Oxford Science Enterprises (OSE), the independent investment company created to found, fund and build transformational businesses via its unique partnership with the University of Oxford, has announced that its Deep Tech portfolio company, Oxford Semantic Technologies, has signed an agreement to be acquired by Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
Oxford Semantic Technologies is the developer of RDFox®, the world’s most advanced knowledge graph software with semantic reasoning, supporting AI applications where accuracy is mission-critical.
Samsung plans to apply the technology to several products, including mobile devices, televisions and home appliances. RDFox® combines with Samsung’s on-device AI technology to create hyper-personalised user experiences while ensuring full privacy and security of data on the device.
OSE was one of Oxford Semantic Technologies’ first investors in March 2017. Founded by three Oxford University professors from the Computer Science Department — Ian Horrocks, Boris Motik and Bernardo Cuenca Grau — the company specialises in knowledge graph and reasoning technology, turning large, complex, multi-source data into a unified, high-performance queryable database where new knowledge and insights can be automatically materialised, based on subject matter expertise.
It transforms an organisation’s data into machine-readable knowledge and then dynamically adds new knowledge, unlike other graph technologies on the market.
Before the acquisition, Oxford Semantic Technologies had been collaborating with Samsung Research since 2018 on various projects.
Oxford Semantic Technologies’ success demonstrates the potential within Oxford University to turn world-leading academic research into successful science and technology companies.
Oxford Semantic Technologies follows from other successes, such as Deep Tech company Latent Logic and biotech firms MiroBio and DJS Antibodies, as companies acquired from the OSE portfolio.
Sam Harman, Principal and Acting Head of Deep Tech at OSE, said: “This is great news for Oxford Semantic Technologies and Samsung. The company’s groundbreaking technology can play a big role in the advancement of AI across the suite of Samsung’s products.
“We’re proud to have worked with Oxford Semantic Technologies since the very beginning, helping them to turn their brilliant research in an Oxford laboratory into technology that will be integrated into products that will be used in homes around the world.”
Peter Crocker, CEO of Oxford Semantic Technologies, said: “We are delighted to be working with Samsung. By integrating Samsung’s expertise in user experience and data with our advanced knowledge graph and reasoning technology, we will provide Samsung’s customers with even more sophisticated personalisation.
“We are grateful for our partnership with Oxford Science Enterprises. In addition to their important financial investment, they have been a critical source of knowledge and support in turning our academic research into a commercial product.”
