself Revvity; and, since then, the New Mountain Capital–backed analytical and testing solutions and pharma specialty services company PerkinElmer, headquartered in Shelton, Connecticut, United States.Open the full entry’s acquisition of Avalon Instruments, which added bench-top dispersive Raman spectrometers to its molecular spectroscopy portfolio; Oxford Instruments’ acquisition of Andor Technology; and the acquisition of TruCorp, a spin-out from the Department of Anaesthetics part-funded by QUBIS, by the private equity syndicate Cordovan Capital Partners together with its management.⁠[8][37][38][39]

Queen’s University Belfast’s consolidated financial statements for 2013–14 list QUBIS Limited as a wholly owned subsidiary whose entire share capital is held by the university, incorporated in Northern Ireland, and describe it as a technology transfer company that commercially exploits the university’s academic and research activities by establishing corporate ventures.⁠[40]

The university’s 2020–21 annual report lists QUBIS Limited among its subsidiaries and calls it the university’s commercialisation arm.⁠[41]

In 2025 Queen’s stated that it had adopted practices in line with the recommendations of the Independent Review of University Spin-out Companies; QUBIS said that it and Queen’s had adopted those recommendations and the USIT terms, and that QUBIS ranked among the ten most spin-out-active university technology transfer offices in the UK.⁠[42][43]

QUBIS: Official website: https://www.qubis.co.uk/ (opens in a new window).⁠[31]