Nexcelom
Founded in 2003 by Dr. Jean Qiu. Nexcelom’s technology is widely used in biomedical research, drug discovery, and biomanufacturing. Its instruments run various tests, including cell and gene therapy quality control and cell-based assays, providing solutions that are widely applicable, efficient and cost effective. According to Dr. Qiu, “one day a customer at the NIH asked us to ‘make manual counting under the microscope go away.’ So, we invented Cellometer Auto T4 to measure cell concentration and viability.”
Numerous investors had reached out to founder Dr. Jean Qiu and Dr. Peter Li (who joined as CEO in 2006) over the years, expressing interest in taking Nexcelom Biosciences to the next level. Since its start in 2003, Dr. Qiu and Dr. Li had led Nexcelom through a decade plus of significant growth, establishing it as a leading innovator in cell analysis instruments and reagents.
By 2017, Dr. Qiu and Dr. Li recognized the need for additional expertise to leverage rapid advancements in fields like cell and gene therapy. With the right investment support and partnerships, they were ready to unlock Nexcelom’s full potential. A meeting with Ampersand Capital Partners at a scientific conference finally caught their interest. Ampersand’s deep industry knowledge and understanding of the challenges faced by scientific entrepreneurs would soon set the stage for Nexcelom’s next chapter of success.
“We began to recognize that not all investors are created equal. We knew we needed resources to grow the business, not just capital. If we took on a partner, we needed to supplement our market expertise.” –Jean Qiu
Keys to Success
In 2018, Ampersand became a minority investor into Nexcelom, partnering with Dr. Qiu and Dr. Li to pursue a shared vision to accelerate the company’s growth. The relationship provided a combination of financial support and industry know-how, in particular, with the appointment of industry veteran and Ampersand Operating Partner Frank Witney to the Nexcelom Board of Directors. Ampersand’s life science expertise, familiarity with business management best practices, and knowledge of industry trends aligned perfectly with Nexcelom’s needs.
Ampersand served as a guide and specialized resource, allowing Dr. Qiu and Dr. Li to maintain oversight of the day-to-day management and operational control of the business. This partnership also provided Nexcelom access to Ampersand’s market expertise and extensive industry network, offering unique ways to foster growth and new synergistic relationships.
Ampersand’s investment soon enabled the launch of Nexcelom’s Cellometer and Celigo product line extensions and automation capabilities. This strategic move allowed the company to expand into the high throughput lab sector and penetrate key customer communities. Ampersand also helped introduce well-established business processes in a manner that didn’t overburden the still small entity, simultaneously improving Nexcelom’s e-commerce and e-marketing capabilities, product management, and marketing communications.
“When we met Ampersand, we saw that companies they invested in and supported were in the same laboratories, businesses and academic environments that our products supported. We realized it was an organization that could take us to the next level.” –Peter Li
Building on this momentum, Nexcelom welcomed significant organizational growth in 2019 with the addition of a VP of Marketing and a VP of Sales to expand the leadership team. It also increased its physical scale by investing in the expansion of its headquarters and manufacturing capacity. Ampersand helped foster and supported multiple commercial business development initiatives with instrument and reagent partners. Perhaps most notably, Ampersand helped to develop a comprehensive 3-5-year R&D and commercialization plan, leading to the growth of Nexcelom’s reagent and consumables portfolio.
The following year brought unprecedented challenges with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic; however, Nexcelom was also able to take advantage of market opportunities created by the outbreak. Despite global supply chain interruptions, the company successfully launched the Cellaca instrument platform, along with other new capabilities. Ampersand’s industry experience and counsel proved invaluable in helping Nexcelom navigate the challenges of the pandemic while maintaining stable operations and incremental growth.
Throughout this period, Ampersand played an active role in further building out Nexcelom’s leadership team and commercial capabilities by leveraging its strong industry reputation and extensive network. Nexcelom continued to add high-quality executives to their team while expanding its presence in key markets like Europe. This diversification was crucial in reducing the company’s reliance on any single market and opened up new revenue streams.
Ampersand also facilitated closer collaboration with European research partners and customers, enabling Nexcelom to gain stronger insight into region-specific needs and trends. The expansion led to increased global market recognition of Nexcelom’s brand, positioning it as a truly international player in the cell analysis field.
“As entrepreneurs building a business, it’s really important to recognize that you don’t know what you don’t know. With Ampersand on our side, we were confident we had access to the crucial additional intelligence and experience required to execute our strategic plan.” –Peter Li
In 2021, just three years after embarking on its journey with Ampersand, Nexcelom was acquired by PerkinElmer, Inc. The partnership helped Nexcelom to double its operations and personnel, launch multiple new product lines, and establish itself as a leader in cell counting instruments, image cytometry workstations, assay and cell reagents, consumables and services.
Ampersand brought its deep expertise to bear throughout the exit process – helping to identify potential suitors and negotiating terms. The team’s guidance on valuation, preparations for the due diligence process, and deal structuring ensured Nexcelom’s value was indisputable. Ampersand’s support paved the way for a new chapter for the founders, continued growth potential for the new owners, and job security and continuity for the team that had taken Nexcelom to that point.
Nexcelom’s story exemplifies Ampersand’s commitment to Forging Leaders in Life Sciences as the investment not only provided growth capital, but the expertise and industry connections needed to execute on the founders’ strategy. As Nexcelom continued to grow, so too did the founders as they flourished alongside the business.
“When you build a business, you need an ecosystem. You need the infrastructure to help it grow – and our partnership with Ampersand helped us achieve that.” –Jean Qiu
Disclosure: The case study and results included are for illustration purposes only and may not be typical. The case study should not be considered specific investment advice, do not take into consideration a specific situation, and are not intended to make an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of any securities or investment strategies. Investments involve risk and are not guaranteed. Case study testimonials were provided by clients between May 2024 – July 2024. The client was not compensated, nor are their material conflicts of interest that would affect the given testimony. The testimony may not be representative of the experience of other current clients and does not provide a guarantee of future performance success or similar services.
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