Scanadu raises $10.5M, joins Scripps Wired for Health trial

By Jonah Comstock
05:00 am
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ScanaduScanadu, the Moffet's Field, California-based personal health scanner company, has raised $10.5 million and announced its participation in the Scripps Wired for Health trial.

The round was led by Relay Ventures, with additional support from VegasTechFund, Ame Cloud Ventures, the Broe Group, Mindful Investors, and RedMile Group. VegasTechFund is led by Zappos alum Tony Hsie and Ame Cloud Ventures is led by Yahoo! cofounder Jerry Yang. Scanadu CEO Walter de Brouwer told MobiHealthNews Hsie brings consumer relations experience to Scanadu and Yang will be a "reference point for data policy".

Scanadu previously raised $4.2 million, which brings their total funding to $14.7 million, not counting the $1.6 million the company raised on Indiegogo.

The company also announced that it would be joining the Wired For Health trial at the Scripps Translational Science Institute, a trial which currently uses the AliveCor Heart Monitort, Withings Blood Pressure Monitor, and IGBStar Blood Glucose Monitor. The Scout will be incorporated in trials starting in January. Specifically how it will be incorporated is still being finalized, according to Scanadu, but Wired for Health will be the first clinical trial validation of the device.

De Brouwer told MobiHealthNews that Indiegogo's crowdfunding campaign yielded some insights about their customers and informed their strategy going forward. For one thing, many of the backers were people who worked in healthcare. De Brouwer said that the 10 backers at the "Citizen Doctor" campaign level (one of the highest contribution levels, at $4,500), who met with him at FutureMed this month, all turned out to be actual medical doctors.

"There's no real profile [of our backers]," he said. "The only thing you can say is almost 27 percent have come from healthcare. The biggest group by what they want to measure is cardiovascular. That really changed our vision."

According to De Brouwer, cardiovascular disease is the new fever, and people are hungry for the equivalent of a thermometer to take control of their health. Although the company will still cater to a broad range of healthcare consumers, de Brouwer does see a new focus on cardiovascular patients.

Participation in Wired for Health is part of Scanadu's data collection process for seeking FDA clearance, along with the large scale usability test among Indiegogo backers. In addition, the company has assembled a Medical Advisory Board to help facilitate the FDA clearance application process.

"Doctors come from all over the states but they're primarily chosen because each of them has had a long track record in dealing with the government and regulation," de Brouwer said. "We want to do this very well with all our devices -- which, in the end, will come into one app and one big connected experience -- and we think for that we need to have a very clear view how to bring that to market as soon as possible."

Scanadu has turned to Fremont-based Sparqtron to manufacture units for its Indiegogo backers. De Brouwer said he expects the first devices to ship in March 2014.

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