Visiopharm raises fresh capital with BankInvest as lead investor

COPENHAGEN, Denmark, Sept. 1, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- In a new investment round, Visiopharm added BankInvest to the group of institutional investors that already includes ATP, NorthCap, Vækstfonden, and C.L. Davids Fond. BankInvest now holds almost 6% of the equity of the company. All existing investors co-invested in this round.

"We have seen Visiopharm triple its revenues organically over the last four financial years, which is very impressive," stated Stefan Ingildsen, Senior Portfolio Manager at BankInvest, and adds "It is not very common for BankInvest's mutual funds to invest in unlisted companies, but the perspectives for the AI-driven Precision Pathology market and for Visiopharm are so interesting that we decided to make an exception. The sustained growth rates show that there is a market, it is taking off now, and Visiopharm's technology is addressing unmet needs effectively."

The purchase of shares in Visiopharm is benefitting several of BankInvest's mutual funds, in particular, the fund "BankInvest Small Cap Danish Equities."

"We are extremely pleased, and also proud, to see BankInvest join the group of investors backing Visiopharm. We are on a journey to become world leaders in next-generation AI-driven Precision Pathology tools for cancer diagnostics," says CEO Michael Grunkin and adds "This investment is bringing our cash-position to about MUSD 15, which will allow us to further expand our sales channels, and continue our path back to cash-positivity while further accelerating both our diagnostic product roadmap, as well as our regulatory programs in geographies beyond Europe, including in the US."

With an install base of 75+ diagnostic pathology labs in Northern Europe, Visiopharm is already one of the largest diagnostic players in the European diagnostic digital pathology market. These installations are still in a relatively narrow geography, as Visiopharm only started accelerating its geographic expansion beyond Scandinavia as recent as in 2018, following a significant investment with ATP as the lead investor.

"We are now also able to accelerate our diagnostic product roadmap, with new products and geographies to standardize tissue diagnostics, increase productivity in pathology labs, and help find the right treatment for the right patient at the right time. These are all reasons that I was excited to join Visiopharm as Chief Diagnostics Officer," said Dirk Vossen, who is a veteran of the Digital Pathology market, having 15 years of experience with Philips Digital and Computational Pathology.

About Visiopharm A/S

Visiopharm® is a world leader in AI-driven Digital Pathology solutions. Visiopharms' pioneering image analysis tools support thousands of scientists, pathologists, and image analysis experts in both academic institutions and the biopharmaceutical industry.

AI-based image analysis and tissue mining tools support research and drug development research worldwide, while their CE-IVD APPs support primary diagnostics. With the most advanced and sophisticated artificial intelligence and deep learning, they deliver tissue data mining tools, precision results, and workflows.

Visiopharm was founded in 2001 and is privately owned. The company operates internationally with over 900 licenses and countless users in more than 40 countries. Company headquarters are in Denmark's Medicon Valley, with further offices in Sweden, United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States. Follow Visiopharm on Linkedin and Twitter. For other news visit the Visiopharm Newsroom.

About BankInvest

BankInvest is a Danish asset manager and provider of mutual funds with total assets under management and administration of more than DKK 110 billion of which DKK 13 billion is invested in Danish equities across a range of mutual funds and institutional mandates. BankInvest manages funds for approximately 210,000 private investors and a number of institutional investors in Denmark and abroad. BankInvest was established in 1969, and the owners consist of 38 Danish banks.