Injeq Oyj

Company profile

Injeq, founded in 2010, offers unique smart needles for demanding patient injections, such as lumbar punctures.  

The Company’s first product, the Injeq IQ-Tip®, provides real time information of when the needle has reached its target, which significantly increases the success rate of injections. 

Injeq’s IQ-Tip® received CE certificate in December 2021 after three successful clinical trials. 

Injeq currently has distributors in 14 countries across Europe and additionally in Kuwait and Taiwan. Injeq has plans to expand its distributor network globally in the EMEA, Americas and APAC regions. 

The global special needles market is estimated to reach €14.9bn in 2027 of which the addressable market for Injeq is estimated at €1.8bn. 

Developments since the last funding round with Invesdor

Find out more about what has happened since the last crowdfunding.

Injeq IQ-Tip® analyzer 

• Injeq’s IQ-Tip® analyzer is designed to identify the tissue at the tip of the needle and report in real time when the spinal needle hits the cerebrospinal fluid 
• The IQ-Tip® analyzer works when it is connected to the disposable and sterile IQ-Tip® spinal needle and IQ-Tip® cable, and it measures the bioimpedance of the tissue touching the tip of the needle 200 times per second at 15 different frequencies 
• The IQ-Tip® analyzer facilitates the doctor's work in lumbar punctures. The analyzer gives both an alarm sound and a visual alarm when the tip of the needle hits the spinal fluid 
• The IQ-Tip® analyzer is a reusable product and is typically sold through distributors as a one-time purchase to hospitals 

The indication areas of the smart needle are: 

Neonatology: Performing lumbar punctures on newborns is challenging for anatomical and physiological reasons. The IQ-Tip® needle's bioimpedance spectroscopy provides information when the tip of the needle has reached the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and gives an alarm thereby. 

In haemato-oncology: it is particularly important to avoid bleeding into the spinal cavity during a lumbar puncture with leukaemia patients. This kind of bleeding may introduce leukaemia cells from blood to the central nervous system area causing secondary cancers for instance in brains. 

In neurological diseases, lumbar punctures are performed for both diagnosis and drug administration directly into the spinal cavity. Good quality samples are needed for correct diagnosis. The most common neurological diseases, where lumbar punctures are used are meningitises, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, neuroborreliosis, multiple sclerosis (MS disease), amylotropic lateral sclerosis (ALS) among others. 

In emergency care, lumbar punctures can be performed by less experienced medical professionals. An IQ-Tip-assisted® lumbar puncture can give a safer feeling for the physician facing the challenge and simultaneously improve the patient experience. The very special customer group are the paramedics, who work in extremely difficult conditions on the field. Their user comments and improvement ideas are important for Injeq’s R&D team. There are early ideas that the next application area of the sensing needle can come from this particular area. 

Injeq uses patented technology, and currently, there are no competing products on the market. A strongly regulated market and sales license already obtained in Europe create a significant head start compared to potential competitors. 

Business model

Injeq uses a dealer-operated sales channel. The resellers are selected based on their existing distribution field, currently mainly from resellers already active in the field of neonatology, neurology, paediatric oncology and emergency care. Currently, Injeq IQ-Tip® is available in sixteen countries (Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Kuwait, Liechtenstein, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, and Taiwan), out of which seven are new distributors signed since the last year. 

1. Sale of analyzers 

• Selling IQ-Tip® analyzers as a one-time transaction generates income for Injeq 
• IQ-Tip® analyzers are also leased and rented to customers, which lowers the purchase threshold 
• IQ-Tip® analyzers can also be delivered without equipment costs with a contract based on annual usage of IQ-Tip® needles and cables (consumables) 

2. Sale of consumables 

• Sale of IQ-Tip® analyzers as a one-time transaction starts the sale of IQ-Tip® spinal needles and IQ-Tip® cables as disposable products 
• The majority of revenue is generated by disposable products, from which Injeq receives a recurring cash flow 
• Profitability will improve as sales and production volumes of the IQ-Tip® needles and cables increase and unit production cost decrease 

3. New application areas 

• Injeq's technology is scalable and expandable to new application areas 
• New possible application areas include for example injections of cancer drugs, cancer sampling of internal organs, joint punctures and blood vessel punctures 
• Cooperation with pharmaceutical companies promotes the development of new precision medicines and vaccines 
• New application areas (with the help of the scientific advisory board) possess great potential for new revenue streams and growth 

Market

Sales of the Injeq IQ-Tip® equipment started at the end of 2021 when Injeq received the CE marking for its products. At the moment, Injeq is commercialising and scaling its business, first with the existing IQ-Tip® needle in Europe. By the end of May 2023, Injeq has signed distribution contracts with 14 European countries as well as Taiwan and Kuwait outside Europe. Marketing authorisation processes in other countries, such as China and the US, will be initiated as soon as possible, allowing for global expansion with the existing product. 

• The global market for aspiration and biopsy needles and unclassified special needles is worth €1.1bn (2020) and it is estimated to grow to €1.8bn by 2027 
   
• Injeq’s goal is to expand the market both geographically and into new application areas 
   
• The first target market is Europe and lumbar punctures for children with leukaemia. ALL is the most common type of cancer for children 
   
• Injeq's sales strategy includes covering the total need for demanding lumbar punctures for each children's hospital within a reasonable transition period 
   
• The market potential in European children's hospitals for ALL cases is around €15m per year (Injeq’s estimate) 
   
• Approximately 89,000 new cases of ALL occur worldwide each year, and the number is predicted to increase to more than 93,000 patients by 2027. About half of the ALL patients are children and young people 
   
• In Europe, the number of ALL cases is estimated to remain relatively stable – around 11,000 cases per year 
   
• The treatment program of an ALL patient includes up to 20 anticancer drugs administered into the spinal canal 

Management

Company structure

Injeq Oyj is solely owned by its shareholders and neither parent nor daughter companies exist. Injeq has more than 1200 shareholders that own the Company and for each share having the same rights and responsibilities. 

Distribution of company shares

• Injeq has over 1,200 shareholders, most of whom have joined through Invesdor's funding rounds 
• Injeq has 4,553,939 shares outstanding 
• All shares belong to the same share series 
• EAKR-Aloitusrahasto Oy is the largest shareholder with 19.2% ownership 
• Finnvera sold EAKR-Aloitusrahasto Oy to Tesi (Suomen Teollisuussijoitus Oy) in an arrangement made on 30 September 2021, and the management of the 23 target companies in the fund's portfolio was transferred to Tesi as a result of the sale 
• Other large owners include the inventors of the innovation Katja Paassilta, Riitta Seppänen-Kaijansinkko (death estate) and Jari Hyttinen 
• The 10 largest shareholders own 55.2% of the shares 

Developments at Injeq since the last funding round

1. In 2022 and 2023, Injeq Oyj became a Public Limited Liability Company (Oyj)​ and signed distributor contracts in 16 countries (Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Kuwait, Liechtenstein, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, and Taiwan RoC).​  
    
2. Injeq Oyj increased sales by 660% in 2022 (from €10,000 to €76,000)  
    
3. Injeq Oyj has recruited new Management, Finance and Sales personnel incl. Head of Sales in 2023 who are focusing on driving sales growth through current and new distributors. 
    
4. Injeq Oyj initiated a new project to decrease the costs of the cables and analyzers and invested in a scalable after-market platform and improved its production capabilities. These all are needed to address the largest MedTech markets.
    
5. Injeq Oyj started discussions with the larger pharmaceutical companies and In-vitro diagnostics (IVD) companies to start collaboration.​ 
    
6. Injeq Oyj indicated three new application areas like neurology, neonatology and emergency care in addition to the original paediatric haemato-oncology (children’s leukaemia).​ 
    
7. Injeq Oyj has initiated the process of FDA’s Breakthrough Device Designation. Injeq IQ-Tip® system fulfils the criteria for Breakthrough Device as it can be a life-saving medical device in leukaemia care, and it represents breakthrough technology where no approved or cleared alternatives exist. 

Use of funds

Investment related documents

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Prolongation of the funding round

The Board of Directors decided to prolong the subscription period until August 28th 2023.