12 Questions with Steve Sanghera

Steve Sanghera is the CEO and co-founder of Inventus. With over 20 years of experience in technology and telecommunications, his extensive experience has proved crucial to the success of Inventus. The multi award-winning business is regarded as the only company in the world dedicated to creating purpose-built devices and technology solutions exclusively for clinical trials.

What are the main responsibilities of your current role? As CEO and co-founder of Inventus, my role is to make sure we’re building something meaningful, not just growing for the sake of it. That means making difficult decisions and standing by them as the company embraces its scale-up phase. A key part of my role is maintaining the oversight of our operational performance and to guide on the regulatory, clinical, quality, and commercial functions. I also work closely with my chairman and fellow co-founder, Jim Michael.

It's important Inventus continues to innovate, but remain true to its core principles, which are to support the clinical trials industry by always thinking ‘patient, site & sponsor’. These values sit at the heart of the company and were the drivers for creating our pioneering technology solutions and devices.

What was your background prior to this role and how did it prepare you for the work you do now? I started in technology and telecoms, building things from the ground up and learning the hard way what scale really means. That experience taught me resilience and how to operate calmly in complex environments. It also allowed me to see how my skillset could be adapted to support the Life Sciences sector and clinical trials.

The Inventus journey started during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 in a small office above a shop in Sandhurst, Berkshire, UK, and a request for thousands of mobile phones. It was an order that piqued my interest and that of Jim; we both thought: “Who could possibly want so many mobile phones?” Discovering the answer made us realise we had the skills and technology know-how to address the flaws and pain points in clinical trials and to make them function better for the people at the centre of them: the patients.

What do you think pharma will look like in 15 years? 50 years? In 15 years, pharma will feel far closer to everyday life, with research and care happening around people, rather than forcing people into systems. In 50 years, I believe medicine will be about prevention and prediction, not waiting for people to get sick. The journey towards these markers; predictions, will involve telehealth becoming part of protocols as standard across multiple therapy areas, not just as contingency or for rare disease or COVID-era designs.

What excites you most about current industry trends? I’m excited that the industry is finally putting patients first in a practical way, not just in language. Technology is starting to reduce burden instead of adding to it. Sponsors and CROs have shifted away from stitching together multiple point solutions and instead looked for integrated partners who could combine devices, telehealth, logistics, data, and support into a single, coherent stack.

This has played directly to our defining USP at Inventus, being able to talk about devices, connectivity, fleet management, and data as one continuum, rather than four separate workstreams. At the same time, decentralised and hybrid trials have continued to scale, but with a more realistic lens: what can go remote, what must stay on-site, and how we can reduce burden on sites and patients, rather than simply “digitising” everything”. Market forecasts now show decentralised trials growing at double-digit rates over the rest of the decade, underlining that this is no longer a niche, but a structural shift in how trials are designed and executed.

What is your proudest professional accomplishment to date? Creating Inventus from nothing and watching it become a trusted partner globally is deeply personal for me. It represents years of risk, belief, and persistence. The hard work over the last five years to create a business with integrity and purpose has been rewarding and affirming.

In January this year, Inventus was named as one of the fastest growing UK tech companies in The Sunday Times 100 Tech 2026. Inventus ranked 29 in the hardware section of the prestigious list. It was an incredible moment not just for me, but for Jim and everyone who works at Inventus.

What motivates you about working in pharma? This is one of the few industries where the work genuinely matters. Knowing our decisions can help bring treatments to patients sooner keeps me grounded and motivated. Working in the pharma industry has allowed me to build things that solve real problems for real people. If the work doesn’t have purpose, I lose interest very quickly.

Integrity and trust form the basis of the pharma industry and are also values that influence how I behave as the CEO of a company that works in pharma; these are non-negotiable for me. I try to lead in a way I’d be comfortable explaining to my family.

What are your biggest short-term goals for this year and next year? My focus is on strengthening the foundations we’ve built and ensuring that Inventus scales in a disciplined and sustainable way, without ever losing the culture that defines us.

Over the next 12–24 months, we are focused on three key priorities. First, operational excellence at scale; second, technology-led differentiation. We are investing heavily in our digital health ecosystem - combining provisioned devices, eSIM connectivity, and mobile device management to create a truly patient-centric and site-centric experience. And third, strategic partnerships and long-term contracts. We are focused on deepening relationships with global pharmaceutical companies and healthcare organisations, positioning Inventus not just as a vendor, but as a long-term strategic partner.

Who or what inspires you? I am inspired by people who continue to show up, especially when things are difficult. In business, as in life, it’s easy to perform when everything is going well. What defines people, and organisations, is how they respond when things are uncertain, challenging, or under pressure. Quiet determination, resilience, and integrity impress me far more than loud success.

My greatest inspiration has been my business partner and co-founder, Jim. His clarity of thought, discipline, and unwavering belief in what we are building have been instrumental in shaping both me as a leader and Inventus as a company. Having someone who challenges you, supports you, and shares the same long-term vision is invaluable.

If you could change one thing about the pharma industry, what would it be? If I could change one thing, it would be to remove complexity that exists for its own sake.

The pharmaceutical industry is, rightly, highly regulated. Patient safety, data integrity, and compliance must always come first. However, over time, layers of process and complexity have built up that do not always add value – and in some cases, they slow down innovation and delay patient access to treatments.

We need to find a better balance between rigour and agility. Technology now gives us the opportunity to simplify many aspects of clinical trials – from remote patient monitoring, and telehealth, to real-time data capture and decentralised trial models.

At the end of the day, every delay in a clinical trial has a human impact. Patients are waiting for therapies. Speed, simplicity, and trust should not be competing priorities – they should go hand-in-hand.

What do you see as the biggest challenges facing the industry right now? One of the biggest challenges is the pace of innovation versus the pace of adoption.

Technology is evolving rapidly – from AI and digital health platforms to remote-monitoring and advanced data analytics. These innovations have the potential to fundamentally transform how clinical trials are conducted. However, the industry is still, in many areas, operating within legacy frameworks and traditional ways of thinking. The challenge is how we bridge that gap without compromising trust, compliance, or data integrity.

The future will belong to those who can combine innovation with operational excellence, and who are willing to rethink traditional models while maintaining the highest standards of quality and trust.

What are some of the biggest ongoing challenges in your work? As Inventus continues to grow, one of the biggest challenges is maintaining the balance between speed, innovation, and quality. There is constant pressure to move faster – to deliver at scale, to innovate, and to meet the evolving demands of our clients. However, in our industry, there is no room for compromise when it comes to compliance, reliability, and patient safety. We have to grow responsibly.

Another key challenge is navigating the rapid advancement of technology, particularly in areas such as AI and digital health. These technologies present enormous opportunities – from predictive analytics to improved patient engagement – but they also bring challenges around data governance, integration, and long-term reliability.

Ultimately, our challenge is to continue pushing the boundaries of what is possible, while staying grounded in the principles that define our business – quality, trust, and doing what is right.

What advice do you have for your pharma industry peers? My advice would be to stay focused on the patient, and to be open to change. This is an industry with an incredible purpose – improving and saving lives. It is easy to become absorbed in processes, systems, and commercial pressures, but the patient should always remain at the centre of every decision.

I would also encourage greater collaboration. The challenges we face as an industry – from rising costs to increasing complexity – cannot be solved in silos. Strong partnerships, built on trust and transparency, are essential.

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