23 May 2022

Alan Aubrey appointed Chairman of DeepMatter

DeepMatter Group Plc (AIM: DMTR, "Deepmatter", the "Group"), the digital chemistry data and software company, announces the appointment of Alan Aubrey as non-executive Chairman after the AGM on the 27 May 2022. He takes over from Karen Bach, who is retiring from the board and leaving the Group.

Alan has a successful 20-year track record in founding, developing, and growing disruptive technology businesses.  He co-founded Techtran Limited in 2002, which was acquired in 2005 by IP Group Plc, a company that develops world-changing science and technology businesses across life sciences, technology and cleantech. Alan was appointed IP Group's CEO shortly after the acquisition and he went on to lead the business to become a member of the FTSE 250.

Alan brings significant experience to the Group in the commercialisation of science and the creation of high growth technology businesses that address global markets.  Amongst other businesses, Alan has served on the boards of high-profile technology businesses such as Oxford Nanopore Technologies plc and Ceres Power Holdings Plc. He contributed to the growth of dozens of businesses in the life sciences, manufacturing and sustainability industries.

Alan is currently non-executive chairman of OxCCU Limited, an Oxford University spin-out focused using CO₂ and renewable energy to make sustainable fuels, chemicals and plastics.  He also is a director of both Trellix Limited and Rio AI Limited, which are applying Artificial Intelligence to address business problems.

Alan is a Chartered Accountant and from 1995-2001, was a corporate finance partner in KPMG. 

Alan is subscribing for 200,000,000 new ordinary shares in the Group at a price of 0.1p per share, prior to his starting date. A further announcement in relation to the subscription will be issued in due course.

Alan currently holds 7,311,393 ordinary shares representing 0.19 per cent of the total voting rights in the Company.

Mark Warne, Chief Executive of DeepMatter, said:

"On behalf of everyone at Deepmatter, I would like to thank Karen for her valued contribution and support over the last 20 months which sees the business well positioned for the market opportunity ahead of it.  We are delighted that Alan will join us as we enter the next phase of growth."

Karen Bach, Chair of Deepmatter said:

"Over the past 20 months the Group has built a great team and established the building blocks to commercialise both data and technology.  I am proud of the progress we made in this early commercialisation phase.  The business has an exciting delivery phase ahead and I wish the team well."

Alan Aubrey, Chairman-designate of DeepMatter, commented:

"I am joining Deepmatter at a very exciting and dynamic time. Chemistry touches all our lives but the research and development of new chemical formulae remains relatively unsophisticated.

"Our vision is to build the capabilities for scientists to access and exploit vast amounts of chemical reaction data.  Our SmartChemistry™ platform provides easy access and exploitation of the data in order to make chemical reaction discovery and design faster, safer, more efficient and increasingly sustainable. The recently announced multi-year SmartChemistry™ contracts with Standigm and Springer Nature are evidence of this."

For more information contact

DeepMatter Group Plc
Fraser Benson, Chief Financial Officer                                                                                       0141 548 8156

Canaccord Genuity Limited (Nominated Advisor and Broker)                                             020 7523 8000
Bobbie Hilliam

Meare Consulting                                                                                                                           07990 858548
Adrian Duffield

About DeepMatter Group plc 

DeepMatter's SmartChemistry™ platform enables scientists across a range of industries, including pharma, biotech, agri-science, scientific publishers and contract research organisations (CROs), to easily capture, access and exploit the vast amounts of data created in chemical reactions.  

DeepMatter integrates its proprietary chemistry data and proprietary software to significantly improve productivity, efficiency, discovery, safety and sustainability of chemical reactions for its customers.

DeepMatter's SmartChemistry™ platform capitalises on the combination of its cloud technology, low cost-sensors, connectivity to laboratory hardware and high-performance computing trends such as artificial intelligence (AI).

Visit: www.deepmatter.io and follow @deepmattergroup

As required under Schedule Two, paragraph (g) of the AIM Rules for Companies, further disclosures on Mr Aubrey are as follows:

Mr Alan John Aubrey, aged 61, has held the following directorships and/or partnerships in the past five years:

There is no further information on Mr Aubrey required to be disclosed under Schedule Two, paragraph (g) of the AIM Rules for Companies.