Cancer app in $1.2m crowdfund bid
Service for checking suspect moles looks to expand in Oz
The Taranaki-based maker of a skin cancer detection app is attempting to raise $1.2 million through a crowdfunded equity campaign. The raise, through crowdfunding platform Equatise, values the 3-yearold startup at $4.3m. The minimum investment is a small investorfriendly $231.
Co-founder Hayden Laird — a onetime
solicitor with corporate law shop Russell McVeagh — pitches Firstcheck as an easy, affordable service that puts skin cancer detection in the hands of everyday people.
How does it work? You download Firstcheck from Apple or Google’s app store, then take a photo of a suspect mole and send it to your choice of one of the 35 individual doctors or various practices on Firstcheck’s books — who then sends you a report within 72 hours.
To get an extreme close up of a mole — which is more useful to a doctor — you can pay $29.95 extra for a lens that sticks on over your smartphone’s camera, magnifying the picture.
If any flag is raised, you can follow it up with that GP, or your regular doctor. Firstcheck is designed to encourage people to get more regular checkups. The company’s website notes that a face-to-face consultation with your GP and a full-body mole map remains the “gold standard” for skin cancer detection.
Laird says services like Firstcheck are not explicitly covered by insurance policies in our part of the world, but can potentially be reimbursed under “wellness benefit” provisions.
Firstcheck is currently available across New Zealand and Australia — countries with two of the worst skin cancer rates in the world.
“Two out of three Kiwis will get skin cancer. The vast majority of melanomas are self-detected,” Laird says.
The number who die from malignant melanoma per year is typically higher than the road toll.
Laird says money raised from the crowdfunding will go to expanding Firstcheck in Australasia, plus a push to go global.
So far, 33,000 people have downloaded the app.
With 24 days to go in its crowdfunding campaign, Firstcheck has raised $244,000 — $220,000 of which has come from two cornerstone investors, Enterprise Angels and skin clinic chain Skin Institute.
Those who have already but their faith in the startup include the Crownbacked NZ Venture Investment Fund, which has an 8 per cent stake.
In its 2018 financial year, the earlystage company lost $309,000 on sales of $24,000 — gained from clipping the ticket on each consultation.
In FY2019, it lost $149,000 on sales of $96,000.