Nukute, an Oulu-based health technology company, has initiated the first funding round to gather resources needed for its further development. The fundraising will be completed with the use of the Invesdor digital investment platform.
HAVE YOUR SHARE IN THE BEST TECHNOLOGY FOR DIAGNOSING SLEEP-APNEA AND MONITORING CORONAVIRUS PATIENTS
Nukute provides solutions for sleep apnea screening and support for listening, analyzing and monitoring respiratory diseases. The company’s innovation consists of two products; the Nukute Collare, which facilitates the diagnosis of sleep apnea and the Nukute Monitor, which enables monitoring patients with respiratory and pulmonary diseases as well as Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, including COVID-19 infection, in both hospitals and home care. Nukute is now offering potential investors an opportunity to realize a meaningful profit by making their stock available to the public.
Nukute’s Founder and Member of the Board, Tuukka Visuri talks about the company’s unique solution, opportunities to invest and company’s goals for the future.
What is the Nukute innovation about?
According to the Respiratory Association, there are 300,000 people who suffer from sleep apnea in Finland. The first step to treatment is by diagnosing the patient, and Nukute has developed a way to do that in a patient-oriented manner. The Collare device that we have developed measures sleep breathing, blood oxygen saturation, pulse and the patient’s position. Then it sends the data to the Nukute cloud service for analysis and to generate the measurement results necessary for making a sleep apnea statement. Next, a doctor treating the patient receives these results through the user interface. This helps him make the right diagnosis. The device is attached to a neck where it monitors the tracheal sounds with sensors and analyzes them with the help of machine intelligence. This, in turn, gives an accurate overall picture of the state of the respiratory system of the patient being monitored.
In what way does your solution differ from other innovations?
Sleep apnea is the most common sleep disorder that affects significantly patient’s quality of life if left untreated. The Nukute Collare package includes an actual collar, a fingertip oxygen saturation meter and a tablet computer that is placed on a bedside table. Our solution allows both collecting information about patient’s night-time breathing and monitoring several other biosignals wirelessly. In this way, possible sleep apnea attacks are detected early enough. We offer an easy-to-use diagnosis tool that makes work of healthcare professionals much easier. It can be used both at home and in a hospital environment. The diagnostic equipment that we have developed is safe, easy and comfortable to use. It is also cost-efficient as it helps reduce hospital visits and shortens the time spent in hospital.
Why invest in Nukute?
First of all, I would like to highlight the fact that there is high unit profitability in the sale of sleep apnea diagnosis. The sleep apnea diagnostics market is expected to grow an annual rate by 7.4% in 2020-2027. According to a report by Grand View Research, the global market for devices to support the diagnosis and monitoring of respiratory diseases is growing at an annual rate of 12.1%. and it will reach $ 28.95 billion by 2024. These are strong facts. Global awareness of the symptoms and consequences of sleep apnea is rising, which may increase the need for screening and diagnosis. This, of course, opens a wide range of new opportunities for Nukute to grow. We forecast that the turnover of Nukute Oy’s sleep business (Nukute Collare) and Nukute Oy’s apnea therapy business (Nukute Collare) will reach 7.1 million EUR and 0.9 million EUR respectively in 2022. In addition, anyone who invests in Nukute in this round at least 4000€ will get an opportunity to receive a one-night loan for sleep apnea measurement for themselves or their loved ones.
What are you going to use the raised funding for?
With the help of the raised funding, the company will launch its newly licensed Nukute Collare product on the European market and develop the Nukute Monitor product to support the diagnosis and monitoring of respiratory and pulmonary patients. We need funding for sales and marketing in Europe as well as clinical validations in the United States.
Can your solution be used to help COVID-19 patients?
The coronavirus pandemic has stimulated the search for high-quality and user-friendly solutions for monitoring infected patients not only in hospitals but also at patients’ homes. Nukute technology answers this need perfectly. In March 2020, we realized that with minor software changes our technology and know-how could also be used to monitor patients infected with the coronavirus. This launched a rapid product development project to deliver revolutionary Nukute technology to help those infected with COVID-19. Clinical trials of the Nukute Monitor service will begin in June 2020. Test monitoring of COVID-19 patients will begin in stages at the University Hospitals of Helsinki and Oulu this summer.
What are your plans for the nearest future?
The Nukute device is just about to receive the CE approval for a medical device. Then sales can begin immediately. We aim to achieve a strong position in the sector of devices and methods that support diagnosis and treatment of respiratory and pulmonary diseases. In addition, our products will be sent for evaluation to hospital customers in Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Germany by the end of August 2020. The goal is also to develop a new type of a therapy product, alongside a diagnostic product, which will provide a significant improvement in the user experience, compared to current overpressure masks.
The spread of the coronavirus has increased the need for respiratory disease diagnosis and monitoring equipment. We aim to deliver approximately 30,000 Collare by the end of 2023. The evolution of the pandemic is difficult to predict, so it is equally difficult to present our business targets precisely. It depends, for example, on how soon it will be possible to obtain the required medical device approval for the product or, alternatively, the exemption required to sell the solution during the pandemic. However, a version of the device suitable for coronavirus patient monitoring will be completed this year.
All in all, at Nukute, we believe in business growth and we look to the future with optimism.
Read more information about Nukute and the fundraising here.
Joanna Seppänen, Health & Life Science, BusinessOulu