Innventure and Elanco Announce Strategic Initiative to Commercialize Disruptive Technologies for Animal Health

CHICAGO, Jan. 16, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Innventure and Elanco Animal Health, a division of Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY), announced a strategic initiative to explore the development of technologies for animal health. The collaboration builds upon Innventure's model, which identifies promising enterprise technologies and then develops and scales them in external startups. Following P&G, Elanco is the second company to enter into a strategic initiative with Innventure.

"Since the Great Recession, most large companies have focused on cutting costs and driving efficiencies," said Greg Wasson, Founder and Chairman of Innventure. "Now, most are looking for real growth, which comes through innovation. I applaud P&G and Elanco for reimagining how companies can innovate disruptive technologies and bring them to market. Their feedback has been instrumental in helping us construct and refine Innventure's commercialization model."     

Elanco products and knowledge services help animals live longer, healthier, higher-quality lives in more than 70 countries. The company serves veterinarians, food producers, pet owners, and others who care for animals. Innventure and Elanco intend to collaborate to commercialize emerging technologies with the potential to improve animal health.

Earlier in his career, Innventure Founder and CEO Mike Otworth worked with Elanco to source outside technologies that could enhance the company's products and services. The new relationship builds upon this history, aiming to launch startups that gain a competitive edge from Elanco's 60+ years of R&D and Innventure's startup expertise.

"The Innventure model, coupled with Elanco's expertise in research and innovation, is well-positioned to further disruptive technology in animal health, an industry that is projected to grow in the coming years," said Aaron Schacht, VP of global research and development at Elanco. "Innventure's model is an exciting approach that may advance new technologies, platforms and products in animal health."

"Our model combines the sophistication of enterprise R&D with the agility of startup businesses," said Mike Otworth, CEO of Innventure. "Having worked on strategic initiatives with P&G -- and now Elanco -- demonstrates that our model resonates with industry leaders and fills a void in the tech ecosystem. Essentially, we're pioneering a way to accelerate the commercialization of new technology."

About Innventure

Innventure, a Wasson Enterprise Partnership, has more than 20 years of experience identifying disruptive technologies and creating successful new companies. The group combines the expertise of Wasson Enterprise (WE), a family-based investment firm led by former Walgreens Boots Alliance CEO Greg Wasson, and XL Tech Group (XLTG), Innventure's precursor company. The team has a long history of identifying breakthrough technology solutions that address unmet needs and have sufficient economic impact to drive and sustain changed customer behaviors. Of the 11 new companies the Innventure founders created over 20 years, 10 achieved late-stage funding, including six successful IPOs. Innventure's initial sourcing deal with Procter & Gamble took place on December 2015. Learn more at innventure.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements (as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995) about a strategic initiative between Innventure and Elanco Animal health, and reflects Elanco's and Lilly's current belief. However, as with any technology development initiative, there are substantial risks and uncertainties in the process of development and commercialization. Among other things, there can be no guarantee that Lilly will realize the expected benefits of the initiative or that the initiative will yield commercially successful products on the anticipated timeline or at all.For further discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties, see Lilly's most recent Form 10-K and Form 10-Q filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as required by law, Lilly undertakes no duty to update forward-looking statements to reflect events after the date of this release.

SOURCE Innventure