A company named ReWalk Robotics Ltd. has just filed for an initial public offering. The company is a medical device company designing, developing and commercializing exoskeletons that allow wheelchair-bound individuals the ability to stand and walk again. ReWalk has filed to sell up to $57.5 million in ordinary shares.

This company has developed its ReWalk exoskeleton using its patented tilt-sensor technology and an on-board computer with motion sensors to drive motorized legs that literally walk for the user. The company’s two products include ReWalk Personal and ReWalk Rehabilitation.

Current ReWalk designs are intended for people with paraplegia, a spinal cord injury resulting in complete or incomplete paralysis of the legs, who have the use of their upper bodies and arms.

ReWalk Robotics has applied to have its ordinary shares listed on the Nasdaq Global Market under the “RWLK” stock ticker. The underwriting syndicate includes shares of Barclays, Jefferies, and Canaccord Genuity.

The Israel-based company is venture-backed by Israeli venture firms. As for the opportunity in the United States alone, the filing shows an estimated NSCISC report that as of 2013 there were 273,000 people in the United States living with spinal cord injury, with an annual incidence of approximately 12,000 new cases per year.

ReWalk’s IPO filing also indicates that roughly 42,000 of those patients are veterans, and are eligible for medical care and other benefits from the Veterans’ Administration. The company further said that it believes almost 80% or 218,000 of spinal cord injury patients in the United States could be candidates for current or future ReWalk products.

Keep in mind that market penetration at this point is quite low. Only 17 ReWalk Rehabilitation units were sold in 2013 (versus 14 in 2012) and only 8 ReWalk Personal units were sold in 2013 (versus 4 in 2012). Systems sold in the first quarter of 2014 have also been lower than during the first of quarter of 2013.

With so few units sold, investors who buy into this company are only going to do so based upon future sales rather than based upon the near-zero revenues and the near-$22 million in net operating loss carry forwards.

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