History
For nearly 60 years, the Safeguard brand has been synonymous with entrepreneurship and innovation. Safeguard Scientifics has a distinguished record of building market leaders by providing capital and operational support to entrepreneurs across an evolving spectrum of innovative industries.
The company was founded as the Lancaster Corporation in 1953. Co-founders Warren V. “Pete” Musser and Frank A. Diamond, both Philadelphia stockbrokers, established Lancaster Corporation as a holding company to invest in small firms.
Safeguard Corporation was one of Lancaster’s earliest investments. Safeguard produced a machine that perforated numbers on checks, thriving on repeat orders from thousands of small businesses that used its bookkeeping and accounting products. The company eventually became Safeguard Business Systems, and, in 1980, was spun out as a separate, publicly-traded firm.
The parent company changed its name to Safeguard Industries in 1966 and went public in 1967. In 1971, the company started trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbol SFE, and in 1981 changed its name to Safeguard Scientifics, Inc.
Safeguard was the first company of its kind to leverage the benefits of a public company structure to support emerging growth companies through subscription rights offerings. Throughout its history, Safeguard has developed numerous companies that have either been taken public or sold to a strategic buyer — totaling more than 100 M&A transactions and 20 IPOs. Safeguard’s prudent and innovative approach to identifying market leaders in key strategic sectors has fostered many household names and industry leaders including Novell, QVC, Cambridge Technology Partners, Internet Capital Group, CompuCom Systems and Traffic.com.
Today, Safeguard provides growth capital for entrepreneurial and innovative life sciences and technology companies. Safeguard targets life sciences companies in Molecular and Point-of-Care Diagnostics, Medical Devices, Regenerative Medicine, Specialty Pharmaceuticals and selected healthcare services; and technology companies in Internet / New Media, Financial Services IT, Healthcare IT and selected business services with capital requirements of up to $25 million. Safeguard participates in expansion financings, corporate spin-outs, management buyouts, recapitalizations, industry consolidations and early-stage financings.
Safeguard's Branding History since 1971
1971 to 1980 (As Safeguard Industries)
1981 to 1998
1989 to 1998
1999 to 2005
2006 to Present
