COVID-19 has presented a major opportunity for an Avon-based medtech startup that makes pathogen-destroying technology for hospitals, but the problem is, the company’s not ready for it.
ReadyDock is scrambling to put together money from investors to help it deliver on what it says is major demand for its toaster-oven-like cabinets that bathe cell phones, tablets and other objects in germ-killing ultraviolet light.
Hospitals have repurposed the stations as an emergency method for cleaning and reusing N95 protective masks and other medical equipment during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which has been exacerbated by a shortage of both masks and testing kits.
ReadyDock CEO David Engelhardt said Monday that orders from hospitals thus far rival the company’s entire order volume from 2019.
He declined to give exact numbers, but said there are between 800 and 1,000 of the stations in more than 100 hospitals across the country.
The units, made by a contract manufacturer, retail for between $4,495 and $4,795 and are now backlogged by one to two months due to the COVID-19 demand.
”The minute that the N95 shortage started to become apparent, almost all of our customers were calling us,” Engelhardt said. “It grew into a fervor among our customer base.”
ReadyDock, which raised a Series A $1.9 million investment round in 2017, isn’t well capitalized enough to scale up manufacturing on its own, said Alan Kersey, ReadyDock’s board chairman.
Kersey is helping Engelhardt corral potential investors. He wouldn’t give an exact figure, but said the amount he’s pursuing could be smaller than a Series B round, which could typically be upwards of $10 million.
He’s also hoping the state might allocate some emergency funding to speed up the production process and get ReadyDock units into hospitals here.
The company is also scrambling to secure higher-volume manufacturing contracts, including with entities in Connecticut and Illinois, he said. All of that takes money though.
While not approved under normal conditions by the Centers for Disease Control, the agency last month indicated that decontaminating and reusing protective masks may be necessary given the pandemic and equipment shortage. CDC said use of ultraviolet light, vaporous hydrogen peroxide and moist heat were the three methods that have shown the most potential promise as coronavirus-killers in the limited research that has been done so far.
Even if ReadyDock is unable to scale up in time for the projected May peak of the virus here, the company expects the pandemic to lead to higher demand for its products over the long run.
“This crisis can only increase the awareness of the importance of disinfection,” Kersey said.
