London-based Amiko Digital Health, which makes connected inhaler and app suite Respiro, has raised a new round of funding. The amount was not disclosed. Sanner Ventures and Breed Reply (a previous investor) led the round.
Amiko Digital Health’s flagship product, Respiro, consists of two parts. The first part is a connected inhaler for respiratory disease patients, which measures compliance, lung function, and disease progression. A patient-facing app that communicates with the inhaler via Bluetooth provides coaching and support based on the data, while a provider-facing app can be used for remote monitoring or tracking trends. The latest funding will be used to improve the platform.
“Sanner and Breed Reply strongly believe our mission to transform respiratory care through advanced sensor technologies and AI,” Duilio Macchi, Amiko’s CEO, said in a statement. “We are excited to receive this investment, as the commitment from these organizations will be key in the commercialization of Respiro and of our medication sensors.”
Amiko, which was founded in 2014, doesn’t currently serve the US market, but has individual and enterprise customers in Italy, Germany, France, Spain, the UK, and the Netherlands.
“We believe that Respiro Sense has the potential to become the leading platform technology for connected inhalers,” Christian Schierholz, venture associate of Sanner Ventures, said in a statement. “Respiro is ideally suited for both add-on and integrated modules: it is cost-efficient, unobtrusive, compatible with most inhalers, and collects unique medication use and inhalation data to facilitate true medication adherence.”
The connected inhaler space which has emerged over the last decade includes some well-known digital health companies like Propeller Health in the United States and Adherium in New Zealand. It’s also been a hot target for acquisitions: Pediatric inhaler company Gecko Health Innovations was acquired by Teva Pharmaceuticals in 2015 and smart inhaler company Inspiro Medical was bought by Opko in 2014.
