BATM confirms $30m funding agreement for Ador venture

28th Jan 2019 10:46

(Sharecast News) - Networking and medical laboratory technologies provider BATM Advanced Communications has signed a conditional subscription and shareholders' agreement for an investment of up to $30m, it announced on Monday, to provide additional funds for the commercialisation of the molecular biology-based solutions being developed by Ador Diagnostics - its joint venture with Gamida for Life.The London-listed firm said an initial $14.5m on a pre-investment enterprise valuation of $30m would be funded by the end of March.A further $15.5m, at a valuation that would be a 33.3% premium to the post-Initial Investment enterprise valuation, would be funded by the end of 2020, subject to certain milestones being achieved.Up to $25m of that conditional investment would be invested by "leading" medical industry investors from the US, together with Puma Brandenburg Investments - an investment company majority-owned by Howard Shore.BATM said itself and Gamida would provide $4m of the outstanding amount equally.The company explained that Ador was focussed on the development and marketing of "unique" in-vitro diagnostic solutions, combining molecular diagnostics and rapid tests within the same machine.It said the first product developed by Ador was the 'NATlab' reader - a rapid-results molecular biology diagnostics system that was designed to be used at point-of-care.The system used microarray cartridges to enable the rapid sample-to-answer identification of a specific disease or infection.BATM said it believed that would allow medical practitioners to provide quicker and more efficient treatment.The NATlab was currently undergoing final engineering ahead of in-hospital testing in the United States and Europe this year, with the intention of receiving regulatory approval to enable commercialisation in 2020.BATM said the initial investment would primarily be used to build several systems to be installed with customers for testing; developing and certifying several cartridges catering to different areas of infectious disease; and for sales and marketing efforts."This investment reflects the tremendous potential of our molecular biology-based solution for the diagnostics market, which has already demonstrated its viability with real-life testing," said BATM chief executive officer, Dr Zvi Marom."It is also a great endorsement of our approach of incubating innovative technology companies and then capitalising on their IP."With this funding, once completed, we will be able to accelerate and drive forward the commercialisation of our breakthrough NATlab system, which we believe will revolutionise the point-of-care medical diagnostics industry."