Optomed - Health technology company

I’m creating a separate thread for this! :slight_smile: @Verneri_Pulkkinen is interviewing the company today and will soon publish a video on inderesTV.

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Hmm. Interesting field, the first question of course is whether, with the patent stack, there is something truly unique in the market that won’t also come from five competitors. I should probably look into it more closely.

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Is Optomed a competitor of Revenio?

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Revenio is a role model (in expanding to the US), for now… :wink:

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Here’s a video. They also filmed my fundus, the devices work :smiley:

It seems like a cocktail of Revenio and Admicom :crazy_face: : device sales and software solutions.

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Why wouldn’t Revenio have bought this for themselves? They already have distribution channels etc., it would surely be easier to market as an add-on than as a separate company now. :thinking:

Is this a future combo? Does Revenio want to see how it performs/develops first?

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I’m wondering the same. Patent portfolio, device price and margin. If it’s a really cheap device, I guess they’d go to every health center to examine diabetics… Then some concrete statistics on how often the AI is right/wrong and how it reacts to possible false indications (does it, for example, report that the result is uncertain, go see a doctor :slight_smile: )

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The boutique, along with its marketing, seemed good in the interview, but from the halfway point onwards, my focus shifted to “how many times will the CEO say ‘uhm’?” Not the most convincing performance, but indeed, it sounds like a potential acquisition target :thinking:

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Great fast action from Verneri!
However, I was left a little disappointed at the end when it was mentioned that Revenio makes tonometers, but this description is about something else. As it happens, Revenio now has fundus cameras on its list with the acquisition of Center Vue, and therefore, in my opinion, a direct competitor.
Well, Vertsu is probably not an analyst, but I’m more concerned about the CEO’s ignorance. He should probably know if there are only a few players in the field. Grill him!

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Thanks, and of course :wink:

We talked about that before the shoot. Apparently, desktop devices (Centervue), if I’ve understood correctly, are not considered direct competitors. But, it’s a bit of a nuanced matter, indeed.

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It’s probably been discussed, but the price expectations haven’t matched. Sometimes acquisitions happen right at the brink of listing, like Fortum buying Ekokem…

I’m keen to scrutinize the actual analysis, valuation, future, etc.

If I heard correctly, the entire market size is 0.5 billion, WHICH IS SMALL!! Was that the correct estimate, I doubt it.

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When would these be listed and where can I find more information?

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A quick search turned up a Kaleva news article from 2017:
https://www.kaleva.fi/uutiset/kotimaa/oululaisen-optomedin-silmanpohjakamera-valmis-aloittamaan-kliiniset-testit/766219/

2016 turnover 6.6 million euros, 2017 target 9 million. .

Small camera market currently around 20 million.
“We created them.” Seppo Kopsala, CEO

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Towards the end of this month, a Roadshow in a joint event space and studio (Symposion -room) by Inderes and Hotel Kämp. There will be catering from Kämp and our technology. I’ll send out invitations and webcast links later :slight_smile: More details to follow.

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Without knowing any details, I’m just shouting from the bushes:
It could be a bit dangerous if the CEO doesn’t consider competitors (potential ones) that manufacture desktop devices. They probably have the technology for imaging and perhaps even partially for analysis, and why wouldn’t they push their own product there as the market grows? If, for example, Revenio (Centervue) were to develop a similar version of their product and throw it into their sales channel with their name and recognition, smaller companies would be in trouble. Of course, it’s nice if smaller companies first mature and test the market a bit..

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I’m guessing that a small handheld meter is a significant competitive advantage compared to a large desktop model. Especially when the price difference is tens of thousands for one and thousands of euros for the other. The same goes for Revenio’s competitors. Some produce large and expensive equipment, while Revenio’s product is handy, affordable, and even more pleasing to the customer. Of course, then there’s the question of image quality in these fundus examinations. Centerview seems to have excellent image quality. Is it the same with Optomed’s equipment? However, money talks if you can get a cheaper camera for a fraction of the price of higher-quality equipment. I’m eagerly awaiting the analysis of the company. Is Inderes going to publish an IPO report, by the way?

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A small size takes up less space and is portable. If this provides a clear benefit, then there is some kind of competitive advantage. Quality and reliability are, of course, more significant. If the product does not yield good enough results, then size and price will not compete.

No exceptional revenue growth in recent years. They apparently acquired some software company, which affected the matter. Hardware operations have been loss-making for several years. Development is expensive, though, but I consider it a clear risk.

I am mainly interested in where the company would invest its money more specifically, and what the qualitative position of the device is in relation to other devices that serve the same purpose, whether they are on a desk or elsewhere.

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That whole thing is true. What I meant by this comment was that when asked about competition and Revenio, the CEO stated that Revenio’s main product is icare/eye pressure/glaucoma, and their retinal camera is for examining different eye diseases, meaning it’s a complementary, not a competing product. However, Revenio is no longer just icare; after the Centervue acquisition, I understand they have a product for precisely the same purpose. Strange, unless the CEO doesn’t know their competitive landscape or perhaps doesn’t want to say? The difference is that Centervue doesn’t have a handheld device. The CEO stated here that handheld devices have small players and an emerging market. I wouldn’t consider it at all unlikely that Revenio’s know-how in handheld devices combined with Centervue’s retinal camera expertise wouldn’t, at some point, produce a direct major player in Optomed’s competitive landscape…

In any case, this is just uninformed shouting from the sidelines, as I know so little about this industry. It would be really interesting to hear, for example, Hilden’s view on Optomed as a competitor, or from people in the industry about their technical expertise.

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The device itself is not difficult to make, and there’s plenty of expertise in Finland. The main thing is to make the device as cheap as possible. The real added value comes from the AI solution for diagnosing images. A doctor probably charges tens of euros per image for an opinion and is likely both less accurate and slower compared to an AI-based solution.

For an AI-based solution to work accurately, a lot of data is needed, i.e., scanned eyes, both healthy and diseased, and information about what’s wrong with each eye. The one with the most data (=scanned eyes) wins this accuracy race, not the one with the best hardware. To get data, the device must spread quickly as widely as possible… that’s why a low price for the device is important.

Now it would be interesting to know if Optomed can collect more data than its competitors and thus develop the most accurate AI analysis software? (Of course, the neural network architecture and many other things also matter, but nothing replaces the amount of data)

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An analyst’s report or analysis of Optomed might make for interesting reading, but can its conclusions be far-reaching? After all, it concerns a product whose use value requires extensive subject matter expertise (i.e., in-depth knowledge of different fundus imaging techniques and their use value).

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