Kerecis awarded the Nordic ScaleUp Awards 2023
Guðmundur Óskarsson, VP of marketing and product management, Manufacuring manager Guðbjörg Þrastardóttir, Guðmundur Fertram Sigurjónsson, founder, chairman and CEO of Kerecis and Klara Sveinsdóttir, Executive Vice President. Photo/Sent to mbl.is
Icelandic biotech company Kerecis has been awarded the Nordic Scaleup Award for 2023. "The award is given to a Nordic high-growth company that demonstrates best-of-class business performance in growing the company in an impactful and sustainable way. Kerecis was selected out of over 140 nominees from all the Nordic countries, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden."
This is stated in a press release from Kerecis, a biotech company that specializes in medical products made from cod and fatty acids. The company employs about 500 people and the company’s products are made in Ísafjörður.
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“With exceptional technology and good results in sales and marketing performance, [Kercesis] has the potential to have a lasting impact for the Scandinavian economy,” said Svein Berg, chairman of the jury and president of Nordic Innovation, in his speech at the awards at the Grand Hotel in Stockholm last night.
“We owe this rapid growth to an incredibly dedicated team of employees who work together as one to bring our wound-healing technology and digital solutions to the healthcare facilities so that they are available to patients and can improve their chances for a better quality of life and a longer life,” said Guðmundur Fertram Sigurjónsson, the CEO of Kerecis upon accepting the award.
Kerecis is the fastest-growing and one of the top six companies in the U.S. biologics-skin and dermal-substitute market, according to SmartTRAK Business Intelligence. Kerecis’ expanding product portfolio includes SurgiBind®/SurgiClose®, which are used for reconstructive surgery in hospital operating rooms; GraftGuide®, which is mostly sold to burn centers; and MariGen®, which is sold to healthcare facilities to treat diabetic and other chronic wounds.
The Jury’s reasoning for awarding Kerecis
“The decision was unanimous. The company excelled in all categories. The company has been named as one of Europe’s fastest growing companies by Financial Times in 2023. In 2022, the company became EBITDA profitable and closed the year with $74M in sales. As an innovative and growing biotech company, it has the ability to deliver enduring impact. The company is working with a real and important problem in healthcare field. The company is using a by-product that otherwise would not be used or would be a waste product. Kerecis develops, manufactures, and sells patented fish-skin products to heal human wounds and tissue-damage. The market potential for its current products is more than $10 billion. The company has implemented a broad ESG program and has an equal number of males and females in the company with a certified equal pay program.
The company is a prime example of a scaleup that is i) built on the heritage of Iceland (fish); ii) focuses on a very high value-added product and ii) due to a limited home market and talent base has been forced to be creative in their hiring and go-to-market from day one”.
