Radiancy, which is incorporated in the US with R&D facilities in Yavne, Israel, produces non-invasive skincare devices for hair removal, skin rejuvenation, and acne and psoriasis treatment applications. The company's cosmeceutical devices are based on its patented LHE (Light Heat Energy) technology that utilises light and heat.
"Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you?" is a quote Radiancy attributes to Yoda in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. As well as an indication of the company's ambitions, perhaps that is where its founders find their inspiration for their space-age skincare technology.
Founded in 1998 by Dr Zion Azar, the company's president, and Pini Shalev, its chief executive officer, Radiancy's shareholders also include world expert on cardiac devices Professor Shlomo Ben-Haim and Dr Lewis Pell.
Ben-Haim and Pell have something of a Midas-touch where medical technology is concerned and have already been involved in several successful healthcare companies, including Biosense, which was sold to Johnson & Johnson in 1997 for US$400 million (€332 m) in shares, and InStent, sold to Medtronic.
The shareholders are expected to offer UK£10 million (€15 m) worth of shares for sale in the flotation, which is to be aimed at institutional investors and underwritten by Panmure Gordon, part of Lazards investment bank. Panmure Gordon will receive an over-allotment option worth 15 per cent of the gross amount raised by the company.
Radiancy, which trebled its profits to US$3.2 million (€2.6 m) last year, on sales of nearly US$12 million (€10 m), is expected to be valued at more than UK£100 million (€150 m).
The monies raised from the flotation will reportedly go to fund new product launches. Radiancy's products are currently sold in more than fifty countries, mainly through local distributors, but also directly through branches in the US, Singapore, and Spain. In the UK, its products are distributed through Ofex-listed Enhance Technology.
To date, Radiancy has marketed its products to the professional sector, for use by physicians and in beauty salons, but is believed to be turning its focus to the mainstream consumer market, as evidenced by the launch last November of an acne treatment for home use.
The company is preparing to launch No! No! (no hair, no pain), a palm-sized hair removal device initially aimed at the female market and then for men, at the end of the year. The product will be test-marketed in Brazil and Russia before being rolled out across the globe and Radiancy seems to anticipating similar blockbuster success to that of the Star Wars trilogy.