NanoSight Ltd

NanoSight might just be the makers of some of the world's most expensive magnifying glasses, with its products retailing at between £25,000 and £50,000 a time.

At that price tag, it's not surprising that NanoSight's microscopes can usually be found in specialist laboratories where they are used to analyse very tiny particles, which previously could only be analysed using the much more expensive and difficult process of electron-microscopy.

Founded in 2003 with around £2m of VC and angel funding, NanoSight now employs 23 people in Amesbury, Wiltshire, and sells its products all over the world, with 82% of its sales outside the UK. The most significant growth is in pharmaceuticals and life sciences, where budgets have remained largely unaffected by the global financial conditions.

"What we sell is unique, and we estimate we are currently only in single digits in terms of percentage of market penetration, so what limits our growth most isn't the market, but having the technical sales staff to go and sell" says Jeremy Warren, CEO of NanoSight.

Retention isn't a big challenge for NanoSight but recruitment can be problematic, says Warren. The staff required to develop and sell NanoSight products need highly specialist training, and experienced sales staff can sometimes lack the necessary flexibility to work in a small business, where people are expected to do a bit of everything, Warren says.

NanoSight is currently self-funding and the company has no plans to raise additional funds in the near future, says Warren. However, the company's existing investors are keen to help the business grow, he adds. "They tell us there is a real lack of opportunity in the market, with property and other markets lack lustre, so they're very happy to support us."

Despite the challenges, Warren is very optimistic about the next year – and beyond – for NanoSight. At the end of 2010, NanoSight reached 'break even' and in recent months customers have started to approach NanoSight, having heard of their products through the rapidly increasing number (currently over 300 and increasing at nearly one per day) of peer-reviewed specialist reports and papers being published in the scientific press which cite results obtained using the NanoSight technique.