Sight Diagnostics, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based maker of an FDA-cleared direct-from-fingerstick Complete Blood Count (CBC) analyzer, raised $71m in Series D funding.
Backers included Koch Disruptive Technologies, Longliv Ventures and OurCrowd.
The company, which has raised more than $124m in total funding, intends to use the capital to expand commercial operations globally and advance R&D into the detection of additional diseases as well as biomarkers indicating COVID-19 severity.
Founded in 2011 and led by Yossi Pollak, CEO and co-founder, Sight Diagnostics provides the Sight OLOⓇ analyzer, which automates the identification and quantification of different blood cell types and anomalies. Sight OLO delivers lab-grade CBC results by measuring 19 different blood parameters in minutes from either a fingerstick or a venous sample. To acclerate its AI-driven method, the company has generated a database of more than half a petabyte of blood imagery, which is used to not only optimize Sight’s current diagnostic algorithms but also to explore new algorithms for the early detection of serious health conditions like sepsis and cancer, as well as blood factors affecting the severity of COVID-19.
Since receiving FDA 510(k) clearance* for Sight OLO in late 2019, Sight has continued to expand its global footprint with a specific focus on the US market. Thus far, the company has secured contractual agreements with healthcare providers and distribution partners to deploy more than 1,000 analyzers over the coming years and will use the funds raised to meet this demand. In parallel, Sight is also working with large pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer, to provide support for different treatments and therapies.
*In the United States, Sight OLO is 510(k) cleared for use in moderate complexity laboratories; it has not yet been cleared for point-of-care use. Outside of the United States, Sight OLO is CE Marked according to the IVD European directive and approved by the Australian TGA for point of care settings.
FinSMEs
05/08/2020