Milpitas, California-based Bigfoot Biomedical, a diabetes management company working on their first product, announced an investment from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF)’s newly launched venture fund, T1D, focused on early stage companies working on type 1 diabetes. The terms of the investment were not disclosed, but Bigfoot previously raised $35.5 million.

The funding will be used to further develop Bigfoot’s automated insulin delivery service called smartloop. The cloud-connected diabetes management system is designed to interface with wearable insulin delivery and glucose monitoring tools, accessed through a companion app, and all delivered through a monthly bundled subscription service. Bigfoot completed its first clinical trial in late 2016 and expects to begin another this year.  

The JDRF T1D Fund was launched just last week with $42 million and the goal to present the type 1 diabetes space as an attractive investment opportunity to donors, venture, corporate and foundational capital sources. The fund will be managed by Behr and governed separately from JDRF.

Bigfoot President and CEO Jeffrey Brewer said his company is leveraging the work previously done by JDRF to prove feasibility for automated insulin delivery, ensure competition and choice for people looking for diabetes management tools, and establish a path to FDA approval.  

“We are thrilled to have a fund associated with the world’s largest nonprofit funder of type 1 diabetes research as an investor,” Brewer said in a statement. “JDRF is a partner who supports our vision of automated insulin delivery usable by anyone with type 1 diabetes, supportable by any doctor, and fully covered by insurance.”