I firmly believe in the prospects of this little gem of a company. Chugging away quietly, completely unnoticed by the market but I believe the Covid-19 Detection Sensor will be the catalyst that awakens the market to Sensera.
The individuals involved speak for themselves, having turned companies around from the brink and arranged their acquisition by majors for hundreds of millions or even billions. A record unparalleled and rarely found in a $30 market cap company.
Overview below:
Who are Sensera?
Sensera are a MEMs and Microdevices innovator and manufacturer based in Woburn, Massachusetts. Sensera was spun out of Tritron Systems and listed on the ASX in 2016.
Triton Systems are a major technology and product incubator in the United States, founded by venture capitalists and engineers Ross Haghighat and Hamed Borhanian.
To date, Triton Systems has created over US $4 billion in shareholder value through their spin off companiesand subsequent innovations and their commercialisation. You can learn more about Triton Systems at their website - http://www.tritonsystems.com/
The benefits of being spun out of an incubation hub like Triton Systems are outlined below
What does Sensera do?
Sensera is a designer and manufacturer of Microsensors and micro-fabricated components for the healthcare, industrial, defense and aerospace sectors. Sensera works with high value clients to design and manufacture MEMS and Microdevices for their product offerings.
Sensera has developed it's own unique and patented MEMS architecture.
I recommend the following video to understand the application of MEMS:
What are MEMS (Microsensors)?
Example of Microdevices:
Human Organs-on-Chips is a product that Sensera has helped developed with it's partner, the Wyss Institute at Harvard University.
While Sensera does brand a few generic sensors under it's own brand, Sensera will typically work with high value clients to design and develop a customer product for their needs. Sensera will undertake all design, engineering and manufacturing. These products are OEM and will be branded under the customer's own branding.
For example, the recently launched ABIOMED Impella Heart Pump developed by Sensera for ABIOMED.
Sensera is also a leader in Microfluidics with clients currently in the design and engineering phase.
Sensera will charge clients an engineering and design fee, while a per unit fee when the component or product has progressed to the manufacturing stage. In addition, Sensera offers final assembly services.
Sensera has a close partnership with Agiltron, Inc. Agiltron is the world’s leading supplier of optical switches, optical attenuators, optical tunable filters, high optical power components, and fiber monitors.
Sensera and Agiltron share the same manufacturing facility in Woburn, Massachusetts. Sensera manufactures components for existing Agiltron products. The facility has the necessary scale to meet growing client demand.
Sensera Management
One of the primary positive aspects is the high caliber management involved with Sensera. The management that is typically found in companies with market caps of several hundred million or in the billions.
Ralph Schmitt - CEO
Tim Stucchi - COO (General Manager MicroDevices)
Camillo Martin (Chairman)
To summarise:
Ralph Schmitt:
> Known as the "turn around king". Took SSD manufacturer and pioneer OCZ out of bankruptcy and organised acquisition by Toshiba, where he joined as an executive.
> Head of sales, Marketing and Business development at Cypress Semiconductor, which was recently acquired by Infineon Technologies AG for €9.0 billion euros. Led Cypress to annual sales in excess of $1.4 billion USD. Prior to acquisition by Infineon, the market cap of Cypress Semiconductor was US $9 billion.
> Took over at Sipex Corp with the company facing financial difficulties. Completely revamped product line and offering, grew sales and rebuilt brand recognition and reputation for quality. His management led to the merger of Sipex Corp with Exar Corp in 2007. Ralph then joined Exar Corp retaining his position as CEO and later the acquisition of Exar Corp by MaxLinear for US $700m.
> Ralph was CEO of PLX Technology, which developed PCI-Express technology. Under tutelage of Ralph, the company grew and was acquired by Broadcom for $300m.
Camillo Martino:
> One of the most respected and sought after executives in the semi-conductor industry.
> As director of Cypress Semiconductor, was Involved in sale of Cypress Semiconductor to Infineon Technologies AG for €9.0 billion euros. Director of Cypress Semiconductor since 2017 to its sale in 2020. Cypress Semiconductor had ad market cap of US $9 billion.
> Director at MosChip with $2 billion market cap.
> Current director and chairman of Magnachip and recently organised the sale of it's foundry division for US $350.6 million. Credited by the CEO of Magnachip with being instrumental in the process.
> Was CEO and Director of Silicon Image until it was acquired by Lattice Semiconductor in 2015 for US $600 million.
> Was COO at Zoran Corporation until it was acquired by CSR for US $679 million.
> Was on National Semiconductor board until it was acquired by Texas Instruments for US $6.5 billion.
Sensera is a strategic partner of Wyss Institute at Harvard University. The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering is a cross-disciplinary research institute at Harvard University which focuses on developing new bioinspired materials and devices for applications in healthcare, manufacturing, robotics, energy, and sustainable architecture
To date, Sensera has worked with the Wyss Institute to deliver Organs-On-Chips and Labs-on-Chips.
Human Organs-On-Chips are designed to replicate the behaviour and operation of Human organs and replace the need to test on animals.
Labs-On-Chips is a product designed towards commercialisation thatwill enable general practitioner clinics, hospitals, etc to conductaccurate on the fly blood tests and know the results within minutesusing a minuscule amount of blood (pin prick).
“Sensera is a key partner providing critical microdevice component fabrication, which enables our growing applications in precision medicine and personalized health,” said Dr. Richard Novak, Senior Staff Engineer at Harvard University’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering. “These microchips, called ‘organs-on-chips’, offer a potential alternative to traditional animal testing. Each organ-on-chip comprises a polymeric membrane that contains hollow channels lined by living human cells.”
“Sensera has been able to deliver consistent quality while meeting challenging specifications,” Dr. Novak added.
3. Automated Car Sensors for DiDi Chuxing
The company has also recently secured DiDi Chuxing as a customer todevelop automated car sensors. DiDi Chuxing has a market cap of US$80billion and are 15.4% owned by Uber. DiDi is the Chinese ride sharinggiant. Sensera are working with DiDi to deliver automated vehicles.
Previously announced customer, DiDi Chuxing Technologyhas reinitiated the development of the automated car sensor designafter a COVID-19 related work disruption. This has been a positivedevelopment in the opportunity to deliver sensors for LIDAR systemsto be used for the ride-sharing application in China.
4. Covid-19 Detection Sensors (Biosensor)
5. Other Products (MicroFluidics, MicroDevices, MEMS)
Sensera due to NDA cannot name or specify the particulars of products in the engineering phase or the name of the entity they're being developed for unless already known.
However per the company in the prelim report, we know there are several products in the engineering pipeline that will be shortly moving to production phase in addition to additional products being produced for Abiomed.
Sensera charges for engineering, design and production.
SE1 Price at posting:
9.4¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
