Rockley Photonics goes public in merger with SC Health – valuing group at $1.2B

Founder Andrew Rickman remains as CEO and Chairman, as diversified silicon photonics player is set to trade on NYSE as “RKLY”.

Rockley Photonics, a developer of integrated silicon photonic chips and modules, is to combine with SC Health, a listed, special purpose acquisition company. The transaction will result in Rockley becoming a publicly-traded company on the NYSE under the symbol RKLY and values the joint company at a pro forma enterprise value of $1.2 billion.

The transaction, which is expected to close in the second quarter of 2021, subject to approvals, is intended to accelerate the commercial launch of Rockley’s sensing platform, which is described as “positioned to revolutionize consumer health and wellness by enabling continuous, non-invasive monitoring of multi-modal biomarkers such as lactate, glucose, hydration, blood pressure, and core body temperature.”

Built on its silicon photonics platform, Rockley’s “clinic-on-the-wrist” technology is claimed to be significantly more accurate than LED sensors commonly used in wearables such as smart watches and fitness bands. It will allow for continuous monitoring of key vital indicators in a way that was previously possible only with clinical machines.

Dr. Andrew Rickman, Rockley’s founder and CEO, commented, “Our partnership with SC Health positions us to accelerate our time-to-market for our compelling health and wellness solutions. We believe that bringing laboratory diagnostics to the wrist will transform patient monitoring, healthcare delivery, and overall consumer health and wellbeing.”

A.J. Coloma, CEO of SC Health, said, “We are healthcare investors, and we quickly understood the transformational nature of Rockley’s technology and the way it will revolutionize consumers’ ability to track, monitor and better understand their day-to-day health and wellness.

“Based on Rockley’s large addressable market, world-class team, and the myriad applications that their silicon photonics platform enables, we view Rockley as one of the most compelling opportunities in the entire healthcare space.”

‘Compelling health and wellness solutions’

Rockley is working with some of the world’s largest consumer electronics and wearables companies to provide them with a full-stack solution, including co-packaged hardware devices, biosensing algorithms, firmware, and data analytics.

The silicon photonics platform supports cost-effective, high-volume manufacturing. Its manufacturing ecosystem, with capacity reserved, and proprietary process flows will enable rapid scale-up for volume production of its highly integrated optical/electronic devices.

Beyond consumer electronics, Rockley is partnering with clinicians and medical technology companies to expand the application of its monitoring platform to medical devices to improve disease detection and prevention.

The company has also applied its integrated photonics technology to deliver best-in-class chipsets for high- speed data communications and machine vision applications, including LiDAR. Rockley has raised $390 million in funding from over seven years of product development.

Transaction overview

The Rockley statement said, “the transaction is expected to deliver up to $323 million of gross proceeds to the combined company, including the contribution of up to $173 million of cash held in SC Health’s trust account.

“The combination is further supported by a $150 million PIPE at $10.00 per share, with participation from top-tier institutional investors including Senvest Management and UBS O’Connor and participation from Medtronic. Proceeds of the transaction will support the Company’s continued growth through ongoing product development in close collaboration with its initial customers.”