Medical Info Service Epocrates FIles For $75 Million IPO
This story was written by Joseph Weisenthal.
Epocrates, a provider of electronic medical info for healthcare practitioners, has filed to raise up to $75 million in a NASDAQ IPO. The company delivers clinical information and decision support tools to doctors, and places a heavy emphasis on mobile delivery. The service is designed for various handsets, including the iPhone and was one of the first companies to announce an iPhone app with Apple's (NSDQ: AAPL) blessing. You can see a list of services and pricing here. The company is growing nicely and is solidly profitable, as of this past year (a pattern we're seeing: profitable companies will file for IPOs even in this market). In 2007, the company had revenue of $65.6 million, up about 32 percent form the previous year. Net income was $7.3 million, compared to a loss of $4.3 million. In addition to its subscription services, the company also delivers sponsored content from marketers. Going forward, the company says, it plans to push its free content services more, diminishing the significance of subscriptions.
The company identifies its main competitors as Thomson (NYSE: TOC) Healthcare and Skyscape, as well as WebMD (NSDQ: WBMD) for traditional online delivery. In fact, the filing notes that WebMD has made certain claims about the business, related to false advertising.
The San Mateo, CA-based company was founded in 1998 and claims Sprout Group, Interwest Partners, Three Arch Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Bay City Capital and Goldman Sachs as investors.
By Joseph Weisenthal