Houlihan Lokey Advises SciBite

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that SciBite has been acquired by Elsevier (part of RELX) for an undisclosed consideration. The transaction closed on 20 August 2020.

Founded in 2011, SciBite provides an enterprise-ready, AI-driven semantic software infrastructure to standardise and transform scientific information silos into clean, interoperable data. Its solutions identify and extract scientific insights from structured and unstructured text and content to i) identify key concepts such as drugs, proteins, companies, targets, and outcomes and ii) help customers around the world make more effective, streamlined R&D decisions. Combining world-leading ontologies, cutting-edge software, and FAIR data principles, SciBite offers a differentiated set of capabilities to enrich the innovation processes of the world’s leading life science companies. The company is headquartered in Cambridge, England, with additional sites in the United States and Japan.

Elsevier helps researchers and healthcare professionals advance science and improve health outcomes for the benefit of society. It provides digital solutions and tools in the areas of strategic research management, R&D performance, clinical decision support, and professional education. Elsevier publishes more than 2,500 digitised journals and 39,000 e-book titles and has more than 8,000 employees serving researchers and healthcare professionals worldwide. The acquisition of SciBite and its proven, award-winning solutions will enable Elsevier to further accelerate solutions for the life sciences and corporate R&D industries.

RELX is a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers. The group serves customers in more than 180 countries and has offices in over 40 countries, employing more than 30,000 people. The shares of RELX plc, the parent company, trade on the London, Amsterdam, and New York Stock Exchanges.

Houlihan Lokey served as the sole financial advisor to SciBite and assisted in structuring and negotiating the transaction on its behalf. The firm conducted a targeted sale process, approaching a select group of potential buyers with strong acquisition rationale. This transaction exemplifies the continued success of Houlihan Lokey's dedicated Data & Analytics Group and highlights the firm's ability to navigate the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic to deliver an outstanding result to the selling shareholders.