UK-based Nature Publishing Group (NPG) announced today that the scientific and medical publishing company (which produces Scientific American) will commit funding to Relay Technology Management (RTM). RTM is a specialist software analytics company based in Boston, USA.
NPG is a subsidiary of London-based Macmillan Publishers, which in turn is owned by Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck, a Stuttgart-based publishing holding company. NPG’s Scientific American is the oldest continuously published magazine in the US, first produced in 1845.
RTM builds analytic software for the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry’s transactional licensing markets. The software is designed to increase the efficiency of evaluating assets and finding appropriate partners for products.
Peter Collins, Business Intelligence Director at NPG said: "There is widespread acknowledgment of the need to improve the translation of early-stage research from academia and biotechnology companies into new medicines of real value… We are confident that Relay’s innovative approach and strong entrepreneurial spirit will complement SciBX: Science Business Exchange, Nature Medicine, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Reviews Drug Discover, and our other products in the area."
Relay’s chief executive Dave Greenwald said in 2010 his company was looking for angel funding in an interview with Microsoft’s start-up service Bizspark, although it is unclear if it raised the money.