MedTech has been a standout sector this year with capital flowing into technologies that can deliver proven, actionable insights with demonstrated impact on patients’ lives.

One company that is riding this wave and is setting its sights on an ASX listing in 2027 is Australian medtech company Nicolab.

Nicolab has built a technology that could have a life-changing impact for patients within one of the world’s most time-critical emergencies, where every minute of delay can be the difference between life and death – strokes.

Already deployed in over 150 hospitals, with a further 30 contracted and in the process of implementation, across 12 countries, and supporting more than 70,000 suspected stroke patients last year alone, Nicolab is backed by global imaging giants Philips, who have become a reseller and have taken equity in the company. They are also backed by leading Australian funds and ourselves at Reach.

The company anticipates $40m+ ARR within the next two and a half years – using a clearly defined strategy similar to fellow Australian medical-imaging software company, Pro Medicus – who have reached a market capitalisation in the tens of billions.

With over a decade of regulatory clearance across 10 jurisdictions, including the EU, UK, USA, India and Australia behind them, this is a chance to back a clinically proven, globally-cleared medtech platform before it hits ASX boards.

Better outcomes for patients and hospitals

One in four people will have a stroke in their life. It is the second-biggest killer on the planet behind heart disease.

When a stroke happens, every minute of delay in treatment permanently destroys brain tissue and can be the difference between walking out of the hospital or moving to permanent care.

Around 60% of strokes strike after hours, and can occur in regional locations with no specialist on site. Remote specialists may be forced to use manual, phone-based back-and-forth to reach a decision, which can mean taking up to 2 hours.

Nicolab helps close the gap by significantly improving the emergency process. Its AI-assisted workflow solution follows the patient from the first scan into the operating theatre.

Nicolab Assist facilitates secure image-sharing and collaboration. Putting a scan in the hands of specialists in under 45 seconds – up to 54 minutes sooner than standard practice.

The second product, StrokeViewer, goes one step further by assisting in diagnosis. It automatically analyses CT/MRI scans and has been proven to catch around 50% of the clots a general radiologist misses, meaning no overnight specialist is needed.

These improvements to both speed and accuracy of emergency treatments can have a life-changing impact on a stroke patient.

StrokeViewers optimisation workflow | Source: Nicolab

The challenge is getting the right scan and the right specialist to the same place at the same time. That is the gap Nicolab was built to close.

Mature and Proven: Why now is Nicolab’s inflection point

AI now represents close to half of all healthcare investment, with the CSIRO describing AI as having moved from “under the hood” to centre stage in the clinic in its AI trends for Healthcare report – easing the pressure on radiology being one of its key focuses.

Nicolab now has contracts with over 150 deployed hospitals and a further 30 in contracted implementation, across three continents, supporting more than 70,000 suspected stroke patients in 2025 and establishing its product StokeViewer as the market leader in countries including Australia and the Netherlands.

That reach is anchored by marquee, multi-year contracts: an 8-year, $8m agreement with Queensland Health across 44 hospitals, now in its second year; a Victorian Stroke Telemedicine contract just renewed for a fourth year; and a government-funded national rollout underway with Health New Zealand.

StrokeViewer | Source: Nicolab

Global imaging giant Philips has committed milestone-based equity and expanded the relationship with seven enterprise orders in a single quarter (Q1 2026) across Italy, Portugal and India.

Now focusing on growth through direct sale and reseller networks, Nicolab is targeting more hospitals (expanding across APAC and into the US and Middle East), more revenue per hospital, and expanding beyond stroke into other areas like cardiology.

China represents an opportunity Nicolab has deliberately kept ring-fenced. It’s a market with 36,000+ hospitals, where the government has named stroke a top priority and is open to non-Chinese medtech. The regulator has already begun reviewing Nicolab’s submission

“Ruijin’s main hospital campus is a 10 campus, 7,200 bed hospital based in Shanghai. That’s the whole Victorian healthcare system which will be their pilot site.” Charlie Bell, Chief Financial Officer.

A pre-IPO opportunity with a deep moat

Nicolab’s foundation is exclusive access to the MR CLEAN dataset – a landmark trial, run by Nicolab’s own founders – that helped define modern stroke treatment and cannot be replicated or bought.

On top of that sit 10 regulatory clearances across major jurisdictions including EU, United States, Australia, Saudi Arabia and India. Each one took years to obtain, with a competitor needing to start from zero in every market.

Nicolab has a team built to execute as they move to scale globally. A CEO with 25 years in commercial roles in healthcare (ex-Siemens) and a CFO from Grant Thornton with ASX experience leading the China push, alongside co-founder Dr Merel Boers, a MR CLEAN researcher who built the original algorithms.

Medtech AI is commanding strong valuations right now. On the ASX, 4D Medical – an AI imaging-software company much like Nicolab – carries a market cap of around $2.5 billion on roughly $5 million of revenue.

This is an opportunity to invest in an established business with compounding traction moving to scale globally, already backed by some of Australia’s leading institutions and targeting an IPO in 2027.