Project Management Software for Technology Startups in Oxford
A biotech or deep-tech spinout out of Oxford Science Park usually starts as a handful of researchers, not a company with departments.
A lab result becoming a company, before it has a company's structure
A newer wave of biotech, diagnostics and deep-tech spinouts has grown up around premises like the Oxford Science Park and Begbroke Science Park, many rooted in university research and working on short, experimental timelines. At the very start, that's rarely more than a handful of researchers and a founder, deciding week to week whether the next stretch of time goes toward the science, a first hire, or the paperwork a fixed-scope grant demands.
None of that leaves room for a company built around five departments and five subscriptions. A spinout at this stage needs one place to track the actual work, not a tool that assumes a marketing team and an ops function already exist.
ShipSprint's Free plan covers 5 users and 2 projects, permanently, enough for a lot of early Oxford spinouts to run their whole first stretch of work without a software cost. Beyond that, one subscription runs engineering and research, hiring, marketing and operations together, so growth doesn't mean adding a new vendor every time a new function comes online.
Between a lab bench and a spreadsheet, a researcher turned founder needs the fastest possible route back to what actually matters today, which is why the workspace opens to "my day" rather than a full project view: today's items, a five-second time log, and one tap to say "I'm blocked" that pulls in help directly instead of waiting on an email reply.
What an early Oxford spinout actually needs
5 users and 2 projects, free permanently, not a trial that expires right when the first result comes in.
Research and engineering, hiring, marketing and operations each get their own board, so a founder covering three roles isn't paying for three tools too.
There's no rollout or onboarding call to sit through. A researcher can create a board and start using it the same afternoon.
Why a particular approach was chosen, or dropped, usually lives in one person's memory. The wiki keeps it next to the work, with history, so it survives past that person.
Everyone opens to "my day": today's items, a five-second time log, and one tap to flag being blocked, pulling in whoever can actually help.
Actually usable, not a preview that ends
Most tools aimed at early spinouts hand out a trial rather than a real free tier, full access for a couple of weeks and then a paywall right as a milestone review or a grant report is due. For a team watching a fixed budget closely, that's a bad trade, since the software becomes a new cost precisely when the founder least wants to think about one.
ShipSprint's Free plan has no expiry. Five users and two projects stay free indefinitely, with the same boards, time logging and wiki a paying team uses, not a limited preview. When the spinout grows past its founding team, Team is priced per seat with everything included, so nothing shows up as a surprise add-on later.
ShipSprint is built by Quantuva Technologies Pvt. Ltd., registered in India, and billed in rupees. That's a fact about where the company is based, not a claim of UK presence or local support hours. Charges convert at your card provider's rate on the day, and there's no VAT added or handled on our end, worth checking against how a grant-funded or charitable-status organisation needs to treat that.
Worth being equally direct about what isn't collected. There are no screenshots, no keystroke logging and no activity tracking on any plan. A scorecard built from delivered work and logged hours, adjusted for leave, belongs to the researcher it describes, not to whoever's compiling the next progress report.
Questions from Oxford spinouts
It stays free, permanently, for up to 5 users and 2 projects, with no forced upgrade and no feature cut compared to a paying team at that scope. A lot of early spinouts run their entire first phase of work on it.
Yes, set up the board you actually need right now, usually research or engineering first, and add hiring or marketing boards once those roles exist. They're already included in the same subscription.
No. There's no screenshot capture, no keystroke logging and no activity tracking. Time logging is self-reported and takes about five seconds, useful for grant reporting, and each scorecard is visible only to the person it describes.
Team is ₹299 per user per month, roughly £2.70 to £3, up to 40 users. Business is ₹599 per user per month, adding forecasts, scorecards, the owner command center, priority support, unlimited projects and SSO. Every paid plan opens with a 14-day full-access trial, no card required. See the pricing page for the full breakdown.
Related pages
See it on your own work.
A workspace your whole company will actually use is 60 seconds away. No card, no risk, nothing to install.
14-day full-access trial · sample project included · no card required