Branford Castle is Listening

Lafayette Instrument, a portfolio company of Branford Castle Partners, has acquired Avisoft Bioacoustics, a German maker of ultrasonic microphones and recording software researchers use to capture animal calls pitched above human hearing. The acquisition is the sixth add-on for the life sciences instrumentation platform since Branford’s second fund acquired Lafayette in 2021.

Avisoft Bioacoustics builds the hardware and software scientists rely on to record and study ultrasound — the range of sound above what people can hear — produced by animals. Its core products work as a set: the Avisoft-UltraSoundGate recording interfaces digitize faint high-frequency signals as they come off a microphone; the Avisoft-RECORDER software captures them across multiple channels at once; and Avisoft-SASLab Pro turns the recordings into spectrograms and automated measurements that let a researcher quantify what was said and when. Avisoft’s condenser ultrasound microphones anchor the system, reaching frequencies well beyond the roughly 20 kHz ceiling of human hearing.

The technology has a specific and durable customer base. Laboratory scientists use ultrasonic vocalization, or USV, recordings as a behavioral readout — the squeaks a mouse or rat emits are a measurable signal in research on neurological disorders, drug responses, and models of conditions such as autism and depression. Bat biologists, field ecologists, and animal-communication researchers use the same equipment to record and identify species by sound. Because the hardware and analysis software are calibrated to work together, Avisoft’s systems give labs synchronized, repeatable recordings — a reason the company’s tools have been referenced in thousands of peer-reviewed scientific papers.

Avisoft is an owner-operated business founded by Raimund Specht, who continues to run it. The company sells to universities and research institutions worldwide from its base in Glienicke, just north of Berlin

Avisoft is the sixth add-on Lafayette Instrument has completed since Branford Castle acquired it in 2021, extending a steady buy-and-build across scientific instrumentation. The platform started with Limestone Technologies, a Kingston, Ontario maker of polygraph and credibility-assessment systems, in August 2022, then turned toward life-science research tools: Aurora Scientific, a Toronto manufacturer of muscle-physiology and neuroscience instrumentation, in April 2023; Actimetrics, an Indiana developer of circadian-biology and animal-behavior instruments, in November 2023; the Alzet line of implantable osmotic infusion pumps, bought from DURECT for $17.5 million in December 2024; and Sutter Instrument, a Novato, California maker of electrophysiology and micropipette equipment, in May 2026. Each has folded into Lafayette’s life science division, adding instruments and consumables sold to the same academic and pharmaceutical research customers.

“The addition of Avisoft Bioacoustics expands our portfolio with highly complementary products while bringing world-class technical expertise that reinforces our leadership in life science research,” said Benjamin Mangrich, the chief executive officer of Lafayette Instrument.

Founded in 1947 by Max Wastl, Lafayette began as a polygraph maker — it introduced its first polygraph in 1972 — and today engineers scientific instruments and data-acquisition equipment for biology, neuroscience, pharmaceutical and medical research, physical therapy, and law enforcement. The company is headquartered in Lafayette, Indiana, roughly 60 miles northwest of Indianapolis.

For Branford Castle, the appeal is a fragmented field of small, specialized instrument makers — many, like Avisoft, built around one founder and a niche technology — that can be brought under a single platform with shared sales, manufacturing, and support. The broader market gives the strategy room to run: the global life-science instrumentation market was worth roughly $70 billion in 2025 and is growing at about 6.5 percent a year, according to PEP estimates drawn from several market-research sources, lifted by expanding pharmaceutical and biotechnology research budgets and the steady growth of laboratories worldwide.

“This acquisition strengthens Lafayette’s platform and broadens its product offering to better serve a growing base of life sciences customers who demand the latest tools and technology,” said Ceon Francis, a managing director at Branford Castle. “We are excited to collaborate with management as we continue to build on the company’s momentum, expand its scientific capabilities and drive long-term growth.”

Branford Castle invests in companies that have enterprise values of up to $100 million and EBITDA of $2 million to $15 million. Sectors of interest include niche market positions, consumer goods and services, value-added commercial distribution, industrial and manufacturing, business services, marine products and services, and healthcare. The firm was founded in 1986 and for the past 16 years has been led by President and CEO John S. Castle and Managing Partner David Castle. In addition to its New York City headquarters, the firm also has an office in Boca Raton, Florida.

Düsseldorf-based investment bank Loy & Co Corporate Finance was the financial advisor to Avisoft Bioacoustics, and RSM was the accounting and tax advisor to Branford Castle.