Brain Resource Company raises $4 million, plans marketing push

Sydney-based Brain Resource Company (ASX: BRC) has completed an AUD$4 million placement to institutional investors, giving it the funding to back a marketing push for its brain imaging and functional testing products and services.

The placement, which was managed by the Citigroup Global Markets, involved issue of nine million shares at a price of $0.45, a seven per cent discount to the weighted average price of the last two months.

Commercial director Dan Segal said the market developing for the company's brain function analysis products and services had exceeded initial expectations. The funds would be used to increase the sales and marketing capabilities of the company, he said, allowing it to market itself more aggressively particularly in the US market.

"If I had to summarise the business strategy for the next year in one word, it would be marketing," he said.

The Brain Resource Company provides specialised profiles of brain structure and function, using a combination of MRI and functional testing. Currently the company has four trials running with pharmaceutical companies Bayer, Eli Lilly, Pfizer and Biogen to incorporate their technology into clinical trials.

But this year the company will probably focus its efforts on its touchscreen-based cognitive test INTEG NEURO, which it has developed in an alliance with IBM. The two partners are marketing the product together, with an initial focus on the "vigilance" market -- that is, screening the attention and decision-making skills of specialist employees such as pilots, train drivers or police.

In particular, the company plans to go after large government accounts in the US for screening and on-going evaluation of employees.

Segal said he was pleased that Citigroup had assisted the company with its placement. The majority of the shares went to five of Citigroup's institutional clients.

"The institutional support is very welcome," he said.