Shares in Volpara Health Technologies, which develops software to detect breast cancer from X-rays, traded up 2% to A$0.51 (US$0.40) on their debut today.

The company raised A$10 million by selling 20 million shares at A$0.50 per share. Sole underwriter is Morgans.

Volpara is the second New Zealand healthcare company to skip the NZX and head towards the ASX. At the end of August, medical device manufacturer Adherium successfully raised A$35 million also at A$0.50 a share. That deal was led by Bell Potter Securities.

VHT was founded in Wellington in 2009 by John Michael Brady and Ralph Highnam from the University of Oxford; Nico Karssemeijer from the University of Nijmegen and Martin Yaffe from the University of Toronto: four leading breast imaging experts.

VHT’s has made upwards of NZ$5 million (US$3.4 million) since launch with more than 90% of sales in the US. VHT recently signed global distribution deals with GE Healthcare and Siemens Medical Solutions USA. Revenues for FY2015 were NZ$2.4 million and the company posted a net loss of NZ$3 million.

The prospectus, however, is coy about future profitability. It warns: “As a relatively young company, VHT is not yet profitable and has incurred losses in each year since incorporation. VHT has achieved early revenue principally in the US but will need to further penetrate the international markets, execute its development and growth strategies and successfully navigate competition and regulatory developments in order to achieve a sustained profitability.”

Normally a red flag, in the company’s favour is the growing importance of breast cancer. “In developed countries, 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer, and in developing countries the rate is rising rapidly. Economically, the annual global loss due to breast cancer is an estimated US$88 billion,” says chairman Roger Allen.

Proceeds will be used primarily to fund expansion of sales and marketing infrastructure and activities, and corporate development.