Success story: 18 March 08
Research and development fuels growth for bioinformatics firm
Cutting edge research and development supported by creative marketing is getting Auckland company Biomatters’ software in at the ground level of a sector tipped for exponential growth in the next few years.
Biomatters flagship product Geneious dramatically shortens the time needed for computer based biological research by managing data and making it easier to share and compare information.
The discipline of bioinformatics or biology that uses computer science has been growing quickly since sequencing of the human genome was completed in 2001. Worldwide, the resulting genetic research is producing vast amounts of information to be analysed and interpreted in the drive for scientific and medical discoveries.
Founded less than four years ago, Biomatters is also growing fast, achieving 700 per cent growth in revenue in the year ending December 2007. One of its founders, Dr Alexei Drummond is an Auckland evolutionary biologist who, while completing post doctoral studies at Oxford University in the UK, hit on the idea of creating software applications for molecular biologists that were friendly to use in the lab.
Early on, the company sought investment support from the Foundation? for Research, Science and Technology to develop Geneious, securing just over $800,000 of research and development (R&D) funding through the Technology for Business Growth (TBG?) scheme in 2005.
Two and a half years later the TBG project is nearing completion. “Technology for business growth is exactly what it’s been for Biomatters,” says, Chief Operating Officer Dr Brett Ammundsen. “The solid funding has allowed us to take a concept and turn it into one of the smartest and most feature rich packages for gene sequencing on the market. By the time the research project is completed we will have built a team of expert developers and Biomatters will have grown to a point where we can invest our own funds into further R&D.”
In addition, he says, the Foundation support has made it easier to raise private investment. “It’s been good for investors to know that the dollars they put up are matched by Government support.”
Dr Ammundsen says one of the pluses of working with the Foundation has been the ability to fine tune the R&D to make sure the software is what the market wants. “While we are still working to the original project plan, we have changed priorities and emphasis along the way as a result of what customers tell us. The Foundation has been very supportive of that process, encouraging us to adapt to market requirements.”
Geneious was released as a piece of free software in 2006, followed by the first commercial version six months later. “On the day of its release it was the No 1 download worldwide on Apple.com and the No 1 science download for the month,” says CEO Candace Toner. Since then more than 80,000 scientists have downloaded it worldwide and the product has been sold into 40 countries and 44 of the 50 US states.
Ms Toner says with a wide range of free software available for scientists to use, Biomatters has been focused on making its product outstanding enough to push users over the purchase line.
“Much of the free software available does certain parts of bioinformatics or interprets genomic data in certain ways but doesn’t offer a complete package. Ours acts like a backbone that brings all the components together and is very user friendly at the same time.”
While the product is getting excellent feedback from users, Ms Toner says creative strategies are vital to give Biomatters an edge in a highly competitive marketplace.
That includes regular marketing trips offshore, investing in on-line advertising (over 80 per cent of Biomatters business comes through its website and half of its clients indicate they found Geneious on-line) and entering awards.
Last year the company won the e-Science category of the United Nations International World Summit Awards and the Computerworld Excellence Award for Best Innovation in ICT? in New Zealand.
“Those achievements have raised our profile and are an important external validation. We had scientists carry out what was effectively an ISO level audit on our internal development processes and business procedures for the Computerworld Awards.”
The company knows that validation by reputable scientists through citations in publications will be one of its more powerful testimonials but is ‘in purgatory right now’ says Ms Toner. “It can take years before research that uses our product is completed and the results published.”
Determining that China is the origin of the second highest number of hits on its site, encouraged Biomatters to last year launch a Chinese language website.
“We see China as an important market given its huge population, significant resources and the fact that science and study are both held in high esteem. We saw an opportunity to cater for it in a unique way, by providing a website in their language and purchasing systems that are on their terms.
Academia and education are core markets for Geneious, given the spiralling numbers studying bioinformatics both in the western world and emerging economies in Asia and the Middle East. But Biomatters is also targeting the next level of customers such as research institutes and pharmaceutical companies at the forefront of biomedical research.
Next year it will step up those efforts by establishing an offshore beachhead to cater for larger customers and bring more face-to-face contact.
The company is also exploring new avenues in New Zealand including working with Telcom on allowing researchers to use Geneious powered through the New Zealand Supercomputing Centre resources on a pay as you go basis.
Biomatters flagship product Geneious dramatically shortens the time needed for computer based biological research by managing data and making it easier to share and compare information.
The discipline of bioinformatics or biology that uses computer science has been growing quickly since sequencing of the human genome was completed in 2001. Worldwide, the resulting genetic research is producing vast amounts of information to be analysed and interpreted in the drive for scientific and medical discoveries.
Founded less than four years ago, Biomatters is also growing fast, achieving 700 per cent growth in revenue in the year ending December 2007. One of its founders, Dr Alexei Drummond is an Auckland evolutionary biologist who, while completing post doctoral studies at Oxford University in the UK, hit on the idea of creating software applications for molecular biologists that were friendly to use in the lab.
Early on, the company sought investment support from the Foundation? for Research, Science and Technology to develop Geneious, securing just over $800,000 of research and development (R&D) funding through the Technology for Business Growth (TBG?) scheme in 2005.
Two and a half years later the TBG project is nearing completion. “Technology for business growth is exactly what it’s been for Biomatters,” says, Chief Operating Officer Dr Brett Ammundsen. “The solid funding has allowed us to take a concept and turn it into one of the smartest and most feature rich packages for gene sequencing on the market. By the time the research project is completed we will have built a team of expert developers and Biomatters will have grown to a point where we can invest our own funds into further R&D.”
In addition, he says, the Foundation support has made it easier to raise private investment. “It’s been good for investors to know that the dollars they put up are matched by Government support.”
Dr Ammundsen says one of the pluses of working with the Foundation has been the ability to fine tune the R&D to make sure the software is what the market wants. “While we are still working to the original project plan, we have changed priorities and emphasis along the way as a result of what customers tell us. The Foundation has been very supportive of that process, encouraging us to adapt to market requirements.”
Geneious was released as a piece of free software in 2006, followed by the first commercial version six months later. “On the day of its release it was the No 1 download worldwide on Apple.com and the No 1 science download for the month,” says CEO Candace Toner. Since then more than 80,000 scientists have downloaded it worldwide and the product has been sold into 40 countries and 44 of the 50 US states.
Ms Toner says with a wide range of free software available for scientists to use, Biomatters has been focused on making its product outstanding enough to push users over the purchase line.
“Much of the free software available does certain parts of bioinformatics or interprets genomic data in certain ways but doesn’t offer a complete package. Ours acts like a backbone that brings all the components together and is very user friendly at the same time.”
While the product is getting excellent feedback from users, Ms Toner says creative strategies are vital to give Biomatters an edge in a highly competitive marketplace.
That includes regular marketing trips offshore, investing in on-line advertising (over 80 per cent of Biomatters business comes through its website and half of its clients indicate they found Geneious on-line) and entering awards.
Last year the company won the e-Science category of the United Nations International World Summit Awards and the Computerworld Excellence Award for Best Innovation in ICT? in New Zealand.
“Those achievements have raised our profile and are an important external validation. We had scientists carry out what was effectively an ISO level audit on our internal development processes and business procedures for the Computerworld Awards.”
The company knows that validation by reputable scientists through citations in publications will be one of its more powerful testimonials but is ‘in purgatory right now’ says Ms Toner. “It can take years before research that uses our product is completed and the results published.”
Determining that China is the origin of the second highest number of hits on its site, encouraged Biomatters to last year launch a Chinese language website.
“We see China as an important market given its huge population, significant resources and the fact that science and study are both held in high esteem. We saw an opportunity to cater for it in a unique way, by providing a website in their language and purchasing systems that are on their terms.
Academia and education are core markets for Geneious, given the spiralling numbers studying bioinformatics both in the western world and emerging economies in Asia and the Middle East. But Biomatters is also targeting the next level of customers such as research institutes and pharmaceutical companies at the forefront of biomedical research.
Next year it will step up those efforts by establishing an offshore beachhead to cater for larger customers and bring more face-to-face contact.
The company is also exploring new avenues in New Zealand including working with Telcom on allowing researchers to use Geneious powered through the New Zealand Supercomputing Centre resources on a pay as you go basis.