A start-up rival to Illumina Inc. has emerged from stealth mode, debuting a new low-cost gene sequencing platform, the UG 100. Ultima Genomics Inc. has raised approximately $600 million from investors including General Atlantic, Andreessen Horowitz, D1 Capital and Khosla Ventures to scale development of the whole-genome sequencing, single-cell sequencing technology. Initial data using the platform to sequence more than 200 human genomes will be presented at the upcoming Advances in Genome Biology and Technology (AGBT) conference.
Pleno Inc. has secured $15 million in a pre-series A financing led by Medical Excellence Capital and Alexandria Venture Investments. The proceeds will support development of startup Pleno’s Hypercoding multiomic instrument platform. In conjunction with the financing, Pleno named Gregory Lucier as chairman of its board of directors.
Proving that reproduction remains a fecund market for investment, Israeli startup Fairtility Ltd. closed a $15 million series A funding round. Led by Boston-based Gurnet Point Capital with support from Nacre Capital and others, the round boosted Fairtility’s funding to date up to $18.5 million.
Germitec SA has raised €11 million (US$11.6 million) to finance commercial scale-up, as it prepares to submit for FDA 510k approval of its ultrasound probe disinfection system.
Orthoson Ltd. closed a £8.9 million (US$11.1 million) oversubscribed series A, which will be devoted to completing preparations for its ultrasound/hydrogel combination treatment for repairing degenerated spinal discs to start phase I clinical trials.
Hello Heart Inc. more than doubled its fundraising to date with a $70 million series D financing round showing heart-warming support from investors for its digital therapeutic solution. Growth equity firm Stripes led the round, which brought the heart-focused digital therapeutic company’s total raised to date to more than $138 million.
Investors showed some love to French remote patient monitoring and cardiac data startup Implicity SAS, contributing $23 million to the company’s series A financing round. New investors Crédit Mutuel Innovation and Bpifrance led the round with support from BNP Paribas Development and returning seed investors Serena, Xange and Karista.
With an oversubscribed $30 million series B in hand, Carlsmed Inc. is in a good posture to take the next steps in its plan to make its personalized spinal implants central to ending frequent revisions in spine surgery. The company’s Aprevo devices, which are 3D printed for each patient, received FDA breakthrough device designation and 510(k) clearance in late 2020.
The amount of money raised by med-tech companies in the early months of 2022 is the lowest amount recorded for a first quarter since 2017. Financings in 2021 were down by 17% over the prior year, which was marked by a flurry of activity and interest in digital technologies and diagnostics with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Carmat SA just completed a funding exercise, raising nearly $44 million to resume production and implantation of its Aeson total artificial heart, designed for patients suffering from end-stage bi-ventricular heart failure. The capital raise was achieved by issuing 4.05 million new shares on the Paris Euronext exchange, at a fixed price of $10.81 a share.
