This morning, artificial-intelligence-enabled monitoring and decision support platform Biofourmis announced a $35 million Series B raise. The round was led by Sequoia India and MassMutual Ventures with participation from EDBI, Jianke and existing investors Openspace Ventures, Aviva Ventures and SGInnovate.
The funding announcement coincided with the news that the Singaporean company will be moving its headquarters to Boston, where it currently has a 10-person team.
WHAT THEY DO
Using a propriety wearable, a patient-facing app and AI technology, the system is able to create digital biomarkers “reflecting the health status” of a patient. The platform was designed to detect when an adverse health event is about to happen. In part, the system was created to help monitor patients as they take different medications.
Earlier this month the FDA granted the company a 510(k) clearance for its RhythmAnalytics, a cloud-based software product that uses deep learning to read and interpret cardiac arrhythmias.
The company also caters to pharma partners. According to the company’s webpages, its Biovitals technology can monitor and manage study participants and give insights into effectiveness dosage variations, adverse reactions.
WHAT IT’S FOR
The company plans to use the new funds to commercialize in the United States and Asia and grow its team focused on data science, clinical and regulators and sales operations.
“Our core focus has always been to optimize therapies to augment patient care and health outcomes,” Kuldeep Singh Rajput, founder and CEO of Biofourmis, said in a statement. “The past year was filled with exciting achievements as our team made great strides in advancing our products, in addition to strengthening our regulatory platform and signing contracts with numerous global pharmaceutical firms. Our new funds will allow us to rapidly expand our workforce and commercialization efforts, while further demonstrating the clinical efficacy of our digital therapeutics platform through research and development.”
MARKET SNAPSHOT
Wearable technology is increasingly being use to monitor patients status both in a study setting and hospital setting. For example, the Verily Study Watch and its on-demand ECG feature landed a 510(k) clearance from the FDA in January, with a focus on clinical trials.
Others in the analysis software space include Cardiologs, which has long had an FDA clearance and CE Mark for its ECG clinical analysis algorithm, and Cardiogram’s, whose software brings detection of atrial fibrillation, hypertension and other conditions to several popular wearables, to name just a few.
ON THE RECORD
“We have long recognized the impact of digitization to the healthcare industry and have been investing in the sector,” Chu Swee Yeok, CEO and president of EDBI, said in a statement. “Biofourmis’ innovative digital platform, which leverages data analytics, exemplifies the opportunities in digital therapeutics to enhance conventional treatment for patients. EDBI looks forward to supporting this homegrown company's growth and product development.”
