British companies being spun out of universities are likely to struggle more after the coronavirus crisis than the financial crash, Oxford University Innovation has warned.

Adam Stoten, chief operating officer at OUI, said the current funding situation for spin-out companies from Oxford University was comparable to the 2008 financial crash, but said there was a "big difference".

"I don't think we will have the same safe havens in terms of investors that we perhaps had back in 2008.

"When we had the 2008 crash, there were still markets globally that were active and growing, so our response was to establish much stronger links with China."

He said OUI had been successful in bringing Chinese investment into a number of its spin-outs that allowed them to continue to get these companies off the ground in a couple of years following the crash.

"Now, with the current situation, of course, it is completely global. There isn't a market that hasn't been affected by this."

Because of that, he said it "may mean that it's a harder hit than the last time".