(Alliance News) - Cambridge Cognition Holdings PLC on Wednesday said it acquired cognitive impairment monitoring developer Winterlight Labs for GBP 7.0 million.
The Cambridge, England-based digital health products technology developer said the Winterlight Labs acquisition comprised of a GBP3.0 million cash payment and GBP4.0 million in Cambridge Cognition shares.
It said Winterlight Labs is a leader in monitoring cognitive impairment through free-speech analysis and significantly enhances Cambridge Cognition's expertise and position in voice-based assessments for clinical trials.
Cambridge Cognition claimed the market for speech-based biomarkers for all conditions is growing 66% annually, and is predicted to be around USD220 million by 2026.
It hopes the acquisition could add around GBP2.0 million to 2023 revenue, with considerable further growth in 2024. It also reported limited overlap from Winterlight Labs with its existing customer base, creating the potential to cross-sell and generate further revenue growth.
"There is a major opportunity over the medium term for growth in this field and it is important to be an early entrant to secure a strong position for the future," said Matthew Stork, chief executive officer at Cambridge Cognition.
"With this acquisition, we can now offer many of the verbal cognitive assessments used in clinical trials giving us the potential for major growth in the coming years. We look forward to welcoming our new colleagues at Winterlight so that together we can build on our combined expertise in voice technology to drive innovation in clinical trials."
Liam Kaufman, co-founder of Winterlight Labs, added: "This transaction opens an exciting new chapter for Winterlight. We bring to Cambridge Cognition proprietary free-speech analysis technology and a dedicated team that are experts in the field."
"We are looking forward to being a part of Cambridge Cognition and together we can build a leading position in vocal biomarker technology."
Cambridge Cognition said it expected its 2022 performance to be in line with market expectations.
It expects to release a trading update for the year ending December 31 in the week commencing January 30.
Shares in Cambridge Cognition were up 1.6% to 122.89 pence each in London on Wednesday morning.
By Greg Rosenvinge, Alliance News reporter
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