Cambridge Consultants and Singapore incubation firm Clearbridge Accelerator have created a one-stop resource for medical technology startups in the ‘gateway to Asia’ region.

The objective is to fast-track the commercialisation of innovative ideas, ranging from breakthrough diagnostic and surgical technology to cutting-edge connected devices at the Singapore-based hothouse.

Cambridge Consultants, which is growing its presence in the UK, US and Asia,  is providing product development services – acting as a virtual R & D centre to accelerate the transformation of ideas into products on the market.

Clearbridge is offering mentorship by seasoned entrepreneurs and advice on strategic, regulatory and operational issues. It is also providing financial guidance and access to funding across the whole spectrum, from seed/series A funding all the way to pre-IPO financing. 

The pre-IPO financing is being done through CapBridge – a private institutional venture exchange formed as a partnership between Clearbridge Accelerator and Singapore Exchange to assist high-growth companies globally.

Some of the biggest hurdles faced by medical technology startups are the availability of funding and ready access to product development and regulatory expertise to convert an innovative idea into a commercial product ready for the market.

“Our extensive track record of world-class product development enables us to offer a rapid, reliable route to convert early-stage technology into ready-for-market solutions,” said Dr Miles Upton, Asia general manager at Cambridge Consultants.

“For more than 50 years we have worked with innovative startups that want to change the status quo fast – helping them create world firsts that deliver real value. This collaboration will give new companies in the region a fast track to vital competitive edge.

“We have all the in-house skills needed to help clients take an innovative concept right the way through to manufacturing of a commercial product. Our bespoke teams of experts – in everything from human factors and industrial design to electronics, software, signal processing and algorithms – specialise in tackling tough challenges and helping clients achieve the seemingly impossible.”

Clearbridge Accelerator invests in game-changing technology companies with a focus on healthcare. It has a strong track record of leading early-stage investments, partnering with visionary entrepreneurs and world-leading institutions.

Its team consists of serial entrepreneurs with deep domain expertise, extensive networks and operational experience in key markets such as the US, China, Japan and Australia.

“We invest in breakthrough innovations and technologies that will have global impact and benefits,” said Johnson Chen, managing partner at Clearbridge Accelerator. “As an incubator, besides providing direct expertise and funding, we constantly find new ways to help our start-up companies succeed.

“Through our partnership with Cambridge Consultants, companies can tap into the virtual development model to de-risk product development as well as get to market quickly. We are committed to growing Asian companies globally, as well as supporting international companies entering key Asian markets.”

May in San Francisco is a beautiful time of year, writes Audio Analytic CEO, Chris Mitchell. The warm weather is beginning to lift everyone’s spirits and the city’s techies switch their regulation hoodies for standard issue start-up tees.

Officially I was in SF for Connections, Park Associates’ connected home event, but took an opportunity to duck out of the buzzing conference hall to head out in search of a different but related hive of activity – Target’s new experimental store, the Open House in San Francisco. Target, for those of you who aren’t familiar with the US retail landscape, is the country’s second biggest discount retailer (just behind Walmart in terms of size, with revenues of more than $70 billion.) 

Whatever your home needs, if you live in the US, Target inevitably is the answer – retailing everything from home electronics to sports equipment, food, furniture and fashion. 

Clearly the Smart Home represents a billion-dollar market opportunity for Target. But with over 200 connected home products available from Target in-store and online already, it’s easy to see how customers could get confused by this new and fast growing market. 

Stores in the US and here in the UK tend to present endless isles of connected gadgets, widgets and devices but there’s no ‘big picture’ of smart living presented. A big part of the challenge for retailers today is educating the customer not just what to buy in terms of product, but on how to buy joined up solutions. That requires a mindset change on the retailers’ part, and a move from being in marketing mode to a more educational one.

Target’s Open House aims to be “the most connected house on the block” and it certainly delivers on that promise. Rather than just showcasing individual connected home products in isolation, as the recent John Lewis’ Smart Home experience on Oxford Street did, Target’s Open House presents a fully connected environment where myriad devices seamlessly communicate around specific real-life scenarios.

A smart home is greater than the sum of its connected products. It takes care of its occupants and itself, perceiving and anticipating the needs of both and taking appropriate action – automated wherever possible. Every false alert or unnecessary action required by the occupant is a smart home fail. 

Only by bringing together data from different types of product can smart living be made a reality for consumers. For example, it’s not a smart solution if you need one app to unlock your door when you get home and two more to switch on the lights and heating system. These are the realities today of the fractured Smart Home space – and unless the industry solves this, it risks undermining consumer confidence in the many benefits the smart home can offer. 

If you’re unsure about those benefits take a look at the Open House’s nursery. Inside the crib is a baby’s cotton sleep suit. A tiny green turtle integrated with the sleep suit gives the game away – this is Mimo, a smart baby monitoring solution and the turtle is of course a sensor. 

While baby’s sleeping, Mimo tracks baby’s body position, temperature, activity level and ascertains whether they’re asleep. Mimo connects with the Nest Learning Thermostat, automatically adjusting the temperature in the nursery in real time to suit baby’s body temperature and help ensure a restful night for everyone in the house.

If baby becomes restless, Mimo can detect the activity and play baby’s favourite nursery music via the Sonos sound system: All without disturbing mum and dad. 

It’s this combination of interconnectivity and Target’s understanding of real life use-cases that elevates the connected home to the truly smart home; where connections between devices are anticipated and actioned without the occupant needing to join the dots themselves. It’s the stuff dream use-cases – and less sleep deprived parents – are made of.

Retailers like Target understand home owners perhaps better than any other market sector, supplying across every need a home owner has. According to Target spokesperson Jenna Reck, Open House is the company’s “first foray” into learning how to merchandise not just connected devices but real smart home solutions. 

“The next step,” says Jenna, “is to take the dedicated experience at Open House and then figure out how to scale it.”

Retailers like Target are now switching on to the fact that they can leverage their unique vantage point to help map real users’ smart home journeys and sell that connected benefit – not just San Francisco’s early-tech adopters but beyond to to hundreds of millions regular customers. Getting this right isn’t rocket science, but it is smart.

• Chris Mitchell is CEO and founder of Cambridge-based technology company, Audio Analytic.

Technology product innovator Cambridge Consultants has entered a definitive agreement to acquire Synapse, a US West Coast business, to further increase its geographic presence for a growing global client base. The acquisition is expected to be completed in Q3. No figures are being released.

It will allow the combined business to create one of the world’s largest and most powerful product development hothouses with significant presence on both coasts of the US. Cambridge Consultants is already scaling in Boston and has significantly expanded its Science Park facility in the UK.

The deal is part of Cambridge Consultants’ strategy to double its scale and enhance its geographic footprint in the US and Asia.

From its headquarters in Seattle, Synapse specialises in solving complex engineering challenges and developing products that transform its clients’ brands and accelerate advances in technology; a natural fit with Cambridge Consultants’ reputation for truly innovative product and service development, built over the past 60 years.

Synapse brings considerable track record in the development of products aimed directly at the consumer market and has recently delivered projects for clients such as Nike, Microsoft and Samsung.

Over the past four years, Cambridge Consultants has doubled the scale of its global operations and, to keep up with market demand, has set an ambitious target to double again by 2020 with a global workforce of over 1,000 product development and technology specialists. 

This acquisition accelerates it towards achieving that ambition, with a presence in Europe, both coasts of the US and in various locations in Asia. Cambridge Consultants already works for many blue-chip companies around the world including Novartis, Philips and Hitachi.

Cambridge Consultants CEO Alan Richardson (pictured) said: “When we first met with colleagues at Synapse we realised that we shared the same vision of the future, and similar skills, expertise and culture, but different geographic footprints that were complementary.

“Synapse has a rich heritage in developing technology-driven consumer products and strengthens our reach both geographically and in this key market segment. 

“Our success has been enabled by having highly engaged staff in the same way that Synapse has built its business by offering its staff ‘the best job you ever had’.

“Both organisations have an award-winning reputation as employers, which is illustrative of the similar cultures we have. This deal is great news for both firms, but even better news for clients who now have access to the enhanced capabilities of the joined organisations.”

Ross Collins, founder of Synapse, will become a director of Cambridge Consultants and Redwood Stephens becomes the president of Cambridge Consultants’ US West operations. 

Recruitment of talented staff remains a key priority for Cambridge Consultants across all locations.

Cambridge Consultants has a track record of creating high-value organisations built around disruptive technology, developed by its staff. Four of Cambridge’s 15 billion-dollar-capitalisation firms – Cambridge Silicon Radio (CSR), Xaar, Vectura and Domino Printing Sciences – are among those spun off by the company.

AVEVA CEO Richard Longdon said it was business as usual at the Cambridge technology business after a second round of takeover talks with French company Schneider Electric were aborted last night.

AVEVA immediately applied for the suspension of its shares to be lifted in the UK from 8 this morning and they opened to a resounding cry of ‘non merci’ from shareholders – the share price opening almost 17 per cent (308.50p) down.

The stock had been driven to a new high by speculation that the takeover talks had been revived but the entente cordiale looks to have been firmly shredded.

It is the second time in under six months that talks between the parties have ended in failure. 

No reason was given for the collapse of the revised deal but AVEVA has made it abundantly clear that it would not tolerate putting the interests of shareholders at risk in any deal.

The reverse takeover would have seen Schneider inject a huge amount of capital into AVEVA with Longdon retaining control of an enlarged software group headquartered in Cambridge worth £3 billion and employing 3,500 people.

It is no secret that Longdon has steered a strategy of diversifying the group’s products and services to minimise the risk of dependancy on oil & gas, given macro-economic circumstances.

It is a policy that is already bringing return on investment and making AVEVA a highly attractive target for corporations with deep pockets.

Cambridge wireless technology business Cyan is acquiring Swedish smart metering specialist Connode Holding AB for £6.8 million in a move that opens up growth opportunities with technology for the Internet of Things and smart cities.

The UK company will pay £4.3m cash and £2.5m in equity consideration out of a £10.1m placing. The £12.6m transaction value comprises the £10.1m placing and subscription and the £2.5m equity consideration.

With its HQ in Stockholm, Connode is a well-established supplier of wireless communication solutions for smart metering and the Internet of Things with customers in the UK, Europe and Asia.

Connode is also a key supplier of mesh technology to the UK Smart Metering Implementation Programme. The potential value of the SMIP rollout to Connode is approximately £37m in software licence and support fees over the rollout and support lifecycle.

Biggles Enterprises Limited, part of the J. S. Technical Services Company, Limited group of companies in Thailand, has agreed to make a strategic investment of £2m as part of the subscription.

As part of the fundraise, all the directors of Cyan are investing alongside certain senior managers and a consultant for a total of £304,500.

Directors and certain senior managers have also agreed that, in the interests of retaining cash within the company, they will receive all of their net income and bonuses earned during the period from July 2016 to June 2017 as shares issued at the issue price, which will represent an incremental equity investment of £729,904.

Connode offers Cyan a highly complementary product range with further growth opportunities to create the global number one narrowband mesh radio solution Internet of Things canopy provider.

Since 2006 utilities and telecom operators have deployed Connode-enabled devices in large-scale projects in Europe. As a result, the acquisition will open up new territories for Cyan in Europe and other western markets, including potentially North America.

Cyan executive chairman John Cronin (pictured) said: “As our clients in developing markets realise the benefits from our proprietary end-to-end solutions, we believe that they will want to converge their networks and this will require standards-based technologies.

“Convergent networks require a standards-based core language to enable the rapid development integration and consolidation of applications. 
“The acquisition of Connode is transformational for Cyan and will give us the capability to build these functions into our core products, enabling us to future-proof our customer solutions and provide standards-based interfaces for additional connectivity as required for the Internet of Things and smart cities.”

Cambridge UK software company AVEVA and French group Schneider Electric have revived a deal that looked dead and buried in mid-December.

A 10 per cent surge in its share price to a year high prompted AVEVA to announce that terms were being hammered out in a fresh bid to agree a merger that tilts heavily in the Cambridge technology company’s favour.

AVEVA CEO Richard Longdon said he was unable to comment at this time but told Business Weekly last July when the deal was first tabled that it could turn the Cambridge-based group into a global software giant worth around £3 billion with a headcount of some 3,500 people.

The parties bailed out of complex negotiations mid-December having failed to reach consensus but continued press speculation about a new offer from Schneider brought today’s admission that AVEVA had received a revised, conditional proposal.

Similar to the previous discussions that took place between the parties last year, the proposal also includes a significant cash payment from Schneider Electric to AVEVA, which would be distributed to AVEVA’s current shareholders on completion.

The proposed transaction, if consummated, would result in Schneider Electric owning a majority equity stake in the enlarged AVEVA, which is intended to remain listed on the London Stock Exchange.

Today’s statement read: “The board of AVEVA is currently in preliminary discussions with Schneider Electric regarding the merits of such a transaction and its terms. 

“There can be no certainty that the discussions between AVEVA and Schneider Electric will lead to any agreement concerning the possible combination or as to the timing or terms of any such agreement and there can be no assurance that, even if reached, any such agreement would be completed. A further announcement will be made as and when appropriate.”

Such a transaction, if completed, would constitute a reverse takeover under the listing rules. 

Accordingly, the listing of AVEVA ordinary shares on the official list and trading on the main market of the London Stock Exchange are being suspended with immediate effect. 

The listing and trading of AVEVA ordinary shares will recommence at the earlier of the publication of updated financial information on Schneider Electric’s Software Business in accordance with Listing Rule 5.6.15 or confirmation that AVEVA is not proceeding with a potential transaction.

• PHOTOGRAPH SHOWS: Richard Longdon

Cambridge has developed an outstanding record of business success, with 4,500 knowledge intensive companies located within 25 miles of the city, with employment growing at 7.4 per cent per annum, writes Harriet Fear, CEO of One Nucleus.

Just one compelling statistic is that it ranks as the top UK city for innovation with 102 patents per 100,000 residents, more than the next seven best performing cities put together.

So where does the life science and healthcare sector sit within all this buoyancy and success? I’d argue right up there! 

Our latest research here at One Nucleus shows that there are approximately 750 life sciences companies here, employing over 15,000 with the sector being worth up to £10 billion a year to the local economy.

In those sectors branded ‘Knowledge Intensive’ (KI), businesses in the life sciences and hi-tech manufacturing are not only larger on average than those in other KI sectors, but also have shown faster growth in turnover relative to employment.

Locally I have it on good authority (there is some significant research soon to be published) that for the region, life sciences represents 21 per cent of KI local employment and 24 per cent of KI turnover – with the R & D part of the sector seeing high growth of 6.9 per cent per annum for employment and 11.5 per cent per annum for turnover.

In terms of focus areas for the sector here in the region, it continues to be a showcase globally – particularly for the translation of research, universally admired. 

There are some interesting trends developing which mirror global activity: as ever a strong commitment to a range of therapy areas and, looking more broadly, fantastic work being undertaken in gene-related research and immunotherapy; huge potential in the convergence space between healthcare and IT, all things big data and of course the personalisation of medicine. 

The list is, of course, not definitive!
 

East of England region accounts for 15 per cent of UK Life Science jobs

‘Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts’.

This is one of my all-time favourite quotes and I’m sure many readers will recognise it immediately as one of the many insightful, powerful and accurate protestations of one Sir Winston Churchill. In my view it speaks to the very heart of the UK life science and healthcare sector and those who work tirelessly in it. 

Whether as young PhD’s or Postdocs, bench scientists, entrepreneurs, investors, chief executives, business development teams or those focusing their daily lives on Research & Development for the greater human good.
Nowhere in the UK is this courage more noticeable (perhaps because of its sheer critical mass), than here in the Cambridge area. 

At One Nucleus we have just produced our latest twice-yearly newsletter which features much of the deeply innovative and exciting work of our members, many of whom are from this region. In the final cut we were struggling to work out how to keep the e-zine to a manageable read – so many and varied are the good news stories coming out of the sector locally right now. 

Here at Granta Park, where One Nucleus is fortunate to have our office, there are tangible reminders of this courage and success every day – with the construction of the brand new Gilead building here – which promises to be a 93,000 square ft beauty. 

Granta Park will also be home to the pharma giant – US company Illumina, and its major new European headquarters which is in the offing, with investment of between £50 million and £60m in the venture and 500 staff.  
But it isn’t all about the big boys (or girls!). Recent months have seen the fantastic, relatively new kid on the block, Inivata, raising hopes and expectations – and finance of £31.5m.

It’s a really exciting deal, partly because of the focus on improving personalised healthcare in oncology by developing a simple blood test to detect and characterise mutations in tumour DNA but also because of those who are involved in the round – Imperial Innovations; Cambridge Innovation Capital; Johnson and Johnson Innovation and new investor Woodford Patient Capital. 

The company is such a good example of a Cambridge-based company forging ahead in the personalised medicine space, receiving attention and support for its groundbreaking work from tough investors – and all against a backdrop of the original research having been conducted in the Rosenfeld lab, located at CRUK here in Cambridge. Other inspiring SMEs are of course available!

There has been a lot of talk recently in government and investor circles about the need not only to focus on the needs and interests of startups but also on scale-ups. There are great examples of this type of growth here at the moment, too. 

Abzena is expanding the group’s offering into GMP manufacture and acquiring companies on the East and West coast of the US, Domainex is to move into its brand new state of the art laboratory at Chesterford Research Park this summer, and very soon we will see the Wellcome Genome Campus/Sanger Institute launching its new space to the outside world and actively encouraging world-class quality to come here to scale up. All very exciting.

If anyone is in any doubt about the strength and size of the life science and healthcare cluster here in the region, they need look no further for convincing than the recently launched new Strength and Opportunity (2015) Report refreshed by HM Government. 

The national statistics for the sector are compelling: 5,633 companies, 222,000 employees and revenue of £61 billion. The East of England accounts for 15 per cent of the UK’s life science jobs – making it the biggest employer in the sector.

For those of you who like pictorial evidence of robustness, do take a look at the report (link below), which includes a set of maps showing the distribution of life science and healthcare employment, companies and turnover. You’ll need sunglasses for the depth of colour on the various maps showcasing what is going on in and around these parts.

http://ift.tt/274tS0x