Our Tenant Spotlight series celebrates the people and ideas shaping Begbroke’s community. In this feature, we speak to Vassilis Ragoussis, CEO of OXECO, an Oxford University spinout. OXECO is a chemistry technology company that manufactures speciality chemicals for the clean technology and transportation industries. Vass shares the story behind the company, what is driving its work forward, and what it is like to be based at Begbroke.
Can you tell us about what OXECO does and the background of the company?
At OXECO, we have built a novel surface chemistry platform that unlocks advanced material performance. We are focused on enabling ultra-high purity water and air (and other valuable feed streams) for the world’s most demanding industries, such as semiconductor manufacturing and medicine production, where any impurity can reduce yield and reliability, with $10s of billions worth of lost yield each year. OXECO is a spinout company from Oxford University’s Department of Chemistry.
What excites you most about the work OXECO is doing right now?
Getting our chemistry out to customers! We are fundamentally targeting a high unmet need, where conventional materials and chemistries have reached their practical limits, with an elegant and massively scalable solution. So, seeing our chemistry entering real-world deployment with some of the world’s biggest companies is really exciting.
As CEO, what are you most proud of the team for over the past year?
Materials and chemistry commercialisation timelines are notoriously long and challenging to navigate, so it’s motivating see the hard work the team has put in starting to pay off. We have learned a lot over the last year. This year we are wholly focused on execution and getting a range of chemistries to market with our partners.
What keeps you motivated in your role?
Getting the science out into the world and pushing hard with the team. It’s very easy to push hard when you have other team members, investors, and Board members, etc., in the trenches with you. I have an athlete mindset and truly believe that hard work beats talent every time, and so I take a similar approach where I am comfortable with discomfort and enduring pain for a long period of time. And, of course, a good amount of coffee helps more than I would probably like to admit!
What is it like being based at Begbroke, and how does it support OXECO?
Begbroke has a concentration of companies doing genuinely hard, technical work to solve some of the world’s biggest challenges. Having companies like Oxford Ionics as neighbours (recently acquired for >$1bn) is incredibly motivating and shows what can be done when you have a great technology, a strong team, and move at a fast pace. Oxford is an incredible place with a huge amount of potential, and I believe we can continue to generate unicorn companies and positively impact the world.
Thank you to Vass for contributing to our Tenant Spotlight series. Learn more about OXECO and their work.
