Amicus
Amicus grew out of a physician's frustration with prosthetics. Co-founder Manuel Opitz explained that the team was built around a problem the physician identified: he tried 3D printing and saw that the results were good enough to commercialize.
The company incorporated in May 2016 after the founders had serious talks with investors. Its software automates prosthetic design in about 10 seconds, where others need half a day or several days. The company prints mostly with SLS, and a child's foot costs less than 100 euros to produce. Because official sales required a CE mark, the company sold prototypes in 2016 and expected to begin selling in the following months.
The business model works through partners. Clinics and medical supply stores bill insurers, who reimburse the device. Amicus's first real-world case was Sophie, a three-year-old born without a leg. Her foot was reimbursed at roughly 800 to 1,200 euros, against about 100 euros in printing cost. Manuel said that in 2016 the company printed roughly 30 units, though officially it sold prototypes. It also said it had made more than 10K since the November seed round.
The company's advantage is turnaround: one week versus several months for handmade work, plus simulation of load-bearing. Its constraint is regulatory: products could not be sold in Europe until CE certification was achieved.
As of the interview the team had grown to 11 people, with a 2017 goal of selling products, raising a Series A, and expanding internationally.
- •Partnering with clinics and medical supply stores lets Amicus reach patients without taking on the reimbursement relationship itself, so its existing channel does the selling.
- •A 100-euro production cost against 800 to 1,200 euro reimbursements gives strong unit margins, which the software automation further supports.
- •Building the team around a physician-identified problem gave the company clinical credibility and a real use case from day one.
- •Serial-entrepreneur co-founders and a mix of seed debt and equity funding from major European investors made the company fundable before it had large revenue.
- 1.Identify a specific, underserved customer segment (for example, children's prosthetics) where incumbents lack products and custom work is expensive.
- 2.Partner with the professionals who bill the end payer, such as clinics or supply stores, instead of trying to sell directly to patients.
- 3.Automate the design-to-print workflow so custom work takes minutes instead of days, and publicize turnaround-time advantages.
- 4.Clear the regulatory bar (such as CE certification) early, because without it you can only sell prototypes.
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