Los Altos, California-based Gauss Surgical raised $1.5 million according to an SEC filing. This brings the company's total funding to at least $7.7 million.

Existing Gauss Surgical investors include LifeForce Ventures, Promus Ventures, and Taube Investment Partners.

Gauss Surgical, which was also a participant in the StartX Stanford University incubator in 2012, has developed an FDA-cleared app, called the Triton Fluid Management System, that uses the iPad’s camera to estimate the amount of blood lost during a surgery.

The system analyzes surgical sponges that have blood on them, counts how many sponges there are, and sends data from the app to a cloud server. The app then displays totals for estimated blood lost, estimated hemoglobin lost, and a sponge count.

In August, Gauss Surgical completed its first patient cases using the app at Magee-Womens Hospital of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). Doctors at UPMC are using the app to estimate blood loss during cesarean section surgeries.

“One of the biggest issues in postpartum hemorrhage is unrecognized blood loss,” UPMC Chief of Anesthesiology Dr Jonathan H. Waters said at the time. “We believe that use of the Triton Fluid Management System could be a game changer in allowing us to recognize blood loss and intervene sooner, thereby improving outcomes for the many mothers we serve each year.”

Gauss Surgical CEO Dr. Milton B. McColl also added that the patient cases at UPMC represent the beginning of the commercial phase for the company.