Frank Schäfer (BioEcho Life Sciences GmbH)

Schäfer, Frank (BioEcho Life Sciences 202203 Managing Director + Co-Founder)

	Organisation	BioEcho Life Sciences GmbH
	Group	BioEcho (Group)
	Product	nucleic acid purification (technology)
	Product 2	molecular diagnostics

Ampersand Capital Partners. (3/1/22). "Press Release: BioEcho Life Sciences Receives Growth Equity Investment from Ampersand Capital Partners". Cologne.

BioEcho Life Sciences GmbH, an innovative manufacturer of nucleic acid purification solutions for molecular diagnostics and life sciences research, today announced a minority investment from Ampersand Capital Partners, a private equity firm specializing in growth equity investments in the life sciences and healthcare sectors. Ampersand’s investment will be used to support the company’s worldwide growth initiatives, including the launch of several new kits in 2022, further development of the company’s commercial and geographic presence, and expansion of its direct salesforce.

Cologne, Germany-based BioEcho manufactures proprietary sample lysis and purification tools for rapid, high-quality extraction of nucleic acids. The company’s EchoLUTION single-step purification technology enables faster and more simplified DNA and RNA extraction workflows versus traditional bind-wash-elute solutions while minimizing inhibitors of downstream PCR and sequencing applications. By streamlining the nucleic acid purification workflow into a simplified centrifugation step, BioEcho also minimizes plastic consumption relative to traditionally used methods. More recently, the company’s CE-marked viral RNA extraction kit has played a critical role in enabling the rapid scale-up of SARS-CoV-2 testing across Europe, and BioEcho plans to launch several more CE-marked kits for molecular diagnostics and research applications in 2022-2023.

Dr. Markus Müller, Cofounder and Co-Managing Director commented, “We are extremely pleased to be partnering with Ampersand in catalyzing the next phase of growth for BioEcho. Ampersand’s expertise and resources will be a significant benefit to BioEcho as we further expand into new markets and capitalize on the speed, quality, simplicity, and sustainability benefits that our products offer users, whether that is in SARS-CoV-2 testing or in a wide variety of other diagnostic, research, and industrial applications.”

Cofounder and Co-Managing Director Dr. Frank Schäfer added, “This partnership comes at a critical moment in the company’s history: the rapid success of our SARS-CoV-2 purification kits is strong validation of the benefits our technologies can bring to customers, and with a deep pipeline of new solutions ready for commercialization, now is the perfect time to accelerate our expansion and leverage Ampersand’s deep expertise in this market. Further, we are excited that our partnership with Ampersand will help accelerate our expansion to the U.S.—a key priority for 2022.”

Frank Witney, PhD., Operating Partner at Ampersand, added, “Given Ampersand’s experience in the molecular diagnostics and tools markets, we were highly impressed by the differentiated products and technologies offered by BioEcho. Over the last two years, BioEcho has been a key partner to molecular diagnostics labs across Europe, providing critical purification kits that have accelerated COVID-19 PCR testing workflows and enabled the rapid scale-up of labs across the continent. We are excited to partner with Dr. Müller, Dr. Schäfer, and the rest of the BioEcho team to continue supporting our global communities in the fight against COVID-19 while also accelerating the company’s global commercialization of new products in other clinical and non-clinical applications.”

In connection with the transaction, Frank Witney has joined the BioEcho Board of Directors along with Ampersand Vice President Arya Mehrabanzad. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

About BioEcho Life Sciences GmbH

BioEcho Life Sciences is an ISO 9001 and ISO 13485 certified company specializing in nucleic acid sample preparation tools for clinical, biotech, life sciences research, agricultural, and industrial applications. Founded in 2016 by a team of industry experts in genomic sample preparation, BioEcho was established with the mission of utilizing the company’s proprietary technologies and technical expertise to overcome the limitations of many standardized methods in molecular biology and diagnostic workflows. BioEcho kits offer customers with industry leading quality, speed, simplicity, and sustainability capabilities for the purification of high-quality nucleic acids from a wide variety of samples. The company’s guiding principle is an unwavering dedication to sustainability, achieved through a specific focus on socially responsible behavior and the development of environmentally friendly products. Additional information about BioEcho Life Sciences is available at www.bioecho.de.

About Ampersand Capital Partners

Founded in 1988, Ampersand is a middle-market private equity firm with more than $2 billion of assets under management dedicated to growth-oriented investments in the healthcare sector. With offices in Boston and Amsterdam, Ampersand leverages its unique blend of private equity and operating experience to build value and drive superior 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. Additional information about Ampersand is available at ampersandcapital.com.