Corten Capital and Ampersand Capital Partners Complete Acquisition of Beacon Intelligence to Accelerate Growth in Life Sciences R&D Intelligence
London, United Kingdom, June 30, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Corten Capital and Ampersand Capital Partners (“Ampersand”) are pleased to announce the completion of their acquisition of Beacon Intelligence (“Beacon” or the “Company”) from the Hanson Wade Group, backed by Graphite Capital. Beacon is the third investment from Corten Capital II, which closed in March 2024 with €680 million in capital commitments. Ampersand is investing alongside Corten as a minority co-investor in the transaction. As the new majority owner, Corten Capital is partnering with Beacon’s management, led by its CEO Rob Poolman and Chair Sati S. Sian, to support the next phase of Beacon’s growth as an independent company. David Anderson, General Partner at Ampersand, will join the Board of Directors alongside Corten Capital and Sati S. Sian, who will continue as Chair.
Beacon was founded in 2015 within the Hanson Wade Group, an Events and Conferences operator focused on the life sciences industry, to address a critical gap in structured, granular data on early-stage drug development. The Beacon platform is now used daily by over 300 customers globally, including 24 of the 30 largest global pharmaceutical companies, to track competitive pipelines, identify licensing and acquisition opportunities and inform R&D investment decisions. The company has built a unique dataset within 16 distinct modules covering complex modalities in drug development, including ADCs, Bispecifics, and RNA, alongside a growing suite of disease-based modules including Oncology and Neuroscience, with further coverage extensions planned.
Rob Poolman commented: "This marks an exciting new chapter for Beacon Intelligence as we begin operating as an independent intelligence business. Our team of scientists, engineers and commercial colleagues are excited to continue our work to deepen the platform, broaden our data coverage, and strengthen our position as the first place the world's leading pharmaceutical and biotech companies turn to when making drug development decisions. We are excited to have Corten Capital’s and Ampersand’s backing and look forward to our partnership to deliver better outcomes for our customers and the broader drug development community."
Sati S. Sian commented: "The completion of this transaction is a testament to the platform Beacon has built and the strength of the team behind it. As we transition to an independent company, the Board and team are fully in place to support Beacon's next phase of growth. We look forward to working closely in the years ahead with Corten Capital, whose experience in scaling B2B data and software businesses is closely aligned with Beacon’s ambitions, and to welcoming Ampersand as co-investors.”
Alexandre Michelson, Partner at Corten Capital, commented: “Having worked closely with the Beacon team throughout this process, we have only grown more impressed by Beacon - the scientist-led curation and depth of the data, the proprietary ontologies, and the strong relationship with the largest life sciences institutions in the world all speak to Beacon’s pedigree as the unique intelligence platform for critical life sciences R&D decisions. We are excited to begin working alongside Rob, Sati, and the broader team as Beacon embarks on its next phase as an independent platform. Together with our co-investor Ampersand, we look forward to supporting the company as it deepens its value to the global life sciences community.”
David Anderson, General Partner at Ampersand Capital Partners, commented: “We are very pleased to be investing alongside Corten Capital in Beacon Intelligence. Beacon has built an exceptional platform delivering critical intelligence to the world’s leading life sciences organisations. The quality of the data, the depth of scientific expertise, and the loyalty of its customer base make Beacon a truly distinctive business. We look forward to working with Rob, Sati, and the Corten team to support Beacon’s continued growth and development.”
Advisors
Corten Capital and Ampersand were advised by: Cardean Bell (M&A); Winston Taylor and Carey Olsen (Legal); Oliver Wyman and ZS (Commercial due diligence); Alvarez & Marsal (Financial due diligence); Deloitte (Tax); and Clarity (Debt Advisory). Debt financing for the transaction was provided by HSBC UK Leveraged Finance and HSBC Asset Management.
About Beacon Intelligence (www.beacon-intelligence.com)
Beacon Intelligence is a deep and comprehensive drug development intelligence platform, offering unique technology and drug datasets for complex therapeutics and disease states. Founded in 2015, the company employs 135 people and leverages proprietary ontologies and expert-curated datasets across modality and therapeutic area modules, delivering data, insights, analytics and workflow solutions to the world's leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies at every stage of the drug development journey.
About Corten Capital (www.cortencapital.com)
Corten Capital is a uniquely focused private equity firm that partners with talented management teams to build market leading B2B Software, Data & Services businesses across Europe and North America. Corten is backed by an exceptional group of university endowments, charitable foundations and family offices from North America, Europe, and Asia, who share its philosophy of investing for long term value creation through technology-led growth and innovation. Since 2020, Corten has raised €1.2 billion across two funds and is currently investing from Corten Capital II, which was closed in March 2024 with €680 million in capital commitments. Corten Advisors UK LLP is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK.
About Ampersand Capital Partners (www.ampersandcapital.com)
Ampersand Capital Partners, founded in 1988, is a middle-market private equity firm with over $4 billion of assets under management, dedicated to growth-oriented investments in the healthcare sector. With offices in Boston, Amsterdam, and London, Ampersand leverages a unique blend of private equity and operating experience to build value and drive long-term performance alongside its portfolio company management teams. Ampersand has helped build numerous market-leading companies across each of the firm’s core healthcare sectors. For additional information, visit www.ampersandcapital.com or follow us on LinkedIn.
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