UK investor sells market-leading life sciences R&D data and workflow platform
May 2026 – Graphite Capital, the leading investor in UK mid-sized businesses, has announced the sale of Beacon, the leading global data and workflow platform for the life sciences R&D community, to Corten Capital, a specialist private equity investor in business software, services, and data. Beacon has recently been carved out of Hanson Wade, a leading service provider to the life sciences sector, and established as a standalone entity.
The acquisition of Beacon by Corten Capital will complete its transition to become a fully independent information services provider. The sale is expected to complete by the end of June 2026 and will deliver a cash return of around 4x Graphite’s investment in Hanson Wade as a whole, with the firm retaining the Hanson Wade business for further value growth.
Beacon is an essential decision-support tool for developers of complex therapeutics, used by senior scientists at the world’s largest pharmaceutical and biotech companies to inform high-value R&D investment decisions. Built on proprietary ontologies and a highly curated, 20-year dataset, Beacon provides customers with comprehensive and accurate visibility of drug development globally. The platform serves over 300 customers, including 24 of the world’s 30 largest pharmaceutical companies.
Tony Saade, Partner at Graphite, commented: “We are delighted to have agreed this successful sale. A core thesis of our value creation with Hanson Wade was scaling Beacon to become an essential decision-making tool for life sciences R&D. What sets Beacon apart is its scientist-led approach to data curation – subject-matter expertise and rigorous quality processes deliver decision-grade accuracy that can be trusted by our customers. We wish the best of luck to the Beacon team, whose commitment to scientific excellence and to getting drugs to patients faster has been remarkable throughout.”
Since Graphite’s investment in Hanson Wade in 2019, Beacon’s annualised recurring revenues have grown thirteenfold, supported by significant investment in technology, data and commercial capability. Under Graphite’s ownership, the platform expanded from three datasets to sixteen, including disease-based modules covering Oncology and Neuroscience. Graphite invested heavily in the build-out of a commercial function directly aligned with each core customer segment, the launch of API integration capability enabling customers to embed Beacon data in their internal applications, and the integration of AI into Beacon’s curation workflows under oversight from expert scientists.
Rob Poolman, CEO of Beacon, commented: “Beacon has been built by an exceptional team of scientists, engineers and commercial colleagues, united by a belief that better data improves drug development decisions and delivers better outcomes for patients. Our partnership with Graphite has been instrumental to everything we’ve achieved: from building a senior management team and scaling the platform globally, to investing decisively in technology and AI. A heartfelt thank you to the Graphite team for their hands-on support throughout our journey.”
Mike Tilbury, head of the investment team, and Alex Hearne, investment director, also worked on the investment for Graphite.
Baird acted as a financial advisor and Goodwin Procter as legal advisor to the company and its shareholders.
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