Bluechiip has announced that it has successfully raised $5.5 million via an oversubscribed placement to sophisticated and professional investors.
Bluechiip Ltd, founded in 2003, based in Australia, has developed a wireless tracking solution for the healthcare and life science, security, defence and manufacturing industries which represents a generational change from current methods such as labels (hand-written and pre-printed), barcodes (linear and 2D) and microelectronic integrated circuit (IC)-based RFID (Radio Frequency Identification).
The unique tag is based on MEMS technology and contains no electronics. The tag can either be embedded or manufactured into a storage product, such as vials or bags. Easy identification, along with any associated information from the tag such as temperature can be detected by a reader, which can also sense the temperature of the tagged items. The traditional identification technologies have significant limitations. Whereas a barcode requires a visible tag or line-of-sight optical scan, bluechiip® technology does not. Unlike labels, barcodes and RFID, the bluechiip® technology can sense the temperature of each item a tag is attached to, or embedded in.
The bluechiip® technology has initial applications in the healthcare industry particularly those businesses which require cryogenic storage facilities (biobanks and biorepositories). Bluechiip® offers the only technology that enables accurate and reliable tracking of products including stem cells, cord blood, and other biospecimens. In addition to functioning in extreme temperatures, the bluechiip® tracking solution can survive autoclaving, gamma irradiation sterilization, humidification, centrifuging, cryogenic storage and frosting.
The bluechiip® technology has other healthcare applications in pathology, clinical trials and forensics. Several other key markets outside of healthcare include cold-chain logistics/supply chain, security/defence, industrial/manufacturing and aerospace/aviation.
“The board is delighted with the oversubscribed placement, especially coming after our recently updated agreement with Labcon North America for A$15.9 million of sales over a three-year period, announced on 29 August. The capital raised will provide a foundation for Bluechiip to finalise its product portfolio through to validation and release of our chips, readers and software. It also enables us to fully support our OEM partners’ product release and to fund working capital to meet our growing orders. Furthermore, the capital raised will allow us to accelerate the opportunities and discussions we currently have in place. – Andrew McLellan, Bluechiip Managing Director & CEO
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