‘Tis the season for end-of-year acquisitions to be announced, now that everyone’s back at work. Hopkinton, MA-based VelQuest, a maker of pharmaceutical and medical device-related software, has been acquired by San Diego-based Accelrys (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ACCL]]), the scientific R&D software firm, for $35 million in cash.
VelQuest started in 1999 and is led by CEO and co-founder Ken Rapp. Its investors include GE and MedEquity Capital. The company makes software that helps life sciences organizations manage lab test procedures efficiently and in compliance with FDA regulations. “All key members” of the VelQuest management team are staying on post-acquisition, according to the press release.
Accelrys makes a wide range of modeling, simulation, lab management, workflow, and data management software. The VelQuest acquisition adds another piece to the corporate strategy that Accelrys CEO Max Carnecchia outlined last year. He said the company aspires to help its customers manage the entire process of scientific development by offering a range of software products that can harness the innovation, experiments, modeling and simulation, and other work being done in labs on a global basis, both within their own organizations and within their collaborators.
The company says it has more than 1,300 customers across pharma, biotech, energy, chemicals, aerospace, and other industries.
