GLASGOW-based DeepMatter has seen its shares rise seven per cent from a low base after the digital chemistry pioneer said it has been generating increased interest in a key product.

DeepMatter said it has secured contracts with five new major customers over the last two months for its ICYNTH software tool, which can help developers identify different ways of producing a target molecule.

It reckons ICSYNTH facilitates innovation by stimulating ideas for alternative or novel synthetic routes that otherwise may not be considered by the chemist.

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DeepMatter said the new customers include some of the world’s leading multi-national pharmaceutical, agrisciences, biotech and contract research organisations (CROs).

The number of customers using ICSYNTH has doubled during the course of the current year.

DeepMatter has also won a wider following for its DigitalGlassware system, which can be used by chemists to record information about experiments online for sharing with others.

The Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute in Glasgow recently awarded DeepMatter a contract to supply DigitalGlassware for use in the drug discovery process.

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In September DeepMatter posted a 150 per cent increase in first half sales, to £450,000.

Chief executive Mark Warne said then that the challenges posed by the coronavirus for organisations operating laboratories had underlined the value of the technology.

He said it could allow chemists to work in a socially distanced environment.

Shares in DeepMatter closed up 0.13p at 1.88p on the Aim market. In July the company raised around £2m from investors, which it will use to support increased sales and marketing activity.

The Glasgow univesity spin-out employs 15 people in the city.