The AIM-listed group has acquired the entire issued share capital of Captive Devices, a two-year-old MediaCity motion capture startup founded by three former Epic Games engineers. Total consideration is up to £750,000: £250,000 in cash, £300,000 in Oxford Metrics ordinary shares released quarterly over 24 months, and an earnout of up to £200,000.
Captive Devices was founded in Salford in 2024 by a team including Fred Isaac, all of whom had previously designed head-mounted camera systems at Epic Games. The company builds professional head-mounted cameras and software for markerless facial performance capture, used in visual effects, games and virtual production. Its first product, CoreHMC, is designed to work without the bespoke rigs, custom software builds and lengthy installation that have typically accompanied facial capture setups.
The business reported unaudited revenue of £500,000 in the year to 30 April 2026 and had received support from GM Business Growth Hub's Innovation Service in securing innovation grants.
The consideration structure is the notable part of the deal. Only a third of the maximum is paid upfront in cash. The £300,000 equity component is allotted quarterly across two years rather than at completion, and the final £200,000 is contingent on gross profit performance on sales of the facial capture system. Oxford Metrics assumed no debt in the transaction.
Shares were acquired from three holding companies — Greyhound Industry Ltd, EEInsights Ltd and Periscope Technical Ltd — which between them held the whole of the issued share capital. The founding team joins Vicon, Oxford Metrics' motion capture division.
At up to £750,000 against £500,000 of unaudited revenue, the headline multiple is modest, and a meaningful share of it is deferred and performance-linked. That reflects both the company's age and the structure Oxford Metrics has used to keep the founders engaged: the sellers are paid partly in listed equity they receive over 24 months, and partly on results they are responsible for delivering.
For Oxford Metrics, a smart sensing and measurement group serving life sciences, entertainment, engineering and manufacturing, the acquisition adds facial capture to a Vicon platform whose established strength is body tracking.
"This is exactly the kind of targeted investment we want to make in Vicon — adding differentiated technology and specialist expertise in an area that builds directly on our existing strengths," said Imogen O'Connor, chief executive of Oxford Metrics.
The deal is a small one by value, but it marks a clean two-year path from founding to trade exit for a Greater Manchester hardware startup that raised grant funding rather than venture capital — and whose cap table, held through three corporate vehicles, has now been exchanged for shares in a listed acquirer.
Original source: BusinessCloud — https://businesscloud.co.uk/news/salford-motion-capture-startup-bought-by-listed-firm/
