CEO: The pandemic has highlighted the need for our product - now we need to accelerate growth
In the summer, another life science company is entering the Copenhagen stock exchange, as Monsenso plans to raise DKK 20 million (USD 2.9 million) through an initial public offering on Nasdaq First North.
"It is huge, and a big milestone for me personally and for the whole team. Ringing the stock exchange bell will be a special and memorable experience," says Thomas Lethenborg, CEO of Monsenso, to MedWatch.
Monsenso's app offers help to those with mental illnesses such as anxiety, bipolar disorder and depression, and the company has also developed an mHealth-solution, which functions as a self-help and monitoring app.
The need for digital solutions is exacerbated by the coronavirus, which is currently creating financial problems as well as contributing to serious physical and mental challenges for a large portion of the global population, Lethenborg says.
This is why he sees big potential for the company's app and in the timing of its initial public offering - despite the fact that stock markets have been particularly volatile of late.
"Of course we considered whether the time was right with the uncertain stock markets we have seen recently. But we are convinced that a solution like ours, which is a mobile healthcare solution which makes data-driven treatment of mental illnesses possible, is very relevant to the current situation," Lethenborg explains.
This is partly because we are all becoming more used to interacting at a distance via phone, online platforms and video, but also because the coronavirus, which brought with it infection danger, death, uncertainty and a constant bombardment of bad news, is making a lot of people worried.
"Our solution makes it possible for treatment of mental illnesses to continue, which we must expect will be a bigger problem due to covid-19, both now, during the crisis and possibly especially afterwards," he says.
Growth, expansion and scaling up
In 2013, Monsenso was founded by Mads Frost, who is the company's product director, and Jakob E. Bardram, who is technical director and sits on the board. Today, the company has 14 employees, and aims to bring this up to 30 by the end of next year.
The chairman of the board is former chair of Leo Pharma, Jukka Pertola, and when the company rings the stock exchange bell in the summer, the goal is to raise DKK 20 million (USD 2.9 million).
"That is the amount that we have calculated will cover what we need right now to support our growth plan," says Lethenborg, who in 2019 could report a DKK 8.9 million (USD 1.3 million) revenue and a modest profit of DKK 24,000 (USD 3,500).
The ambition is to raise the revenue to DKK 76 million (USD 11 million) by 2024.
The fresh millions will be used for Monsenso's "international growth journey", and expansion of the organization and to scale-up existing partnerships. This should hopefully lead to a DKK 24 million (USD 3.5 million) revenue.
"We want to grow internationally, and we therefore need to expand our organization to capitalize on the potential that the company has," says Lethenborg.
Most of the money will be spent on sales and marketing, but "a large portion" will go to implementation support, to ensure that clients are retained and their engagement with Monsenso increases.
"We will also use quite a bit of the money to develop the product further and add more intelligence to the processing of data in the product," Lethenborg explains.
"Finally, we are entering the stock exchange, because we have some clients and partnerships that we see very big scaling potential in, which requires capital to release," he elaborates.
Wants to appeal to all Danes
Monsenso's app is used in the UK, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany and Australia to support treatments of a wide range of mental illnesses and behavioral disorders.
The app is designed to monitor bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder, ADHD, eating disorders and pre and postpartum depression, and Monsenso has been a partner in Region Syddanmark's project effort within psychiatry over the phone.
The app has also been part of a pilot project in Region Nordjylland for people with schizophrenia, and has been used by one of the UK's largest private psychiatric care providers, the St. Andrew's Healthcare fund.
"We are currently working with Region Hovedstaden, which is rolling out our solution to all bipolar patients," says Lethenborg.
Around 10,000 patients with severe depression or bipolar disorder are hospitalized every year. Many are frequently re-hospitalized, and this is a tendency that the Region Hovedstaden's psychiatry organization, Copenhagen University and DTU are trying to turn around with help from Monsenso's app.
"We are also working with international pharmaceutical companies in Europe, and we have some private players and municipalities which we are working with on addiction treatments," explains Lethenborg.
He believes that a wide range of Danish investors will be interested in buying shares in Monsenso in the summer.
"We have something that I think will appeal widely to Danes. My understanding is that most Danes can see the need to help create better mental health for more people at a low cost," he says.
Today, one out of every for people in Denmark suffers from a mental illness, meaning almost everybody is affected - either directly or indirectly through close relatives, friends and acquaintances, says Lethenborg.
"So I think that ordinary Danes will buy shares, and then of course semi-professional investors as well. We will probably get a lot of those," he adds.
Chose Denmark despite reputation
Since 2010, just four companies within the pharmaceutical, biotech and medtech industries have entered the stock exchange in Denmark: Orphazyme, Virogates, Zealand Pharma and, most recently, Fluoguide.
A less than attractive shares saving accounts scheme and the OECD's second-highest taxation on share income, among other things, have stopped many Danish companies from trying their luck at home and encouraged them to look on the other side of the Oresund.
This includes Qlife, which recently entered the stock exchange in Stockholm.
The conditions in Denmark are worse than in Sweden for smaller life science companies on the hunt for risk-assuming capital.
The First North exchange in Denmark has a few black marks on its record - many companies shares have dropped in value after becoming listed, and several companies have gone bust shortly afterwards.
However, Lethenborg and Monsenso have still chosen the Danish exchange.
"We considered the Danish and Swedish exchanges. But we chose Denmark to avoid further complexity. Our focus is the Danish market and a number of international markets - Sweden is not a key market for Monsenso," Lethenborg explains.
"We therefore decided that to make the most of the business focus that comes out of an initial public offering, it should happen in Denmark," says Lethenborg.
Today, Mads Frost owns 10-15 percent of shares in the company and Jakob Eyvind Bardram owns 25-33 percent, while the remaining ownership share belongs to holding company Monsenso Holding.
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