Every scientist wants to run the perfect experiment. Synthace lets scientists do exactly that. At first glance, “making experiments better” seems like a simple idea, but it couldn’t be further from the truth. Let me put it another way: we’re a deep tech B2B SaaS platform serving 8 of the top 12 pharmaceutical companies at the cutting edge of life science R&D, and the problem we’re solving goes right to the very heart of scientific research.
The problem is this: how do you represent, control, and abstract something as fundamental and important as the experimental process?
Without our experiment platform, you can’t. Unlike so many other industries that have risen on the tide of computing advances in the last half-century, life science has not; this means that many scientists are still struggling with manual processes. Handheld pipetting remains common because there’s not enough time or know-how to code automation equipment, and it’s still common to write results down in spreadsheets or, worse, paper notebooks.
When scientists use our platform, incredible things happen. Tedious tasks are automated away, human error vanishes, and avenues of research that had been written off as dead ends—“cold cases”, if you like—suddenly open up. When the penny drops, it sends a ripple through entire organizations.
What do you think makes this company unique?
What makes us unique is our people. Some might call that a cliché, but they should try working here. We have assembled an incredibly diverse group of individuals, with over 25 nationalities represented, and it’s a joy to be a part of it. After all: Science is universal, so we try hard to reflect that.
While we are a software company at heart, we also stand out thanks to our talented group of scientists based out of our own lab. We talk the talk, but we also walk the walk, using our own platform to run research in our lab gives us a far deeper understanding of what our customers want and need. Our software engineers and scientists work together hand-in-hand to solve problems and take our platform to new heights every single day.
This rare combination of in-depth software knowledge and cutting-edge scientific prowess is potent. We are able to get a greater handle on who our customers are, what they’re attempting to accomplish, and what matters to them the most—and then immediately execute on that in the best way possible.
How has the company evolved over the last couple of years?
We have had incredible momentum in these past twenty-four months. We raised our $35M Series C last year, and have since grown to serve 8 of the top 12 pharmaceutical companies in the life science sector. Our successes have been driven by two key priorities we set when I joined in early 2021.
The first has been to prioritize building an incredible culture that places diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) as its number one priority. In business, DEI has never mattered more. With a “monoculture” you lose the diversity of ideas, opinions, options, and solutions that give you the best chance of navigating rough waters and new territory. With a weak culture that doesn’t prioritize DEI, it’s harder to find the best way through and deliver the most value to customers, employees, and society as a whole.
We’ve recently been announced as a 2022 UK Best Workplaces™ for Women by Great Place to Work UK. It’s a truly wonderful recognition and evidence that—so far—we’re doing the right things.
The second priority has been to make Synthace a product-first company. We have worked relentlessly on this and have made significant strides in customer acquisition, retention, and expansion as a result. Like I said above, we have our team of incredibly talented engineers and scientists to thank for this.
What can we hope to see from Synthace in the future?
We see a future where, on day one, every new hire at a bioscience company will get a lab coat, a laptop, and a Synthace license. We’re not there yet, but we have product developments coming down the line that will hand even more control and power to the scientist. Ultimately, we’re allowing them to do more with what they have, do it faster, and do it without the headaches of data manipulation and manual handling that they’ve had to endure for so long.
We are optimistic about growth since our cloud software will continue to play a crucial role in how scientists do research both today and in the future. At the end of the day, the way we expand is by providing our clients with value to the extent that they are unable to envision doing business without us, something that’s already true for our current clients.
