BioAscent
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2013
- HeadquartersNewhouse, United Kingdom
- Headcount51–100
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
BioAscent firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- BioAscent
- Legal name
- BioAscent Discovery Ltd
- Website
- https://bioascent.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2013
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 51–100 employees
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
BioAscent industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Drug Discovery Contract Research Services
- NAICS
- Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) (541714), Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (54171)
- SIC
- Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Preclinical CROs (Discovery/Pharmacology/DMPK) (HLAGAAAB)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Specialty Therapeutic-Area CROs (e.g., oncology/rare disease) (HLAGAAAL)
Keywords
Where BioAscent is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Newhouse
- HQ country
- United Kingdom
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices2 records
Markets served
BioAscent business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Integrated Drug Discovery Services: Full-service CRO offering integrated drug discovery projects covering assay development, screening, medicinal chemistry, synthetic chemistry, computational chemistry, and DMPK services. Provides both standalone and fully integrated project delivery.
- Compound Management Services: Compound aggregation, storage, weighing, dissolution, plating (including acoustic dispensing), LC-MS analysis, and distribution services. Operating since 2005 with €20 million facility. Cost-effective, transparent activity-based pricing model.
- Custom Library Sourcing: Rapid selection and sourcing of custom libraries through established partnerships with compound suppliers and aggregators such as MolPort.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Pay-as-you-go | Activity-based pricing for compound management services |
| Professional services/ project-based | Multi-year contract | Integrated drug discovery project pricing |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels7 records
BioAscent product offering
Product offeringCore offering
BioAscent is a contract research organization (CRO) providing science-led integrated drug discovery services, including de novo assay development, medicinal and synthetic chemistry, computational chemistry, in vitro biosciences, DMPK, and access to in-house diversity and fragment libraries. It also offers parallel compound management services covering sourcing, secure storage, cherry-picking, plating, and global shipping of chemical libraries, supported by a proprietary web-based inventory platform (Compound Connect) for CRO network coordination.
Product overview
BioAscent offers integrated drug discovery services as a unified platform combining multiple specialized capabilities. The core Integrated Drug Discovery Services platform encompasses Discovery Biology (biochemical/biophysical/cellular assays), In Silico Discovery (computational chemistry and AI), Medicinal Chemistry, Protein Science and Structural Biology, and access to proprietary compound libraries (diversity, fragment, and chemogenomic). Compound Management operates as a parallel core service line providing secure compound storage, cherry picking, plating, and logistics via the proprietary Compound Connect web platform. The services are designed to work together seamlessly on a single site, enabling rapid turnaround from synthesis to screening data for customers ranging from virtual biotechs to big pharma.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Integrated Drug Discovery Services Comprehensive integrated drug discovery offering combining de novo assay development, target analysis, bespoke screening strategies, compound screening (including HTS), medicinal and synthetic chemistry, computational chemistry, DMPK, and in-house diversity and fragment libraries for biotech, pharma, and academic customers.
- Compound Management Big-pharma calibre compound management services including rapid compound sourcing, secure storage, flexible cherry picking, plating (including acoustic dispensing), LC-MS analysis, and global shipping and logistics, supported by a proprietary web-based inventory platform (Compound Connect).
- Compound Connect Proprietary web-based inventory and ordering system providing secure customer access to a customized online compound library, with a fully auditable order fulfilment system interfacing with Titian Mosaic compound management software.
- Medicinal Chemistry Services Proven medicinal and synthetic chemistry expertise supporting drug design, hit-to-lead and lead optimisation campaigns for external pharma and biotech customers.
- In Silico Discovery and Data Analysis Computational chemistry and AI-driven drug discovery services including virtual screening, library design, cheminformatics, molecular dynamics simulations, and generative chemistry for accelerated compound design.
- Discovery Biology Services Biochemical, biophysical, and cellular assay development with screening expertise across target classes including GPCRs, kinases, ion channels, and mitochondrial targets.
- Protein Science and Structural Biology Protein production, Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) biophysics, and structural biology services including X-ray crystallography and NMR for target-ligand interaction characterisation.
- In-house Diversity, Fragment and Chemogenomic Libraries Proprietary compound libraries including diversity, fragment, and chemogenomic collections for high-throughput screening campaigns.
- Screening and Characterization Services High-throughput screening (HTS) capabilities including functional screening, cell-based phenotypic screening, and whole-organism screening for hit identification.
- Physicochemical Profiling and DMPK Drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics (DMPK) profiling including physicochemical property characterisation and ADMETox prediction services.
Quantifiable outcome
- 81% compound annualised growth over two years
- +5 more outcomes
Companies that use BioAscent
Customer profileNamed customers13 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
BioAscent technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability7 records
Feature6 records
BioAscent partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- University of GlasgowcoreSuccessful collaboration on GPR84 antagonist programme with publication of results. Collaboration between BioAscent researchers and University of Glasgow on GPR84 antagonist drug discovery programme.
- Magnitude BiosciencesminorResearch collaboration to profile Chemogenomics Library using VivoScan™ whole-organism screening platform, combining Magnitude's expertise in whole-organism screening with BioAscent's compound management capabilities.
- University of GlasgowcorePartnership to fund two PhD studentships supported by Medical Research Scotland, focusing on cancer and metabolic disease research. Project aims to develop new therapeutic approaches for energy metabolism in cancer and predictive models for insulin resistance, leveraging BioAscent's drug discovery capabilities.
- Keltic Pharma TherapeuticscoreStrategic collaboration to expand peptide discovery capabilities for GPCR targets. Partnership involves integration of Keltic's PEPSMOL© platform into BioAscent's drug discovery services, aiming to accelerate drug development across multiple therapeutic areas.
- ExscientiacoreCollaboration on high-throughput screen (HTS) to identify novel allosteric compounds targeting HSD17β13 enzyme. BioAscent provided assay development and screening services; co-publication on Particle Swarm Optimisation technique published in Cell Press Patterns.
- European Lead Factory Consortium (AstraZeneca, Bayer, Grunenthal, Janssen, Merck KgaA, Sanofi, Servier, UCB)coreCompound management services for European Lead Factory collections from major pharmaceutical partners including AstraZeneca, Bayer, Grunenthal, Janssen, Merck KgaA, Sanofi, Servier, and UCB.
- University of LincolnminorAcademic collaboration with postdoctoral researcher Joan Clark-Nicolas on AI-driven design of novel GLP-1R PAMs using REINVENT4 deep generative reinforcement learning framework.
- University of EdinburghminorAcademic collaboration with PhD student Ryan Zhu on generative AI for NLRP3 inflammasome inhibitor design using REINVENT4 framework.
- University of StirlingminorSummer internship collaboration with MSc student Donaldson Chuks Okolo on applying machine learning to predict buffer effects on assay performance using Bayesian optimisation.
- Apollo TherapeuticsminorCollaboration on screening and characterisation of mitochondria gatekeeper protein inhibitors using Seahorse XF Pro Platform.
Scale indicators8 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
BioAscent competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- WuXi AppTec: China-headquartered global CRO/CDMO with end-to-end small molecule discovery, biology and DMPK capabilities. Sets the global price/throughput benchmark for integrated discovery work that BioAscent competes against for biotech and pharma R&D budgets.
- Pharmaron: China-founded, globally integrated CRO/CDMO with chemistry, biology, DMPK and safety services. Competes for the same pharma/biotech integrated discovery contracts, particularly on price-sensitive programmes where scale matters.
- Charles River Laboratories: Global CRO with substantial early-stage discovery, safety assessment and manufacturing services. Competes with BioAscent in integrated discovery and adjacent services, but at far greater scale and across a much broader portfolio.
- Evotec: Large Hamburg-based drug discovery CRO with end-to-end platforms across modalities including small molecules, biologics and cell therapy. Comparable integrated discovery offering but at much greater scale and broader modality coverage than BioAscent.
- Eurofins Discovery: Discovery arm of Eurofins Scientific offering in vitro pharmacology, ADME and integrated discovery services. Overlaps with BioAscent's biology and DMPK capabilities and competes for European biotech outsourcing budgets at greater scale.
Direct peers
- HitGen: China-based DNA-encoded library and small molecule discovery CRO. Highly comparable in screening library and early discovery specialisation, and increasingly competes for biotech customers seeking library-driven hit identification services globally.
- Domainex: UK-based integrated drug discovery CRO with medicinal chemistry, biology and DMPK services. Closely comparable in scale and service offering, competing head-to-head with BioAscent for UK and European biotech discovery outsourcing.
- Concept Life Sciences: UK-headquartered CRO (formed from Peakdale Molecular and other acquisitions) offering chemistry, biology and DMPK services. Comparable UK-based discovery CRO with overlapping customer base in European biotech and pharma.
- Sygnature Discovery: UK-based integrated drug discovery CRO offering medicinal chemistry, in vitro biology, DMPK and computational chemistry. Most direct comparable in size, geography and service mix to BioAscent, competing for similar biotech and mid-pharma integrated discovery contracts.
Regional players
- Selvita: Poland-based integrated drug discovery CRO with medicinal chemistry, in vitro biology and DMPK. Comparable in service mix and emerging-stage positioning; competes mainly in Central/Eastern Europe rather than the UK-centric footprint of BioAscent.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
BioAscent social profiles
Digital presenceBioAscent financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
BioAscent leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles11 records
BioAscent funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors1 record
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
BioAscent M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about BioAscent
What does BioAscent do?
BioAscent is a contract research organization (CRO) providing science-led integrated drug discovery services, including de novo assay development, medicinal and synthetic chemistry, computational chemistry, in vitro biosciences, DMPK, and access to in-house diversity and fragment libraries. It also offers parallel compound management services covering sourcing, secure storage, cherry-picking, plating, and global shipping of chemical libraries, supported by a proprietary web-based inventory platform (Compound Connect) for CRO network coordination.
Is BioAscent a public or private company?
BioAscent is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was BioAscent founded?
BioAscent was founded in 2013. It employs 51 to 100 people.
Where is BioAscent based?
BioAscent is headquartered in Newhouse, United Kingdom, in the Europe region.
How does BioAscent make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Integrated Drug Discovery Services are the primary driver. The others are compound Management Services and custom Library Sourcing.
Who are BioAscent's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are WuXi AppTec, Pharmaron, Charles River Laboratories, Evotec and Eurofins Discovery. Direct peers are HitGen, Domainex, Concept Life Sciences and Sygnature Discovery. Selvita is listed as a regional player.
Does BioAscent have an API?
No public API is recorded for BioAscent.
What industry is BioAscent in?
BioAscent's product category is Drug Discovery Contract Research Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HLAGAAAB, Preclinical CROs (Discovery/Pharmacology/DMPK), with a secondary code of HLAGAAAL, Specialty Therapeutic-Area CROs (e.g., oncology/rare disease). Its NAICS code is 541714 and its SIC code is 8731.