Cue Health, a San Diego company with a home testing kit for COVID-19, filed for a $180 million IPO on NASDAQ that values the company at $2 billion. Shanghai's Decheng Capital participated in several Cue fundraisings including the company's $235 million round in May. Cue intends to build a broad platform to address a user's healthcare needs. The company's tests consist of a single-use cartridge that is compatible with the Cue Reader and sends the results to Cue's healthcare app on a smart phone.

Cue has five other tests in late-stage development for influenza A/B, respiratory syncytial virus, fertility, pregnancy and inflammation.

The company is also developing tests for needs in respiratory health, sexual health, cardiac and metabolic health, women's health, men's health and chronic disease management. It plans to add capabilities that will enable telehealth, e-prescriptions and the ability to connect to third-party services for an end-to-end healthcare journey.

In 2020, Cue’s tests were used by the National Basketball Association to limit the effect of COVID-19 among players and team members during the Florida "bubble" of the 2020 season.  

For the first six months of 2021, Cue's revenues increased to $202 million, up from $15 million in all of 2020. The COVID test was approved for use in the US under Emergency Rules in March of this year.  

The Cue Health Monitoring System includes the following elements:

• The Cure Reader: an automated analyzer of test results, is designed to be used with Cue Test Kits and the Cure Health App. The Cue Reader runs the Cue Cartridge and communicates the result of the test digitally via Bluetooth to the Cue Health App.
• The Cue Test Kit: consists of a Cue Cartridge and Cue Wand. The sample-specific single-use Cue Cartridge, is made of different chemistries for a broad array of tests. The Cue Wands are single-use, sterile sample collection devices designed to collect sample types that include saliva, blood, urine and swabs with only minor modifications.

Founded in 2010, Cue aims to use digital tools to provide people with personalized, informed healthcare that allows them to live their healthiest lives. The company believes digital transformation has revolutionized nearly every industry except healthcare. It plans to create a new era in healthcare that transforms how acute and chronic conditions are diagnosed and managed.

Disclosure: none.