Websites for life science and deep-tech companies

Explaining the science without dumbing it down

A biotech website needs to be credible to a scientist and understandable to a generalist investor. We work with your founders and scientists to structure the explanation in layers: a clear one-line summary, a plain-English overview, then technical detail, data and publications for those who want it.

Audiences with different needs

Investors want the team, the pipeline and the news. Prospective partners want platform capabilities and how to start a conversation. Recruits want to know what working there is like. Regulated companies need careful wording around claims. We design navigation and pages for each, so the right people find the right content quickly.

Built to grow with the company

Early-stage companies change quickly: new hires, new data, new funding announcements. We build sites that founders can update without a developer, with templates for news, team members, publications and vacancies, and a structure that can expand when the pipeline does.

Who this service is for

This is our specialist service for the companies that make up much of the Cambridge economy: biotech and therapeutics companies, medtech and diagnostics firms, platform and tools businesses, contract research organisations, lab suppliers, and deep-tech companies in areas such as semiconductors, AI and quantum. They range from university spin-outs in an incubator to established firms on Cambridge Science Park, the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Granta Park, the Babraham Research Campus and the Wellcome Genome Campus.

What they share is a website that has several demanding audiences at once, and content that is harder to get right than most. A general web designer can make a site look modern. Making it credible to a scientist, clear to an investor and useful to a candidate takes a different strategy.

Designing for several audiences

We design navigation so each group finds its route quickly, and the homepage acts as a signpost rather than trying to say everything.

What is included, step by step

1. Founder and science workshopWe spend time with your founders, scientific leads and whoever handles communications to understand the science, the business model, the stage you are at and what the site must achieve over the next year or two.
2. Layered explanationTogether we write the one-line summary, then a plain-English overview, then the technical detail. Each layer links to the next. This is the most important piece of work in the project and we do not rush it.
3. Page structure and wireframesWe map pages for platform or pipeline, technology, team, careers, news, publications and contact, and wireframe them around the audiences above.
4. Visual designA design system that looks credible without resorting to stock images of glowing molecules. We favour real photography of your lab and team, clear diagrams and careful typography for data and tables.
5. Development and CMSA fast, secure build with templates your team can use to add news, people, publications and vacancies without a developer. We usually recommend a static or headless approach for science companies, for security and low running costs.
6. Claims review and launchBefore launch, every factual claim is checked by your scientific team. We can prepare the site privately and launch it to coincide with an announcement or embargo.

How long it takes

A focused site for an early-stage company typically takes six to ten weeks. The build is rarely the bottleneck; content is. Scientific explanations need several drafts and approvals, team photography needs scheduling, and legal or IP review can add time. If you are working towards a funding round or a conference, tell us the date at the start and we will plan backwards from it.

What drives the cost

• Depth of science content. A single platform explained well is quicker than a pipeline of programmes, each needing its own page.
• Diagrams and illustration. Simple diagrams we can draw; complex scientific illustration or animation may need a specialist.
• Number of audiences and routes. A company talking mainly to investors needs less than one also recruiting heavily and selling services.
• Integrations such as applicant tracking, CRM or publication feeds.
• Regulatory sensitivity. Companies in regulated areas may need more review rounds on wording.

Common mistakes

• Writing the homepage like a grant abstract. Accurate, but impenetrable to anyone outside the field.
• Going the other way and replacing the science with slogans, which loses credibility with the people who matter most.
• Overstating early data or using words such as “cure” and “proven” that invite scrutiny.
• An abandoned news page whose latest item is two years old, signalling a company that has stalled.
• A careers page with one line asking for CVs, when candidates in a competitive Cambridge market want detail.
• A site only the founder can edit, so it falls out of date as soon as they get busy.

Building a site that grows with the company

Science companies change fast. A seed-stage spin-out may have five people and one programme; two years later it may have forty staff, several programmes, a new building and a commercial team. A site built for the first stage often has to be thrown away at the second. We plan for that from the start.

In practice this means a component system and content model that can absorb growth: team pages that work for five people or fifty, a pipeline structure that can add programmes, a news template suited to both short updates and full announcements, and a navigation that has room for new sections such as partnering or services. We also keep the technical side simple and documented, so a new in-house communications lead or another web agency can take over without starting again.

Photography and diagrams

Images on science sites tend to fall into two traps: generic stock photography of pipettes and molecules, or dense figures lifted straight from papers. Neither works well. We help you brief a photographer for a single day covering your team, lab and building, which gives a consistent, credible library for years. For explanations, we redraw key figures as simple, web-friendly diagrams that are legible on a phone and come with proper alt text.

How we measure success

Success for a science company site is less about traffic volume and more about the right people finding what they need. We set up tracking for partner and investor enquiries, job applications and key page visits, and review with you a few months after launch. Qualitative signals matter too: whether investors and candidates mention the site, whether your team is updating it, and whether you are comfortable sending the link to anyone.