Liggins Institute

Name

Liggins Institute

Legal name

The Liggins Institute – University of Auckland

Website

https://liggins.auckland.ac.nz

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Medical and Health Sciences Research

NAICS

Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (54171), Scientific Research and Development Services (5417), Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) (541714)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731), Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Medical Laboratories (8071)

akta.pro primary industry

Global Health Institutes & Programs (EDAHAGAM)

Keywords

• Clinical health research
• Maternal child health
• Postgraduate biomedical education
• Perinatal clinical trials
• Early life health research

Headquarters

HQ city

Auckland

HQ country

New Zealand

HQ region

Oceania

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Government Research Funding: Million-dollar government funding for research programmes and clinical trials platforms, including funding for preterm birth prevention and newborn care research.
2. Tuition Fees: Revenue from postgraduate education programmes including PhD, Masters, and Honours students.
3. Philanthropic Funding: Donations and charitable contributions from supporters to fund life-changing research.
4. Commercial Partnerships: Partnerships with commercial entities for research collaboration and funding.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The Liggins Institute is a university research institute that conducts clinical and laboratory research into how environmental and biological factors before conception and during early life influence lifelong health outcomes. It delivers postgraduate education (PhD, Masters, Honours), runs clinical studies and trials with mothers, babies, children, and adults, and translates findings into policy and education through the LENScience programme.

Product overview

The Liggins Institute is a university-based research institute at the University of Auckland focused on improving lifelong health through research into the determinants of health before conception and at every stage of the lifespan. The institute operates as a research organization offering postgraduate education programmes alongside its core research activities. Its portfolio includes four interconnected research themes (Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies; Determinants of a Healthy Life; Nutrition for Life-Long Health; Research to Reality), supported by specialized facilities including the Clinical Research Unit, Analytical and Molecular Research Platform, and Ngapouri Research Farm. The institute also delivers clinical studies and trials, the LENScience educational programme, and community engagement initiatives such as the Little Liggins Programme.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Postgraduate Research Programmes Postgraduate education programmes including PhD, Masters, and Honours offerings focused on the determinants of health and disease across the lifespan, supervised by Liggins Institute researchers at the University of Auckland.
• Clinical Studies and Trials Research studies involving pregnant women, preterm babies, children, and adults, investigating health outcomes and interventions, including a world-first clinical trials platform for preterm birth prevention. Participation is offered at no cost.
• LENScience Education Outreach Programme Science education initiative that communicates institute research findings to secondary schools and the broader community, bridging research to classroom learning.
• Little Liggins Community Programme Community engagement programme connecting families with research opportunities, educational resources, and updates from the Liggins Institute.

Quantifiable outcome

• World-first research platform for preterm birth and newborn care receiving million-dollar government funding

Named customers1 record

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• UniServicescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerUniServices is the commercial arm of the University of Auckland, serving as the primary vehicle for research commercialization, technology transfer, and industry partnerships. The Liggins Institute works with UniServices to commercialize research discoveries and establish commercial partnerships.
• ON TRACK NetworkcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerON TRACK Network is a perinatal research network that the Liggins Institute participates in for collaborative research on maternal and child health.
• Carosika CollaborativecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCarosika Collaborative is a major research initiative focused on maternal and child health that involves the Liggins Institute as a key research partner.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Robinson Research Institute: University of Adelaide research institute focused on the early-life origins of health and disease, fertility, pregnancy, and child development. Closely comparable in mission and research themes (Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies, nutrition, lifelong health) to Liggins, and operates as a similar university-based discovery and translational unit.
• Malaghan Institute of Medical Research: New Zealand-based independent medical research institute also operating within the Wellington/Ko te Herenga Waka ecosystem. Directly comparable as a NZ research institute focused on biomedical discovery and translational science, sharing funding models (government, philanthropy, commercial) and infrastructure scale.
• MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit (University of Southampton): UK research unit focused on lifecourse epidemiology, maternal nutrition, and early-life determinants of adult disease. Highly comparable in research themes (Nutrition for Life-long Health, Determinants of Healthy Life) and in operating model as a university-embedded epidemiology and clinical research unit.
• Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI): Australia's largest child-health research institute, embedded within the Royal Children's Hospital and University of Melbourne. Comparable in maternal/child-health research focus, longitudinal cohort infrastructure, and integration of clinical research with a university medical faculty, though at significantly greater scale.
• Garvan Institute of Medical Research: Australian independent medical research institute focused on genomics, immunology, and metabolic disease. Comparable as a mid-sized discovery/translational research institute with similar multi-theme structure, government and philanthropic funding base, and shared mission of translating biomedical research into clinical outcomes.
• Magee-Womens Research Institute (MWRI): US-based research institute affiliated with UPMC and the University of Pittsburgh focused on women's health, pregnancy, and infant outcomes. Highly comparable thematic overlap with Liggins' Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies programme, and similar model of clinical research units embedded within an academic medical ecosystem.

Regional players

• Centenary Institute: University of Sydney-affiliated medical research institute focused on immunology, cancer, and inflammatory disease. Comparable in size, public-interest research focus, and embedded-academic-institute operating model, though specializing in different disease domains.
• Hudson Institute of Medical Research: Australian medical research institute based in Melbourne with themes spanning women's and children's health, inflammation, and cancer. Comparable in size and structure as a mid-sized translational research institute, though operating under a different national funding system and regulatory environment.
• South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI): Large Australian health and medical research institute with themes including lifecourse health, nutrition, and maternal/child health. Comparable in translational research orientation and government-funded operating model, though with broader thematic scope and larger footprint.

Broad incumbents

• Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute: Large Australian medical research institute with broad cardiometabolic and chronic disease programmes. Comparable as a translational research institute in the Oceania region with a similar funding mix of government grants, philanthropy, and commercial partnerships, though focused on different disease areas.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/AucklandLiggins
• Facebookfacebook.com/TheLigginsInstitute
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/liggins-institute

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Liggins Institute