SCOTTISH Equity Partners (SEP) has exited its majority stake in Exco InTouch, after the Midlands-based clinical data specialist was sold to US-based ERT.
The deal comes just days after the venture capital firm was understood to have netted around £380 million following the acquisition of Skyscanner by China’s Ctrip for £1.4 billion. SEP had been the biggest investor in the Edinburgh-based online travel search business.
SEP, which first invested in Exco in 2011, did not disclose how much it gained from the ERT deal, which comes amid rapid growth at the Nottingham company.
The tie-up is said to provide the biopharmaceutical industry with the “most advanced and comprehensive choice for electronic clinical outcome assessments, patient engagement and digital health”.
Jan Rutherford, SEP partner and non-executive director of Exco InTouch, described the merger as a “great strategic fit”.
Ms Rutherford said: “Exco InTouch has been widely recognised as one of the fastest growing technology companies in the UK, quadrupling its turnover over the last three years and increasing its staff to over 180 skilled personnel.
“SEP has actively supported the company in driving technological innovation for both clinical trial and digital health programmes and expanding its partnerships with pharma companies in both the US and Europe.”
Albion Ventures has also exited Exco as a result of the deal. Andrew Elder, Albion’s lead healthcare partner, said its backing had helped build Exco into a global player, now engaging with more than one million patients in around 32,000 hospitals across 97 countries. “It has been a pleasure to work alongside SEP in backing the team that has delivered one of the most successful exits to date in the exciting and emerging UK digital health sector”, he said.
Tim Davis, founder and chief executive of Exco, said ERT had been an “obvious choice” to partner with.
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