The Chief Executive of a Welsh cosmetic technology company at the forefront of light-based skin treatments has predicted it is set to grow by at least 30-40 times over the next five years.
William Cotton, CEO of CyDen, made the forecast when Business Minister Edwina Hart visited the company’s new offices in Swansea this week.
The expansion into larger premises at Technium Swansea follows CyDen’s multi-million pound five-year deal with Proctor & Gamble (P&G) to sell its personal hair removing device globally, initially targeting European markets this summer.
CyDen is a pioneer of light-based, cosmetic skin treatments and its patented technology – Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) – harnesses natural light for treatments to remove port-wine stains and hair.
Edwina Hart congratulated the company on its success and described it as excellent news that an indigenous Welsh company is reaching a global market without leaving Swansea.
“This is a great opportunity and absolutely representative of what we are looking for in Welsh life sciences companies – a key priority sector worth at least £1.3 billion to the Welsh economy.
“CyDen has the formula for success – cross disciplinary working in health and optoelectronics, innovative technology, investment in R&D, collaborative working with higher education, resulting in the expansion on a global scale of a home grown company.”
“I hope to see more companies in Wales following this example and am confident the new Welsh Life Sciences Fund I announced last week – which will be worth up to £100 million – will help transform the sector in Wales.”
Mr Cotton said CyDen’s expansion marked an exciting new stage for the company and forecast the P&G agreement will help the business grow from a single digit-million turnover to one of more than £200m in the next five years.
“The agreement with P&G will allow us to invest and develop new technologies to take the business further forward,” he said, “I anticipate the business would grow at least 30-40 fold in the next five years. I have a team of world-class innovators with true entrepreneurial spirit and that culture of entrepreneurship is deeply ingrained in the business.”
The company has already increased its workforce to 35 as a result of the deal and further posts are expected to be created throughout 2012. Employees have a range of technical skills and experience, and the team includes mechanical, electronic and software engineers.
The company continues to work closely with Swansea University and in 2010 founded the CyDen Institute of Light Therapy (CILT), led by Prof Marc Clement, within the Institute of Life Science.
CyDen attracted £15m of new investment last year from the successful investor Richard Koch and Sir Nigel Rudd, chairman of BAA and the Business Growth Fund. The money is being invested in the development of new products.