Belluscura plans IPO after licensing Stryker devices

Belluscura has filed to raise up to $13 million in a London IPO. The filing comes days after the U.K. startup acquired licenses to make and sell Stryker medical devices.

Investment services company Tekcapital created Belluscura as a wholly owned subsidiary in 2015 with the intention of picking up the rights to premium medical devices and selling them at prices that serve global unmet needs. That strategy took a step forward earlier this week when Belluscura entered into a conditional agreement to acquire the licenses to manufacture and sell Stryker’s STIC product line.

STIC, a handheld pressure monitor that generated average annual sales of $4 million from 2011 to 2016, joins the SNAP II, the Passport, the Slyde and the Wire Caddy on the list of devices Belluscura has picked up from the U.S. medical technology company.

Belluscura already contract manufactures the Passport, the Slyde and the Wire Caddy and plans to do the same for the SNAP II and STIC. This is central to the company’s strategy. By investing in new manufacturing techniques and technological development, Belluscura thinks it can drive down the cost of the devices, making them more widely available.

“Belluscura's strategy will seek to capitalise on the key trends driving the growth of the medical devices industry. We are focused on targeting the segment of the market that is demanding affordable premium quality medical devices,” Belluscura CEO Robert Rauker said in a statement.

The IPO will give Belluscura $10 million to $13 million to bankroll this strategy. 

Belluscura is also on the lookout for other technologies, specifically those that have already been developed or are around the prototype stage and will require limited investment to bring to market. Acquired products will join the Stryker devices and a portable oxygen concentrator co-developed with Separation Design Group in Belluscura’s portfolio.

The U.K. device startup will sell the devices through internal and external sales channels. 

Tekcapital welcomed (PDF) the IPO filing, predicting that, although its stake will be diluted by the float, the value of its holding may increase.