Torsten, Are you with us? Yes. Yes, I can see you. How are you?
I'm good. Thank you very much.
Excellent. So, Torsten, congrats to a strong result and a very, very busy quarter. Please take us through The presentation.
Thank you very much. Thank you very much for the nice introduction. And also, thank you very much for all of you who are listening to what we're doing since I know we have now quite a bit more shareholders than we actually used to have Earlier, so my first few slides will say a little bit about what we're doing. So, completely generally, How do we combat major global killers? Because it turns out that the 3 Sickness areas, cancer, infection medicine and cardiovascular actually takes up about 65% of all deaths throughout the world in the for all of humanity.
And so what to do to actually improve the situation? The answer The simple answer is, if you can detect or diagnose any of these indications earlier, Then you can get a much better result in the treatment. So more and better diagnostics faster. And where does now AccuSite come into play? Our contribution is that we do integrated and automated sample preparation that enables this more rapid diagnostics.
So our solution is a way or one of the first solutions to enable this will be Separating blood cells from plasma because this is one of the most important and common sample preparation steps or processes that are required when you do simple analysis on blood tests. So every time you will have a blood test taken at your doctor, it will, for most time, be sent to a central laboratory for some sample processing and then of course, the measurements that the doctor requires. To speed this up, you will have to move The testing to the doctor's office, so called point of care testing. And to do this, you will have to Integrate the sample preparation with the apparatus that actually does the measurement. AccuSort's first prototype of a product in this range to do this separation, you see on the picture there, and this can separate Blood with 99.99 pure plasma from the blood cells, it can give very quick results.
It's very cost efficient because you don't have to do all the manual steps. And As you can maybe not see on the picture, but this is quite small. It has a size of 13x13x26 millimeters and can therefore be integrated quite easily in other companies' diagnostic systems. But how does this actually work? We separate blood into its parts like the different cells.
We can separate the different cell types or the plasma from the blood by using ultrasound. So we use sound waves To create a standing wave and as you see now on the video, when you turn on the sound, you can manipulate the particles in a flow path in different ways by changing the frequency and create different standing waves in the system. So in this way, you can actually also sort cells in different types Because the force that you enact you act on the cells by the sound, the ultrasound, is depending on the size or the density and the compressibility of the The first products that we have had on the market now for some years Where our technology is implemented is the AccuWash and the AccuTrap. The AccuWash system is the first one, and that is where you can do the separation to get out blood plasma, as you saw that I talked about before. But we can also take out platelets or white blood cells from a blood sample.
We can enrich tumor cells or we can do simple cell wash, meaning that we change the buffer in a cell population. But we also have the ACCUTRAP system. And in this system, we can trap even, I mean, both cells, but even smaller Particles, nanoparticles like exosomes, bacteria or even viruses, and in this way, hold them and enrich them in from the sample, do several different processing steps like staining or handling very small number of cells. We're also testing now to use this for spheroid formation, which means small clusters of cells that can be used for artificial Tissue Building. But the main business model for AccoSure It's not the bench top systems.
The main business model is to produce and sell the separation modules to our partners. And this slide is trying to explain our business model. We have the AccoSure column To the left, we will produce separation modules as the one you see on the picture, and we will do this in very high volumes. Our customers will then be the international life science players, which will develop and sell the Actual systems that is, again, then placed at hospitals or doctor's office or various clinics. And the system, when it's operated, will need a so called cartridge, which is a single use cartridge that It's getting exposed to the sample from the patient.
Like, a blood sample is entered into such cartridge as you see in the middle bottom middle of the slide. And then every time once one patient test is made, One cartridge with 1 of our separation modules will be used. And so, if you imagine this being distributed to many different diagnostic systems. And then every time such a system is used, one of our separation modules will be used. Then you can imagine that this is actually a very large market potential.
So this was just the introduction of the company. And let me now move on to talking about the Q4 or the total for 2020. I'm going to focus on the financial results of the entire year because that is what we think is most interesting to focus on. So here, you see the revenue from 2020 and then compared with 2019. And we have separated our total Revenues of SEK 6,800,000 in 4 categories, bench top systems, customer projects, license fees and public funding.
As you can see, the bench top systems have grown by 480%. So this is a little bit of a breakthrough that we now are placing several systems on the market. And we also, have a quite large increase in the customer projects that we do. Customer projects Where our partners or future partners will test Our technology together with us in projects, where we potentially sell systems to them, so they had get early access to the technology Or we do, activities in our lab with their application to test and check That this will work for them according to their specifications. License fees is the fees we get From licensing out our technology, we have one signed license agreement so far.
And public funding is our research project where we get Some funding from Vinnova and some from EU. Total costs, 2020 was 14,600,000 and operating profit loss was then 7.8 and before tax, 7.8 or almost minus 9,000,000. So compared to last year, we have a total revenue increase of 124%. So besides The top line growth of the 124 percent. I would like to also highlight a few other of the major milestones from last year, namely that we have seen a significantly increased interest from life science players in our technology.
And this, of course, is also the explanation of the top line growth because most of the Top line growth comes from this increased interest in customer projects and in some of the system placements that are placed at the life science players. Besides this, we have achieved ISO 13,485 certification in June. This is also a very, A very big milestone for us because it enables us to actually produce the separation modules, as I've shown, to medical device applications and not only for research purpose. And then lastly, We did on 14 December a list change to NASDAQ First North due to two reasons. First, of course, we would like Also international investors to have the opportunity to invest in the company.
And we think also that when we talk to Potential new partners or sub suppliers that the NASDAQ image or trademark is a stronger one, and therefore, we can benefit from being part of this. I mentioned the projects that we have with partners that are testing or active processes going on like this. And the color code here is that A Green Star is an active project discussion with a potential partner. The yellow stars are formal agreements about evaluations of our Technology in progress, and Red Star is formal commercial agreements, and that's the one we have with instrumentation laboratory. I updated now the map for February.
So this is now the new situation. As you can see, which is the important message here, is that the number of yellow stars have increased from 2 to 4. So If we briefly go through these yellow stars, we all know the instrumentation laboratory deal we have with them since 2018. But The yellow stars represent now more formalized collaborations on feasibility. And the Japanese partner, we have talked about In several, communications before, but they have renewed their lease of vacuwash system and also renewed their Support agreement that we have with them through 2021.
We have placed the system now at the South Korean medtech startup. They have purchased this system, and we are in here around New Year. And then we The training is in progress. Their end goal is to integrate our technology in a new cancer diagnostics instrument. Then we have entered an agreement with a Belgium medtech startup to formally tests how our technology could be integrated with their technology, so we do the sample preparation.
And lastly, we have also signed an agreement with a Californian International Medtech Company That is currently testing and would and work to integrate our trapping technology into their analytical system. So this is a little bit update on the ongoing OEM calibrations. So if we look further out in 2021. Then the major activities that I wanted to highlight here is That we, of course, will focus a lot to generate new and more OEM leads going forward. We will work I'll continue working on the agoplasma optical.
We will complete the internal development project that is ongoing. We will inaugurate The component assembly line that we are currently building, and we will launch the Accuplasma Optical as a product later this year. Then we will also launch updated versions of the AccuWash and the AccuTrap benchtop systems. You see an image to the right of the updated AccuWash system As it's as it will look like. And we are, right now, assembling 5 systems as the sort of first batch So we can get these on the market in Q2.
And then, of course, we will work still on customer applications. So, we will release additional application nodes. And the first ones are probably going to be some note about platelet isolation and another one about white blood cell isolation. So, my last slide is just a summary of why Ochisort. I mean, why do our Customers want to work with us.
Why do our collaborators work with us? Why do our employees get up every morning to go to work? And why do investors actually invest In the company. First of all, we think it's good to participate in the combat against top killers Of the world, I mean, the cardiovascular, the infectious and the cancer diseases. But secondly, it's also thrilling to be part of an ambitious medtech company with a unique technology.
But and last, but of course not least, the opportunity to profit from a significant And highly scalable business adventure is also one of the driving forces. So with this, I will invite
Torsten, interesting and very hectic 2020, I see. You mentioned that your OEM component is targeting the point of care testing market. Could you give us a feel For the size of this market?
Yes. Yes, I'm glad you're asking. It is, of course, Easy to imagine that it must be very big. But if you look at the numbers that people are estimating, Then in 2019, the point of care testing market was estimated to be 18.5, I think it was And then with a growth rate of a little bit more than €1,000,000,000 per year, So it will end up here in a few years, in the middle of the $20,000,000,000 per year.
And if we compare this to the market potential of the benchtop research instrument systems?
Yes. That's, of course, a little bit difficult comparison. But if you just think about Our opportunities, we could, of course, focus our business on selling research systems like the AccuTrap and the AquaWash alone. But I mean, even in a very nice scenario, we would probably, in total, be able to sell somewhere in the hundreds of these systems. That's if you look at all the companies and their bench top systems, that's basically what they add up to when they do something like that Over some years.
And if you did make the calculation there, you might get into a business where you could generate revenues in around 100 and or a few 100,000,000 Swedish kroner. And this, of course, sounds as a high number, but it's only of the order of magnitude of just one single high volume deal with the OEM consumables that we are pursuing.
And when will we see the first deal which takes you to, well, volume production, critical volumes?
Yes. That's a very, that's also a very good question, and and it's, of course, impossible to answer very, Very specifically because it depends a lot on situation outside Akrosword. But we work with this 2 handfuls of companies that along that path. And I'm sure sooner or later, we will close deals of actually delivering high volumes of components to some of them.
Well, thank you for that. You have an agreement with IL Industrial Laboratories, which was marked red as a star if I'm not incorrect here. Could you elaborate a little bit around the agreement and what it will lead to, if you can give
us some
flavor there?
Sure. Yes, sure. I mean, the reason why it's red is because we have entered a, a license and distribution agreement, a formal agreement with them, and they are committed to Use our technology in their next generation of, analytical instruments, in one of their product families. And the license agreement entails that we will be paid a license fee per use when they implement this in their cartridges in their system. However, We also do have the opportunity to actually source the separation module to them.
We don't have an agreement with this, but We are in discussions with them sort of from time to time, and they have indicated that they think that could be an option. And so, we think or hope that we will get such an agreement after they launch their system.
Cool. And a follow-up there. If it goes to plan with IL and they will source the production from you, Would you be able to give us some sort of feel for the volumes?
I think I have Previously indicated that according to our estimates, when their application or an application of Similar to what they're doing, they will that will have a potential of somewhere in the range of 500,000 to 600,000 separation units per year when it's fully implemented.
I see. And this is just one client here, but I got a question here from a viewer. How is the collaboration with the French life science company? What's the situation?
Oh, yeah. We did have a also formal agreement with French life science company early 2020. And we did report on that in our Q2 report last year, but they are Waiting for the next generation of the ACU Wash in order to be able to continue this evaluation. So we may come back to that when this collaboration is continued.
But is it right to understand that As far as the French Life Science Company is concerned, it's within their hands. You have done what you can do and we just have to wait and see.
Yes. I mean, we completed the 1st round of evaluation. And for the exact purpose that they had in mind, The first generation of the ACOUASH system did not fulfill all the requirements, but then, we I agreed with them that when the next generation was available, we would continue the discussion.
Well, great. Thank you. And just coming back to the ongoing collaboration with EL here, That is just one client and if we refer to your picture with the red star, there was a couple of yellow stars as well. So, if we look into the future, what kind of volumes can we expect if we will to change the colors of the stock?
Yes. I mean, if we of course, the ultimate goal is to have a lot of red stars. And, of course, the timing And and the and the volumes, associated with each will, of course, vary, but, we can so so To predict about the future is, of course, completely impossible, but but you I can say that our ambition, at least, is that That in 5 to 10 years, we will have At least 10 of such collaborations, active collaborations, where we will supply separation modules in different high volume high volumes to partners like IL.
And then, one of the follow-up questions I would guess would be that, and We connect that to one of your statements here, this that you have you're quite happy with the balance sheet or the financing for 2021 with the situation as it were now, but if you look beyond that, not necessarily 2021, but let's say you get The stars going from yellow to red, would you need to look over the balance sheet and the financing As it were?
It's clear that the board will is always on the on sort of the On the lookout for how to continuously make sure the company has adequate available funding for its growth ambition. And depending on the growth rate, we will need an amount of additional funding at some point, we think. But it, of course, all depends on exactly how the business is going to develop.
And I'll just throw in 2 questions here from And one is how has the pandemic affected you? And can I just then ask you to divide that Into 2 ounces really? 1 is for the company specific personnel And yourself and then how it may have affected your market?
Yes. If I take it backwards, You could say the overall market is definitely, if anything, then improved because it has there has been an additional focus on how can you quickly diagnose conditions. So, point of care is something that Has received additional focus, due to also due to the corona situation. But And and I can say, in the company, we have, been very, very little affected by the the situation. Of course, the operations have been affected because we cannot go travel as we do and visit our customers and help them with using our systems.
So we do that virtually now. But from a personal point of view, most people have not been at least, we haven't we have had very few casualties of or indications of the corona itself, And people are managing really well.
You are a little bit of a mini Denmark in that respect and seems to handle this Quite well. I
don't know. But but but but but at least, we, we haven't had, too many Too many
problems. But it would be fair to say then that Corona in itself, if anything, there is a pent up demand For your products and your knowledge there. And can your technology help curb the COVID Or future pandemics is one question that I get here from the viewers and you mentioned it in one way, But this is sort of a holy grail. So how would you like to respond to that?
Yes. I mean, It's a little bit difficult question because, now COVID is, I mean, we already have a test for COVID, And and and I'm not sure that there is, I mean, time for for our technology to be part of this, But COVID is one one pandemic, and we may be in the situation where we will need also similar Point of care analysis or testing in the future. And at least, what is the most important thing is that there is an increased Focus on technologies which can support this.
But you got your work cut out for you, one could say. Well, thank you for that and I would just like to point out that 2020 was a very hectic and a successful year, I would say, And that will put some pressure on you for going into 2021. But would it be fair to say then that if you are coming to the market, That will be connected to a breakthrough with your partners, Your future partners, would that would that be fair to say?
Yes. I mean, we have, as as I also Tried to communicate in the presentation. We have a process of continued development with Quite a few potential OEM customers, and I'm sure this process will continue. And steadily, we will get into a situation where more and more will start implementing our technology.
And as you have been highly acclaimed for your communication with the market, The suggestion is really for the stock market to continue to watch the space for Akzoard and how you communicate.
Yes. I, I appreciate that. And I also, should end thanking, our very many and very active shareholders. We appreciate so much your activity and your interest in the company.
Right, Torsten. So with that, I thank you. Very vivid and interesting presentation And we thank you, the viewers, and particularly those being active and asking questions. Thank you and see you later.
Thank you.