Loop Medical Closes $6.4 Million Series A Financing

Loop Medical is $6.4 million richer these days.

The company has completed a Series A financing round led by SARSTEDT Group and Casdin Capital. Loop Medical plans to use the funds to pursue U.S. Food and Drug Administration clearance and manufacture its blood collection device for the home, clinical trial, and liquid biopsy testing markets (estimated to be worth about $5.2 billion).¹ Loop Medical has raised more than $10 million in investment and grants, including $3.6 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

In connection with the financing, Rainer Schuster, board member sales/marketing/R&D, SARSTEDT Group, and Shaun Rodriguez, director of life science research, Casdin Capital, will join the Loop Medical board of directors. “Loop Medical’s modernized technology has the potential to establish a new standard in blood collection, providing a painless and convenient sampling method that can be performed by individuals themselves. As one of the leading suppliers of innovative and patient-oriented blood collection systems and preanalytical solutions, SARSTEDT believes Loop Medical’s new device is ideal for opening up a new segment for home- and self-collection of blood.” said Schuster. “We are convinced that innovative methods and products are the drivers for changing established procedures, and Loop Medical’s product will be one of those drivers. We are proud to be part of this exciting journey.”

Loop Medical is developing a minimally invasive device that allows for the collection of quality blood samples large enough to be fully compatible with common high-throughput blood analyzers while providing an easy, pain-free patient experience, improving safety and lowering costs. The device can be safely administered by a clinician or patient with just the push of a button. Positioned comfortably on the upper arm for a few minutes, the ergonomic device combines patented skin vasodilation and micro-incision technology to enhance capillary blood flow while ensuring low hemolysis (red blood cell destruction) levels. Its controlled extraction ensures low shear stress on red blood cells, and therefore, sample quality.

“This investment further validates our technology and the significant market opportunity we have ahead of us,” said Arthur Queval, founder and CEO of Loop Medical. “We thank SARSTEDT Group and Casdin Capital for sharing the belief in our potential and look forward to bringing our technology to U.S. healthcare providers, labs and patients.”
 
“While the consumerization of healthcare continues to accelerate, convenient at home sample collection remains a critical bottleneck to widespread adoption of virtual care. As Loop Medical scales its simple, safe and low-cost blood collection device, the company is poised to become a key enabler for the virtual care industry with significant growth across multiple end markets,” Rodriguez said.  
 
Loop Medical is a healthcare startup that has engineered a painless, safe and easy-to-use blood sampling technology to improve the patient experience. Enabling a large volume of high-quality capillary blood collection and fully compatible with high throughput analyzers’ automated process flow, the Loop Medical device brings significant benefits to healthcare professionals and simplifies access to clinical grade laboratory results. Loop Medical is based in EPFL Innovation Park (Lausanne, Switzerland) and was established in 2016. 

Reference 
¹ https://www.bccresearch.com/market-research/healthcare/direct-to-consumer-testing-market.html
https://www.bccresearch.com/market-research/biotechnology/liquid-biopsy-research-tools-services-diagnostics.html