Institutions pile into Planet Innovation after stellar growth Yolanda RedrupReporter
Dec 3, 2020 – 1.42pm
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Big institutional investors – including Perennial Value Management and Australian Unity – have backed local medical innovator and manufacturer Planet Innovation in a $9.8 million funding round, after a bumper year of growth following the COVID-19 pandemic.
The health tech company, founded in 2009 by four experienced biomedical executives, has its own portfolio of businesses such as Lumos Diagnostics but also designs and manufactures products for global medical companies such as Silicon Valley start-up Levitas Bio, point-of-care diagnostics business Truvian and TOMI Environmental Solutions.
Planet Innovation CEO Stuart Elliott in the company's research lab. Tash Sorensen
Although it specialises in manufacturing diagnostic products (as well as other products that require similar production techniques), Planet Innovation was also called upon to make ventilators during the pandemic.
Speaking to The Australian Financial Review, the company's co-founder and CEO, Stuart Elliott, said it had hired more than 120 people in 2020 to keep up with the growth, taking its headcount to 375.
"Our consolidated revenue last year was $67 million and our services business grew revenue by 28 per cent. Revenue growth for the last 10 years has been around 30 per cent, but this year [2021] will be higher," he said.
"People come to us for our expertise. I think it's really important that Planet Innovation and anyone going into a global market specialises in a niche, and we've specialised in diagnostics, because that's where you attract clients.
"If you tried to do all things, you wouldn't win any business."
The company's growth was supported by a boom in manufacturing contracts.
International markets
About 80 per cent of its revenue now stems from international markets, of which the US is the largest.
Under the ventures division of Planet Innovation, the company also operates energy management platform Zen Ecosystems, gastrointestinal diagnosis tech business Atmo Biosciences, ophthalmic and wound care therapies biotech Visus Therapeutics and a digital health venture called Vitalic Medical.
"We do see an ocean of opportunity. Diagnostics is an $80 billion market and that's not even including IVF, cell therapy or wearables," Mr Elliott said.
"The pandemic is also a once in a generation event that's changed the perception of the importance of diagnostics."
The new funding will go towards accelerating Planet Innovation's growth in international markets.
SG Hiscock has also joined Planet Innovation's latest round – it first invested five years ago.
Mr Elliott is contemplating an IPO for Planet Innovation. Tash Sorensen
"They’re an Australian-owned, founder-led business that has been consistently winning long-term projects from international clients. If Australia is to grow its advanced manufacturing capacity, this is exactly the sort of business we need to support," SG Hiscock director and portfolio manager Adrian Di Mattina said.
Perennial's Ryan Sohn said the business was well placed to take advantage of the "emerging long-term investment opportunities around digital, point-of-care testing and aged care" and would benefit from the tailwinds supporting the healthcare sector.
Now profitable, Planet Innovation will consider an initial public offering in the next 12 to 24 months.
"If we chose to accelerate growth, we'd need to look at a capital partner to do that. It will be about accessing capital and providing liquidity. We have a good, profitable business and we do want to take advantage of any opportunities," Mr Elliott said.
Planet Innovation fits into one of the targeted sectors for the investment –medical products – but Mr Elliott said the only thing that would really make the local industry grow was "orders".
He also believed the government should consider centralising the orders of medical products needed in hospitals, rather than each hospital ordering its own supplies, so that bulk orders could be made to local manufacturers.
"Most of our medical products are made internationally... so we're pleased the government is looking at the advanced manufacturing strategy and wants to bring more manufacturing onshore.
"We've shown we can make ventilators and IVF equipment, so we can pretty much do any electromechanical equipment, including defibrillators and diffusion pumps. A lot of equipment is very similar to manufacture.
"But we don't need grants, we need orders. We added more than 100 jobs this year on the back of local orders and we would really like to see the government focus on sovereign manufacturing capability."
Melbourne, Australia – 21 April 2020: Adherium (ASX:ADR), a leader in digital inhaled device adherence, remote monitoring and data management solutions, today announced a strategic device hardware and software development partnership with Planet Innovation (PI). This development will
enhance Adherium’s leading device coverage position in both asthma and COPD with sensors developed to provide the physiological data required to enable physician monitoring reimbursement for this activity in the US.
Adherium’s Hailie™ technology is well placed to gain significant growth in the USA and beyond with the recent introduction of Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) reimbursement codes for remote patient monitoring. This comes alongside the increased global physician and provider interest in Telehealth which is being dramatically accelerated with the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Our partnership with Planet Innovation is a critical step in our revised commercial strategy expanding and enhancing our product portfolio and enables us to access both asthma and COPD
with devices facilitating physician reimbursement. This investment reflects the continuing
revitalisation of Adherium alongside the appointment of a new leadership team, the successful
rights issue in January this year and initial commercial partnering agreements such as HGE Health
last week,” said Mike Motion, Chief Operating Officer.”
“Our New Zealand based team has built close links with PI and whilst overseeing the new projects
with PI, will also upgrade our existing devices to leverage the new software enabling the
physiological data capture required to access the RPM CPT codes.”
“While operating in challenging times due to the COVID-19 pandemic our operational response to
the situation, working with our employees and partners, is enabling us to continue activities on the
planned timeline. We continue to manage the situation closely in response to new developments.”
Planet Innovation has a proven track record in the highly regulated medical device hardware and
software development arena including for connected devices and digital platforms. PI has a team of
over 300 people, working across product design and development through to product
manufacturing, and has a wide range of global collaborations including with Merck, Ramsay Health
and Melbourne-based start-up Scinogy.
Co-CEO and co-founder of Planet Innovation, Sam Lanyon, said: “Planet Innovation is pleased to be
collaborating with Adherium to support their innovation investment in Melbourne as it upgrades its
existing software and devices and develops the next set of products with enhanced physiological
measurement capabilities.”
This new relationship is complementary to the recently announced collaboration with Summatix
Pty Ltd, a Melbourne based medical informatics company developing an open, scalable, regulated
data platform to assist its clients in the dissemination and creation of actionable medical data for
clinicians in the delivery of healthcare for their patients.
About Adherium (ASX: ADR): Adherium is a provider of digital health solutions and a global leader in connected respiratory medical devices, with more than 170,000 sold globally. The company
develops, manufactures and supplies a broad range of connected medical devices for respiratory
medications for patients, pharmaceutical companies, healthcare providers and contract research
organisations. Adherium’s Hailie™ solution is designed to help patients achieve better adherence
and provide visibility to parents and caregivers. It does this by tracking medication use and
reminding the user with helpful nudges when it’s time to take doses, and by providing access to
usage history to better understand patterns in their asthma and COPD. These tools ultimately enable
people who live with asthma or COPD to more easily manage their condition alongside their
physician. Learn more at adherium.com.
About Planet Innovation
Planet Innovation is a healthtech innovation and commercialization company that exists to create
breakthrough products and commercially successful businesses that transform industries and have a
positive impact on the world. PI has a team of more than 300 people who are experts in how to
research, design, engineer, manufacture, fund and market new products and new businesses. In
addition to PI’s Services divisions, its current portfolio of businesses includes Lumos Diagnostics, Zen Ecosystems and Atmo Biosciences.
ADR Price at posting:
1.9¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
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