Strong consortium invests nearly DKK 100 million (€ 13.3 million) into Danish image analysis leader, Visiopharm A/S
ATP, the Danish Growth Fund and the C. L. David Foundation and Collection are among the new investors. The increased capital commitment is an essential part of the company’s growth strategy within the field of tissue diagnostics and research software for cancer.
Visiopharm A/S, is developing software for tissue based cancer diagnostics, based on image analysis that integrates precision- and high-throughput pathology in diagnostic workflows. ATP is investing DKK 45 million, the Danish Growth Fund is putting in DKK 20 million and the C. L. David Foundation is financing with DKK 15 million. In addition, the existing investor Northcap Venture Partners has invested a further DKK 15 million. The remaining investment is supplied by smaller shareholders/owners. In addition to the investors, the owners moving forward will thus be comprised of the founders, Michael Grunkin and Johan Doré Hansen, as well as a number of smaller shareholders. The investment is the basis for further international growth.
Visiopharm’s Image analysis overlay for the Microscopic view of a tissue stained with Ki-67. (Image Source: Visiopharm)
Strong concept with growth potential
Visiopharm was founded by Michael Grunkin and Johan Doré Hansen in 2001 and currently has approx. 55 employees, with headquarters north of Copenhagen and subsidiaries in Sweden, United Kingdom, and in the United States. Visiopharm is primarily selling its core software products for cancer tissue diagnostics and research, but also third-party hardware such as digital slide scanners. Customers are primarily hospitals and major pharmaceutical companies.
“We have a healthy business with great potential for further growth, which we now have the opportunity to further develop with very strong Danish investors backing us. With our financial advisor, Vator Securities, we have spent the past year exploring the best possible way forward to ensure continued growth of Visiopharm. The solution we have found is very robust and will provide us with the best possible foundation for creating new international growth and establish the company’s solution as the preferred option for cancer- diagnostics and research.” says CEO of Visiopharm, Michael Grunkin.
Aiming for international growth
With the new capital, the company can now accelerate both product and market development, which are important steps in the plans for also accelerating its international growth.
“Today, the international top-tier pharmaceutical companies are using our research software platform for various aspects of their drug development activities. The majority of Danish pathology labs are currently implementing and using our diagnostic software platform for breast cancer, with rapid adoption in Sweden, Norway, Finland and in the UK. For people who depend on tissue data for important diagnostic-, business-, or research-decision it is a very powerful value proposition that we can significantly improve both accuracy and throughput with our software.” says CEO of Visiopharm, Michael Grunkin.
From ATP the capital commitment is based on both Visiopharm’s ability to run a business and the positive outsight for developing the company even further.
“We see Visiopharm as a very interesting Danish high-tech company that already for years has demonstrated a solid commercial development. Furthermore, Visiopharm has an attractive investment profile based on the growth opportunities in relation to both products and markets.” says Claus Berner Møller, VP for Danish Shares in ATP.
The DanishGrowth Fund also has high expectations for Visiopharm’s future development.
“We have invested in a company with a strong team, a solid long-term strategy and a product with a huge international potential. Visiopharm’s excellent growth opportunities, exciting technology and strong anchoring in Danish life sciences situate the company in the target group for the Growth Fund’s investments. The possibility of a later IPO in Denmark and thus an even stronger Danish anchoring further adds to our support for the company.” says Rolf Kjærgaard, Chief Investment Officer, Danish Growth Fund.
For further information, please contact:
Charlotte Bøggild, Marketing Director at Visiopharm: +45 51 55 50 10, chb@visiopharm.com
Peter Bruun, Head of Communication and CSR, Danish Growth Fund: +45 40 81 35 46, pbr@vf.dk
Robert Neimanas, ATP Media Relations: + 45 93 94 02 05, mailto:rne@atp.dk
About Visiopharm
Visiopharm A/S is headquartered in DTU Science Park in Hørsholm. Visiopharm’s software can quickly and accurately analyse an image of a tissue sample in connection with cancer diagnosis and identify the areas that doctors should examine. Up until now, the process has been manual and very time consuming. Currently, Visiopharm has an approved breast cancer application, but has a pipeline of applications for other sort of cancer. The future also offers the expansion of AI (artificial intelligence), which is already part of the software.
Visiopharm is the market leader in digital pathology software that increases the degree of automation in tissue-based cancer diagnosis, serving as support in decision for pathologists, thereby improving the accuracy of the diagnostic interpretation. The company’s software is currently used in cancer diagnostics, development of cancer drugs and in development of new cancer biomarkers.
Most of the Danish pathology departments already apply the company’s solutions for diagnosing breast cancer, and a number of hospitals in the Nordic countries, the UK and elsewhere in Europe are implementing the technology in routine diagnostics. The biopharmaceutical companies, contract research organizations (CROs) and university hospitals uses the Oncotopix® platform for tissue-based research and diagnostics.
Over the past few years Visiopharm has evolved into a global company with over 900 installations, each with several licenses. The Visiopharm software has been featured in more than 1,200 scientific publications since 2010.
A growing network of authorized dealers and integration partners helps support the development of Visiopharm solutions across several continents, including North America, Europe and Asia. The head office is in Medicon Valley, Denmark, DTU Science Park in Hørsholm, and Visiopharm has a branch office in the UK and a North American office in Broomfield, Colorado. See more at Visiopharm APP Center (www.visiopharm.com/appcenter), the world’s largest and fastest growing library of APPs (application protocol packages) for diagnostics and research. Or go visit directly at www.visiopharm.com.
About ATP
ATP is Denmark’s largest pension and social security provider and one of Europe’s largest pension providers, with more than €100 billion assets under management invested in bonds, equities, real estate and infrastructure assets, among others. In recent years, ATP has made significant investments in vital infrastructure such as the Copenhagen Airport, the renewable energy company Orsted as well as the telecommunication company TDC.
ATP also administers key welfare benefits and schemes on behalf of the Danish state, the local authorities in Denmark and the social partners. ATP is the largest administration provider in the Nordic countries, managing two thirds of welfare benefits disbursed in Denmark.
http://www.atp.dk/
About The Danish Growth Fund
The Danish Growth Fund is the Danish state investment fund. The Fund contributes to the creation of more new growth companies by providing capital and expertise. Since 1992, The Danish Growth Fund has, together with private investors and financial institutions, co-financed growth in more than 7,300 Danish companies with a total commitment of more than DKK 22.5 billion. In 2017, the companies had a combined turnover of more than DKK 98 billion and employed more than 63,500 people. The Danish Growth Fund’s investments currently contribute to creating approximately 10,700 new jobs per year.
http://www.vf.dk/
About Vator Securites
Vator Securities provides an extensive range of capital markets and advisory services to cutting-edge public and private growth companies with an emphasis on the Life Sciences, Medical Technology and Diagnostics sectors. Vator Securities distinguishes itself by the firm’s ability to raise capital from traditional institutional investors, as well as from its proprietary global network of family offices and high net worth investors. Vator Securities was founded in 2010 in Stockholm. The firm is an equity partnership.
www.vatorsecurities.se/
