Irish MedTech firm Novus Diagnostics has secured €5m in new equity financing in a funding round led by Grimpeur Holdings with participation of Enterprise Ireland and the European Innovation Council.
The investment follows €2.4m in funding from the EIC in 2020, and brings the total funds raised by the company to €7.4m.
The announcement comes after Novus' SepTec testing platform delivered promising results in pilot-scale clinical studies at Beaumont Hospital.
The technology is capable of analysing blood samples and delivering a diagnosis of blood stream infection in 15 minutes, a fraction of the time taken by current diagnostic testing, and the test can also classify the type of infection the patient has.
Novus said the table-top device "represents something of a game-changer" in the diagnosis of sepsis, which kills some 11m people each year, allowing clinicians to immediately target treatment to the pathogen causing the infection while reducing healthcare costs, antibiotic usage and the length of hospital stays.
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"This investment is a major boost for the company and will enable us to expand our team and dramatically accelerate our development programme," said Keith O'Neill, CEO of Novus Diagnostics.
"Having the support of such experienced investors provides a significant endorsement of our mission to transform the diagnosis and management of life-threatening infections. We are building a revolutionary device that can detect and classify pathogens in the blood within 15 minutes.
"This will enable clinicians to provide targeted treatment hours or days earlier than is currently possible. Our focus now is on completing development and validation of the platform so the life-saving potential of SepTec can be realised in the clinic.”
The company currently employs 12 in Dublin and will actively recruit for roles in R&D, engineering, quality control and regulation in the coming months.
O'Neill, a life sciences industry veteran, leads the company with co-founders Elaine Spain (chief operating officer) and Kellie Adamson (chief scientific officer). Trinity Biotech co-founder Jim Walsh, who also participated in this investment round, serves as the company’s chairman.
Novus Diagnostics, along with UCD and the RSCI, was part of a consortium developing an AI-driven patient monitoring platform that received €3.3m in funding from the Department of Enterprise last week.
Photo: (l-r) Novus Diagnostics co-founders Kellie Adamson, Keith O'Neill and Elaine Spain. (Pic: Novus Diagnostics)
