News & Media
Michelson Diagnostics is singled out for growth
Tuesday, 13 January 2009
Michelson Diagnostics has been singled out as a company with high growth potential by two leading investor organisations.
The European Tech Tour Association held its first MedTech Tour Summit 19th-20th November 2008 in Montreux, Switzerland, to bring together Europe's most innovative medical technology companies with leading venture capitalists and leading industry professionals. Michelson Diagnostics was one of just 24 start-up companies selected from 240 candidates, by an expert panel of investors, to present at the event.
The MedTech Tour Summit attracted big name U.S. investors, including Medtronic, Johnson & Johnson, Edwards Lifesciences, and Boston Scientific, as well as U.S. venture capitalists from firms such as Polaris Venture Partners and Highland Capital Partners, and European companies including Sofinnova from France, Neomed, Endeavour Vision, and Ares Life Sciences.
Michelson Diagnostics CEO Jon Holmes commented "I found the MedTech Tour Summit extremely useful: the high standard of presenting companies at different stages of their business development provided insights into how I need to position Michelson Diagnostics for an investment. I also made contact with several interested investors and advisors, and discussions are progressing."
Commenting1 on why investors are so interested in medical technology companies during the current adverse financial climate, Dr Brian Hashemi, President of the MedTech Tour Summit, said "Technologies such as non-invasive surgical products that diminish the cost of surgery and hospitalisation time will make a significant impact on global healthcare. Another area of great impact is new advanced diagnostics for early detection of cancer, which will benefit millions of patients and prevent costly cure. The very fact that MedTech is massively addressing cost issues makes it the fastest growing venture capital investments area in the healthcare sector. In the US alone, VC investments in MedTech and medical instruments grew more than $1 billion in 2007 to reach over $4 billion."
Michelson Diagnostics was also recently singled out by the British Venture Capital Association (BVCA) at its recent Spin-Out Conference, 17th November 2008 in London. The BVCA chose Michelson Diagnostics as an example of a high-growth company, and asked CEO Jon Holmes (along with two other CEOs of high-growth companies) to present and to take part in a panel discussion, on strategies for transformational growth of start-up companies.
According to the BVCA2, more than 250 venture capitalists, academics, entrepreneurs and other interested parties attended the event. During the conference, a poll of attendees revealed that 61% of them believed that the healthcare sector would be the least affected by the economic downturn, compared to ICT, internet and clean-tech investments. The two sectors expected to bring the most fruitful returns for investors in young spin-outs were medical technologies and clean-tech.
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Michelson Diagnostics CEO Jon Holmes presents to investors at the MedTech Tour Summit 2008, Montreux, Switzerland |
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References:
- Interview with Dr Brian Hashemi by Jennifer L Schenker, Nov 20, for Business Week. See http://www.techtour.com/ms2008/files/Business%20week-USA.pdf
- BVCA Dec 08 newsletter, http://bvca-newsletter.px2co.com/. The conference poll results are available at http://www.bvca.co.uk/publications/spinout_slides_17_nov.ppt
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