Cambridge scale-up company Eagle Genomics expands in India

Eagle Genomics has announced the opening of a new operation within the innovation hub of Laxmi Cyber City in Hyderabad, India.

The Cambridge-based company is focused on the application of what it calls “network science” to the human microbiome, the genetic material of all the microbes that live on and inside the human body.

The company’s platform, called e[datascientist] platform, is used by customers such as Unilever and Cargill. It describes it as an “artificial intelligence-augmented knowledge discovery that helps companies conduct science-led innovation for next-generation food, personal care, cosmetics and agritech products. The platform harnesses causal network science, and advanced machine learning and cognitive services.”

The news came on the same day, 4 May 2021, as prime minister Boris Johnson announced an  “enhanced trade partnership” with India, said to pave the way for a future UK-India Free Trade Agreement.

The deal, marked by a virtual meeting between Johnson and the Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, features £533m of new Indian investment into the UK, which is expected to create more than 6,000 jobs in sectors such as health and technology.

Trade minister Liz Truss said on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that businesses have secured export deals with India worth more than £446m, expected to create more than 400 British jobs.

In India, Eagle Genomics already has a team of around 20 engineers working in Hyderabad, it said, but this will now be expanded with its own office space in the Laxmi Cyber City innovation hub.

Johnson said of the company’s expansion: “I’m delighted that Eagle Genomics is expanding into India to make the most of the opportunities for UK businesses in one of the world’s biggest economies. Our exporters are brilliant ambassadors for Britain, and I hope today’s announcement is just the start of what you can do for India and the UK.”

Anthony Finbow, the company’s CEO, said: “The buildout of both the engineering and science teams in Hyderabad has already had a significant impact on [our] growth. We have been able to hire highly skilled, talented engineers in quantities and at a speed that we would not have been able to achieve had we sought to hire in the UK alone.

“This increased capacity, which will also lead to more hires in the UK to serve the vast Indian opportunity, is already positively affecting the cadence of our platform development.”

Finbow has previously advocated data exchanges as a new way of doing business in the life sciences field. His Cambridge-based scale-up company has a hub in New York’s Genome Center, and further bases in Paris and Berlin.

The company was founded in 2008 with a focus on human DNA discovery in biotech and pharma, but later refocused to apply network science to microbiome-related discovery. In 2018, it became Microsoft Genomics’ first microbiome partner.

Deepak Bagla, CEO of Invest India, said in an Eagle Genomics statement: “We are delighted to support Eagle Genomics on its India expansion plans. Eagle Genomics has made the right decision: to expand cutting-edge emerging technology innovation by partnering with India. Collaboration between UK and Indian organisations – with our ability to build world-class innovation and businesses together – is a recipe for truly global competitiveness.”