Ellume was working with Morgans and Ord Minnett on the deal and had been in discussions with fund managers.

The company said it was undertaking a pre-IPO raise for approximately $85 million ahead of an initial public offering next year.

“Proceeds of the offer will be used to fund working capital, sales and marketing, capital expansion and new product development.

“Houlihan Lokey are acting as corporate advisors to Ellume, with Ord Minnett and Morgans appointed as joint lead managers on the offer.”

Ellume was founded by critical care clinician Dr Sean Parsons in 2010, after observing the unmet need for accurate, rapid diagnostic solutions during the 2009 swine flu pandemic.

After more than 10 years of product development and with more than $300 million invested in the platform to date Ellume said it was a global leader in near-patient, digital diagnostics for common infectious diseases.

The company cracked the US market earlier this year with a $3oo million deal to supply 20 million over-the-counter rapid test kits for Covid. However, it hit a hurdle with a recall of the product in October but recently said only 3 per cent of the kits were affected by a fault.