Accelrys Acquires Contur Software AB
Accelrys announced that its subsidiary, Accelrys Software, has acquired privately-held Contur Software AB. Based in Stockholm, Sweden, Contur is a company for cost-effective Electronic Laboratory Notebook (ELN) software solutions which enable scientific organizations to document their research and development processes and to capture their intellectual property (IP). Contur is a provider of such ELN capabilities via a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model.
Most R&D organizations continue to rely on paper notebooks to document some or all of their laboratory work. Using paper notebooks is inefficient, because the output of such experiments cannot be easily retrieved, searched or shared, resulting in inconsistent processes, IP risks and duplicated experiments. Contur ELN addresses these issues by delivering a rapid-to-deploy software solution that enables customers to effectively document and capture experimental data and the resulting IP in a user-friendly and secure environment. Launched in 2003, Contur ELN’s primary customer base is outside of large pharmaceutical companies, and the product has achieved notable success in the food and beverage, chemicals and biotechnology sectors as well as academia.
Contur ELN complements Symyx Notebook and broadens the range of solutions that Accelrys now provides to scientific R&D organizations. The Symyx Notebook is a multidisciplinary, highly customizable ELN intended to be integrated with other enterprise systems and instrumentation and can also be deployed in validated environments. It is ideally suited to enabling research and development organizations to deploy a fully integrated electronic laboratory environment. Contur ELN is targeted to assist research and development organizations with a solution which documents their experimental processes and captures the results in a searchable central location, either on premises or as an on-demand Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model.
“We are excited about expanding Accelrys’ portfolio with Contur’s ELN and view this as an important addition to our evolving Enterprise R&D Platform,” said Accelrys President and Chief Executive Officer Max Carnecchia. “In addition to innovative technology, we are adding domain experts to our team and expanding our ability to meet customer needs in product and process development. With the addition of Contur’s software solutions, Accelrys now offers cost-effective ELNs to meet the range of needs of various scientific research and development teams — from R&D organizations transitioning from paper to an electronic notebook to those requiring a fully integrated electronic lab environment.”
Accelrys agreed to pay an aggregate total of approximately $13.1 million in cash, including $0.5 million to be paid upon reaching certain agreed-upon milestones. Contur had approximately $0.6 million in cash at closing. The company does not expect the acquisition to have a material impact on its GAAP and non-GAAP revenue, expenses, operating profit or earnings per share for the year ending December 31, 2011. All key members of the Contur management team have been retained.
