Global Kinetics is a novel digital health company that is revolutionising the management of Parkinson’s disease by providing the first continuous and objective measurement of patients’ symptoms in everyday environments, leading to better disease management and improved quality of life for patients.

Global Kinetics Pty Ltd (GK), headquartered in Melbourne, is committed to improving the lives of those with Parkinson’s disease using advanced medical technologies. GK is a novel digital health company that is revolutionising the management of Parkinson’s disease by providing the first continuous and objective measurement of patients’ symptoms in everyday environments, leading to better disease management and improved quality of life for patients.

GK was established in 2007 to commercialise innovative technology developed by Professor Malcolm Horne, from the Florey Institute of Neuroscience & Mental Health in Melbourne (the largest Neuroscience research team in Australia and the Southern Hemisphere), and Professor Rob Griffiths, for the precise recording, quantification and reporting of movement symptoms of neurological disease.

Professors Horne and Griffiths met with Brandon Capital’s Drs David Fisher and Chris Nave in late 2008. The first seed funding of $245,000 was provided by the Brandon Capital Managed, Medical Research Commercialisation Fund (MRCF) Trust. The MRCF Trust provided further seed funding of $1.7M between 2009-2011. In 2012, the MRCF Innovation Investment Fund(a VCLP) provided Series A funding of $1,000,000, closely followed in 2013 with $900,000 from the Brandon Capital IIF Fund (a VCLP).

Both the MRCF VCLP and the Brandon VCLP provided further funding of $6.9M over the subsequent 7-years.

This funding has supported the Company in securing an additional $60M in funding, including significant investment from overseas investors. The company’s Personal KinetiGraph® (PKG®) is a patient-friendly system that uses novel, proprietary, algorithms to record patients’ specific Parkinsonian movements over the course of several days and creates data-driven reports that empowers more personalised treatment and management decisions— ultimately leading to better disease treatment and a higher quality of life for patients.

The PKG® system is being used in clinics across the U.S, Europe and Asia Pacific, enabling better clinical outcomes and reducing health care costs across the Parkinson’s disease continuum.

To date over 50,000 patient-specific tests have been conducted with the PKG® system. With offices in Australia, USA, England, Germany and Sweden, the company is headquartered in Melbourne, with product assembled at the Company’s Melbourne office and shipped globally.

Clinical analysis of each patient’s PKG report is conducted by clinical neurologists in Melbourne, with the results provided to clinicians across the globe.

The company continues to expand its geographic breadth and revenue –even during the COVID-impacted past 12-months, the company achieved 38% revenue growth. The VCLP program played a critical role in providing the early-stage seed capital that was essential for GK to build its product and produce the clinical evidence that attracted further funding and ultimately led to the product being approved for sale in the US, Europe and Asian countries.

In September, the Australian Investment Council lodged a very important submission with the Federal Department of the Treasury in response to the Venture Capital Tax Concessions Review which was announced as part of the Government’s Digital Economy Strategy in the 2021–22 Federal Budget. The review has been focused on how effective VCLPs, ESVCLPs and AFOFs have been in attracting domestic and foreign capital, developing innovation, and expanding venture capital management skills and experience in the domestic market. Read the submission here.

Published February, 2022