Private equity firm SFW Capital Partners has made a strategic investment in Essen BioScience.
SFW is partnering in this investment with Essen’s co-founders, Kirk Schroeder and Brad Neagle, who serve as the current president and vice-president of operations and engineering respectively, and its management team.
With SFW’s support and resources, Essen plans on making significant investments to further expand its applications and assays, develop and introduce innovative new products, and continue to enhance its sales, service and support capabilities.
Essen BioScience, based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, is a provider of critical analytical instrumentation, software, reagents and services used in cell-based life science research
Essen’s flagship product, the IncuCyte ZOOM live-content imaging system, provides researchers with access to quantitative, kinetic cellular biology while improving data quality and streamlining image collection through automation of the cell analysis process. Essen’s customers include the world’s leading researchers at biopharmaceutical companies including Merck, Genentech, Amgen, GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Pfizer.
“Essen exhibits the key characteristics that we look for in our investments in the analytical instrumentation market: high-value products and services, deep customer relationships, and significant opportunities for growth,” says Roger Freeman, SFW partner, who will be a member of the Essen board of directors. “We look forward to partnering with Kirk, Brad and the Essen management team to build on and extend the success of the company.”
“We are very pleased to be partnering with the SFW team, which is a well-known long-term investor and builder of analytical instrumentation businesses,” says Schroeder. “We are very proud of our current and historical accomplishments here at Essen, and this significant investment serves as a strong endorsement for our business model, growth strategy and future prospects.”
