A Co Louth-based medtech firm Diaceutics, which is aiming to hit revenues of $40 million by 2020 has raised €4.3 million through a mix of debt and equity financing to fund its expansion.
The company, which works with pharmaceutical firms on diagnostic testing and data analytics to bring more personalised medicine to patients, said the funding will also be used to accelerate product development, provide more support to clients, and improve patient testing.
Diaceutics has raised the mezzanine loan finance from two parties. The lead investor is Silicon Valley Bank, which announced plans to invest an additional $100 million in Irish tech and life science businesses two years ago as part of its partnership with the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF). The other is WhiteRock Capital Partners, which manages the Growth Loan Fund in Northern Ireland.
Treatment pathways
The Dundalk-headquartered company, which works with 31 out of the top 35 pharmaceutical companies to integrate diagnostic testing into their treatment pathways, has achieved average revenue growth of 60 per cent over the last three years with 2017 turnover topping €10 million. It currently employs 60 people, but expects headcount to reach up to 100 by the end of this 2018.
"Over the last year or two we've really experienced an uptick in the way in which the precision medicines market has moved with more pharmaceutical companies are relying on better testing and improved access for patients to drugs. given this we find ourselves in a situation where we need to scale up in a number of key areas with investments in people, infrastructure and global offices," chief executive Peter Keeling told The Irish Times.
“We have people in 17 jurisdictions and that is what our pharma clients want. It isn’t sufficient to just offer coverage from Ireland,” he added.
Diaceutics last year signed a multimillion-euro deal with BioReference, the third-largest full-service clinical diagnostic laboratory in the US, to acquire data that will help pharmaceutical companies roll out new drugs. In addition, it recently announced a partnership with computer chip manufacturer Intel and hardware maker Lenovo to use artificial intelligence (AI) to improve the diagnosis and treatment of patients.
