Cresset

Cresset provides a software platform that is used by computational and medicinal chemists for small molecule discovery and design. Cresset’s technology allows customers to increase efficiency as well as generate novel ideas, with the ultimate goal of speeding up the discovery and delivery of new drugs.

The traditional approach to small-molecule drug discovery involves chemists working in “wet labs”, however, computer aided design has risen in popularity in the last two decades due to scientific and enabling technology advancements. Chemists use Cresset’s software to complement and optimise workflows that would previously have been completed via manual and time-consuming wet lab experiments.

Computational chemists, and the technology that supports them, are becoming increasingly important in the drug discovery process. The computer aided drug design software market is expected to continue to grow as penetration of the pharmaceutical and biotechnology market increases.

Given the highly scientific nature of the offering (>50% of Cresset employees have PhDs), Cresset operates in a market characterised by a tight competitive set and high barriers to entry. The majority of Cresset’s revenue is generated from large enterprise customers across the pharmaceutical and agrochemical industries (including 8 of the top 10 global pharma companies).

Cresset has grown strongly on a capital efficient basis and is approaching 100 employees. The business is headquartered in Cambridgeshire, U.K. but generates the majority of ARR internationally. Cresset is planning to further expand its operations internationally in the coming years, particularly in the USA.

In the last few years Cresset has significantly accelerated its growth rate by broadening its core product offering to include both structure and ligand-based design capabilities (via Flare™), and the release of a new comprehensive DMTA workflow suite (via Torx®). Torx enables multiple stakeholders in the drug discovery workflow to make better design decisions and track compound synthesis from start to finish with ease.

“We’re delighted to be partnering with SEP as Cresset continues to grow. They have industry specific knowledge and experience, having been the largest shareholder in Dotmatics which was acquired by US-based Insightful Science in March 2021. The funds will ensure computational chemists, medicinal chemists and research managers have the best tools to develop the next generation of drugs.”

Dr Robert Scoffin, CEO, Cresset