Client Story
ULab Equipment
Working alongside a university spin‑out to help turn a strong academic idea into a business that’s ready to scale and attract investment.
It’s been a pleasure to work with the team at Vivolution since 2018. They have been the commercial champion for us; helping us to successfully spinout from The University of Strathclyde and recruit a commercial CEO. We are now growing our customer base and raising equity funding with continued support the support of Vivolution.
— Simon Mone, CEO, ULab
Approach
Working alongside the team to make better decisions and turn academic ideas into commercial reality.
Integrated decision support and delivery to enable scale
ULab is a University of Strathclyde spin‑out addressing inefficiencies in laboratory equipment management across academic and research environments. Vivolution partnered with the founding team to help translate strong academic innovation into a commercially viable and scalable venture.
Our approach combined strategic decision support with hands‑on delivery, ensuring that product, commercial activity, operations and funding readiness evolved together.
We worked with ULab to establish strategic clarity around where to focus and how to grow, supporting evidence‑led decisions on market prioritisation, product direction and commercial trade‑offs. This informed a realistic revenue and go‑to‑market approach, tailored to the constraints of the academic sector, including budget sensitivity and procurement complexity.
Alongside this, Vivolution supported the evolution of ULab’s software platform, improving user experience and operational workflows to ensure it delivered value not just to researchers, but to the institutions that own and operate laboratories. This alignment between software delivery and commercial outcomes was central to building a scalable proposition.
As the business matured, we helped put the right operating model, leadership capability and financial clarity in place, ensuring ULab could grow with control and confidence. In parallel, we supported investment readiness and value planning, helping the team articulate a compelling equity story aligned to long‑term value creation.
Impact
Clear, practical outcomes for users, institutions and the business as a whole.
A platform delivering measurable value to users and institutions ULab has grown to serve over 6,500 users across 114 countries, serving 4000+ items of equipment, with early growth driven largely by word of mouth within the academic community.
The platform delivers clear impact:
For researchers, it improves visibility and access to equipment, supports booking and utilisation, and reduces time lost navigating fragmented lab processes. For organisations, it increases efficiency, safety and sustainability, while providing evidence that high‑value, often grant‑funded equipment is delivering real return.
ULab also demonstrated agility in response to external change, extending functionality during Covid‑19 to support lab cleaning buffers and track‑and‑trace requirements, reinforcing its value as a critical operational system.
Journey so far
A steady progression from university spin‑out to a business ready to grow.
From academic concept to investment‑ready venture Vivolution supported ULab through key stages of its journey:
- Successful spin‑out from the University of Strathclyde
- Development of a clear commercial and revenue model
- Evolution from prototype to scalable software platform
- Recruitment of a commercial CEO to lead the next phase of growth
- Establishment of financial clarity and control to support decision‑making
- Early engagement with the investment community
ULab has secured approximately £250,000 in early investment and now operates as a commercially credible, scale‑ready business.
What's next
Building momentum, strengthening commercial traction and planning for the next phase of growth.
Scaling reach and planning for long‑term value
ULab is focused on expanding within the UK laboratory management market, while building the foundations for international growth. This includes increasing market visibility, continuing to strengthen its commercial execution, and raising further equity investment to support scale.
The product roadmap includes extending its IP through additional features such as a predictive maintenance engine, reinforcing long‑term value creation and differentiation.
For more details on ULab, please see their website details below and follow them on social media:
Services Provided
Joined‑up support across strategy, delivery, operations and investment readiness.
Vivolution supported ULab through an integrated combination of strategic decision support and hands‑on delivery, helping the business progress from university spin‑out to a scalable, investment‑ready venture.
Our work spanned:
- strategic decision support, ensuring evidence‑led choices around market focus and growth;
- revenue and commercial execution, shaping a viable route to market within the academic sector;
- AI‑enabled software delivery, aligning product development with user needs and commercial outcomes.
We also supported operating model delivery, putting leadership, structure and workflows in place to scale; established financial clarity and control to underpin confident decision‑making; and enabled investment readiness and value planning, helping ULab articulate its equity story and prepare for external investment.
