Bia Analytical was launched as a start-up venture in spring 2020, emerging from the Queen’s University Belfast’s Institute for Global Food Security (IGFS), led by founder Prof Chris Elliott, with a focus on identifying and reducing the major problem of food fraud across the globe. Spearheaded by Richard Ilsley and Dr Terry McGrath, the company has, since its inception, focused upon proof-of-concept work in food authentication, initially in the herb and spice arena, subsequently evolving into additional larger food groups such as cereals and meat. This work has seen Bia Analytical develop a revolutionary portable testing solution for in-situ testing as well as ground-breaking cloud-based applications.

Now the company has appointed Simon Cole as CEO and Gareth Burns as CTO. Simon has worked in the software and technology industry for over 25 years was a founder and most recently CEO of Automated Intelligence Ltd. Gareth is an experienced start-up co-founder in the software industry. Co-founder of Bia Analytical, Dr Terry McGrath, completes the management board as chief science officer.  

Richard Ilsley will cease to be CEO of Bia following these appointments and the board and shareholders put on record their appreciation for his diligent and effective leadership and smooth handover to Simon.

Accompanying these key appointments, Bia Analytical also announces the completion of a successful funding round that includes key complementary investors to support the company’s advancement. Investors in Bia Analytical feature key leaders in the food and consumer science worlds – Oritain, Cranswick, Fayrefield Foods, Qubis and Veetee Rice – plus entrepreneurs, innovators and investors including Andrew and Angela Higginson, Tom Singh, Charles Wilson, and Andrew Xeni.

Commenting upon these recent developments, Bia Analytical chair, Dr Clive Black, stated: “The company was born from a world-class food science resource to take its first steps in addressing more accurately, quickly, and efficiently the growing challenges of food fraud, integrity, and safety across the globe. Under Richard and Terry, for whom I sincerely thank, the concept has been proven and with the additional experience and capability of Simon and Gareth on board, we are primed to go through our next phases of our growth, including in wider product silos such as apparel. The involvement of our expanded investor base is so appreciated, so exciting and so humbling as we seek to deliver on their great support.”

Adam Couch, CEO of Cranswick, commented, “The integrity of the food we produce is of the utmost importance. Being able to validate that the raw materials we source are safe, and of the quality and origin that we require, using resources such as that provided by Bia Analytical are extremely valuable to us and support the trust that our customers have in our products. We are pleased to continue to work with them and invest in the future success of their business.”