AnVil poised to implement risk/reward business model  05/13/2002 07:26:59 AM

By Karen Farber

Two-year old AnVil, formerly known as AnVil Informatics, raised $2.1 million in second round funding in late March, adding to an earlier $3.5 million.

The company specializes in the high- and multi-dimensional data sets found in DNA microarrays, protein microarrays, chemical informatics, high throughput screening, and clinical trial data.

"We help narrow the paths a company should follow," said AnVil's director of marketing William Wiegler.

Although AnVil is primarily a professional services company, it does, on occasion, provide custom software based on its proprietary tools.

With the addition of CEO Richard Gill at the end of 2001, CTO John Hotchkiss in January, and CFO John Hallinan and director of discovery informatics John McCarthy in March, the company is poised to move to the next level, said Wiegler.

That next level is a business model based on taking risks and reaping rewards further down the road.

"Rather than just being a hired gun, we striving for more of a partnership model by helping clients create marketable products," he said. He sees the AnVil team as an extension of the client's team.

The $2.1 million will enable the company to continue to build on this model. In some cases, AnVil will continue to work on a fee-for-work or project basis. However, in other instances, AnVil is willing to work for less cash up front in exchange for a share of the long-term revenue generating potential of a product. This could be a drug candidate or an improved data set for resale.

"We can add value to get the customer to a commercial result," Wiegler said.

Pharmaceutical companies are drowning in data, explained Wiegler, continuing to spend money on more data, and, unable to get to market quickly enough, they're not reaping any commercial rewards from the data. AnVil views this as its business opportunity. In fact, AnVil has done most of its projects in the pharmaceutical industry, although the health care side is growing.

Anvil hopes to close a "C" round of funding at the end of 2002 on the order of eight to 10 million dollars, Wiegler said.