STAT-Diagnostica raises 25 million euros to move towards launching a rapid diagnostic platform
<p>The Dutch investor Gilde Healthcare led the round of financing together with six investors who already hold shares in the company</p>
The Catalan company STAT-Diagnostica, which specialises in diagnostic systems, has just closed its third round of funding with a total of 25 million euros. The operation was led by Gilde Healthcare, a Dutch private equity investor that specialises in rapidly-growing companies in the health sector.
Together with the new shareholder, the round of funding was completed by other investors who are already part of the company: Ysios Capital Partners, Kurma Partners, Caixa Capital Risc, Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund, Axis and Indivest Partners.
Ysios Capital led the first round of funding in 2011, while Kurma Partners led the second round in 2013. In total STAT-Diagnostica has acquired 44 million euros since it was founded in 2010, of which over half comes from international investors (33 million).
This latest capital increase will be used to complete all the processes necessary to receive approval for the DiagCORE platform, which the company has been developing for five years. In addition, STAT-Diagnostica hopes to begin selling the product in 2017 in Europe.
The DiagCORE platform is a molecular diagnostics system for immune complexes aimed at patients with critical conditions that require immediate diagnoses. It works using small mobile devices that allow for a rapid response time for the patient (which is why it is known as a Near Patient Testing tool).
According to the company, the product is as reliable as a central laboratory and simplifies the process of obtaining results. The device takes, analyses and processes many different types of samples (blood, faeces and saliva, among others) and can obtain the results in between 30 and 80 minutes depending on the application. The sample taken is able to detect a high number of analytes.
Gilde Healthcare praised the company's potential to become a leading system on the decentralised diagnostics market, which is currently one of the areas with the most attractive growth in the field of in vitro diagnostics. The tool could help improve medical decisions both for diagnosis and for patient treatment, as well as meaning savings in healthcare spending.
The platform is expected to be used in different areas, such as intensive care units and emergency care in hospitals, as well as in future clinics and consultations. This round of funding closed by STAT-Diagnostica is currently the biggest investment in the biotechnology sector in Spain in 2016.