Labcyte: Irish investors in the money after sale of US nanotech Labcyte

Irish investors, including State body Enterprise Ireland and Trinity College Dublin, have made a healthy return on their stake in Labcyte, a Californian company that has just been acquired for an undisclosed sum.The Irish shareholders, who also include Seroba Lifesciences, 4Th Level Ventures and the Investec-managed Guinness Ireland Ulster Bank Equity Fund, all acquired their stake in Lacbyte via an earlier investment in Allegro Technologies, a nanotechnology research company that traded as Deerac Fluidics.Labcyte acquired the Trinity College spin-out for an undisclosed sum in 2008 with Deerac's Dublin office continuing to be maintained as a European sales hub for the San Jose-headquartered company.All told, the Irish investors, which also include former Deerac executives, held just under 9 per cent of Labcyte, which has just been acquired by Beckman Coulter, a division of Fortune 500 company Danaher Corporation.While no figures have been disclosed, industry sources estimate the acquisition as in or around $300 million (€262.8 million).The Irish VC funds that backed Deerac are believed to have made a return of just under five times their original investment in the company.Company documents show Enterprise Ireland invested at least €550,000 in the company during the early 2000s. The Guinness Ireland Ulster Bank Equity Fund put in about €1.5 million, while Seroba and 4th Level Ventures each invested at least €500,000 apiece.Founded in 2000, Deerac was spun-out of the physics department at TCD and was based on the research of co-founders Prof Igor Shvets and Dr Jürgen Osing, who developed technologies that are used in instruments which dispense minute droplets of liquid, down to the 50 nanolitre range.At the time of the company's acquisition, the demand for low volume liquid handling devices was increasing and indeed remains strong due to the need for tools that facilitate miniaturisation in pharmaceutical research, biotechnology, and diagnostics.Dublin-headquartered Labcyte Europe Limited incurred a €273,927 net loss during the year ending June 2017 and had net liabilities of €3.96 million.Founded in 2000 and formerly known as Picoliter, Labcyte has developed advanced liquid handling solutions for life science research and clinical applications. It employs more than 200 people globally and has approximately 60 US patents."Acoustic liquid handling is quickly becoming the backbone for high-throughput, automated workflows, and we look forward to accelerating growth and innovation as part of the Beckman Coulter Life Sciences team," said Lacbyte co-founder and chief technology officer Richard Ellson.