Acquisition deal snaps up digital matchmaker for academia and industry

A Sheffield-based digital matchmaking platform which is dedicated to academia-industry collaboration has been acquired.

IN-PART, which has a platform called Connect used by more than 250 universities and research institutes to find new partners for commercialisation, has been bought by Lyon-headquartered biopharma partnering platform, Inova.

Inova supports more than 160 global clients, including many of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies.

IN-PART provides digital matchmaking platforms for teams in academia and industry striving for greater positive impact through collaboration. Launched in 2014, it has offices in Sheffield and London, with a team of 50 employees.

Its scouting platform, Discover, is used by sector leaders to engage academics and research service departments in over 1,500 institutes with specific R&D challenges or requirements.

The acquisition means that while IN-PART will continue to service and expand its platforms for all research sectors, it will also gain access to Inova’s software infrastructure, as well as its teams in product and marketing.

In turn, Inova clients will benefit from access to IN-PART’s search and discovery platforms, as well as leveraging best practice in matchmaking technology.

By creating a more connected research ecosystem, the deal is designed to ensure academic breakthroughs have an even greater impact on society.  

Robin Knight, co-founder and director of IN-PART, said: “It was clear from the start with Inova that there was synergy between our vision and approach.

“Inova provides clients with sector-leading partnering software that fits perfectly with our matchmaking platform and search solution, Discover.

“The union of our companies, along with the exchange of expertise and technology across our teams will allow us to accelerate the pace at which we’re helping to surface the next generation of treatments and technologies.”

His fellow co-founder and director, Patrick Speedie, added: “In Inova, we’ve found a great strategic fit across our technology base and close alignment in terms of company values and culture.

“It will give us access to a lot more resources and expertise for IN-PART to accelerate its growth and achieve its vision of connecting the academia-industry ecosystem, across all the research fields and sectors we work with.

“It’s a big moment for us and we’re looking forward to the next part of our journey.”