Increase Minority Shareholding in Cutitronics
Croda International Plc (‘Croda’), the name behind high performance ingredients and technologies that are relied on by industries and consumers everywhere, has today announced they will be increasing their minority shareholding in the multi-award-winning technology and digital device company Cutitronics Ltd (‘Cutitronics’), a spin-out from the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Strathclyde. Following the investment, Croda will remain a minority shareholder.
Croda initially invested in Cutitronics in July 2017, resulting in an exclusive commercial arrangement. This additional investment by Croda will provide Cutitronics with an opportunity to develop design updates for its innovative CutiTron™ device, user and compliance testing and pilot manufacture, which is anticipated to result in the first customisable commercial device.
CutiTron’s further development follows extensive collaboration with skin and beauty care companies. This novel handheld device, which assesses skin health and prepares it for the optimum delivery of the skin care formulation it dispatches, provides users with an in-depth analysis of their skin needs, even taking into consideration aspects such as environmental conditions.
Sandra Breene, President of Personal Care & North America at Croda, and a Non-Executive Officer in Cutitronics as part of the original investment, commented:
“To be part of Cutitronics at such an exciting time in their development is wonderful. We believe that a novel device such as CutiTron, and the wealth of data around skin care routines and consumer behaviour it will provide, will be invaluable for us in creating innovative, sustainable next generation ingredients for the personal care industry.”
Dr David Heath, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Cutitronics added:
“Today’s announcement marks a milestone in Cutitronics’ journey. We are excited to be able to put real pace behind our ambitious plans to grow our team and develop our suite of technologies. The support we have received from Croda to date has been invaluable. Continuing this partnership will assist us in progressing our ambitious plans for 2019 and beyond”
Stuart Mackenzie, Commercialisation Infrastructure Manager at the University of Strathclyde, said:
“The University is delighted at Croda’s latest investment in what we consider to be one of the University’s most exciting spin-out companies. Croda has demonstrated that it is the sort of decisive and constructive collaborator crucial to the success of technology commercialisation.”