Scanadu Raises $10.5 Million to Help Make Its Medical Tricorder a Reality
Digital health-gadget startup Scanadu is announcing on Tuesday that it has raised $10.5 million in funding to fuel its efforts to bring its iPhone-linked medical “tricorder” to market.
Scandu’s Scout is designed as a smartphone accessory capable of taking all manner of biometric readings, including body temperature and blood pressure.
Relay Ventures led the Series A round for the Mountain View, Calif.-based company. Other investors include Tony Hsieh’s VegasTechFund and Jerry Yang’s AME Cloud Ventures. The money will be used to bring the company’s products through the FDA approval process and onto the market.
In July, the company raised $1.6 million through an Indiegogo campaign, with people paying to be early testers of the product.
Those testers will be part of its usability feedback system, while Scanadu is partnering with Scripps Translational Science Institute to do the clinical testing needed for FDA approval, a process that will start in January. Several tests will be needed to garner FDA approval.
“Scout is a pretty complicated device because it measures several things at the same time,” CEO Walter De Brouwer said in an interview. “The fusion of that data is also new information.”
And that means that general availability is still some time off.
“2014, that is our hope,” De Brouwer said. “I think 2015, that is our expectation.”
Scanadu also decided earlier this year to redesign the Scout to be more capable and, in doing so, also raised its expected price for the product to $199. Scanadu is also working on a smartphone-linked urinalysis product, called Scanaflo, which is also in the clinical trial phase.
In backing the effort, Relay co-founder and managing director Kevin Talbot said that his firm is looking for ambitious entrepreneurs who are using mobile technology to create whole new markets.
“Walter’s vision for the future of consumer healthcare is profound, and Scanadu stands to make a lasting impact on an industry ripe for disruption,” Talbot said.
