Seventh Sense Biosystems Raises Series C Round of Funding

Seventh Sense Biosystems Inc., maker of TAP, the world’s first push-button blood collection device, has announced a $10 million round of Series C funding. Participating in the financing are existing investors Novartis, a global pharmaceutical company; Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (LabCorp), a global diagnostics company; Polaris Partners, and Flagship Ventures. The company plans to use the funding to develop new products and to expand production capacity.
 
TAP can eliminate the need for a tourniquet, large needles, lancets, tubes, and bandages, making the blood collection process more efficient for many tests. The device is positioned on a patient’s upper arm and with just a ‘tap’ blood is collected. The company aims to create a new standard for blood collection that can help to increase patient compliance with testing orders, leading to faster diagnoses and better outcomes. Future versions of TAP will be designed to enable the patient to collect their own blood anywhere and anytime.
 
“We’re bolstered by the confidence our investors and board have in Seventh Sense and excited for patients to finally have a truly better blood collection option,” said Howard Weisman, CEO. “Our momentum continues to grow and we believe TAP will become the trusted brand for innovation in blood collection.”
 
To further strengthen the company’s focus on commercialization and product development, Seventh Sense also announced that it has added Stuart Blitz as its chief business officer. Prior to joining Seventh Sense, Stuart was the first employee at AgaMatrix, a blood glucose monitoring company that made the world’s first medical device connecting directly to the iPhone. He helped grow the company from a startup to one with more than 15 U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-cleared products and 750 employees, forging partnerships with Apple, Sanofi, CVS, and Target.
 
In addition, the company also announced that Marc Ceulemans, Novartis head of Strategic Venture Capital & Pharma Equities, and Don Hardison, former CEO of Good Start Genetics, have joined its board of directors.
 
TAP is currently under FDA 510(k) review and not yet for sale.
 
Seventh Sense Biosystems has designed and developed TAP, the world’s first push-button blood collection device. It makes the process simple, convenient, and virtually painless. Roughly $50 billion is spent annually on diagnostics and consumers are demanding more from the healthcare system. The company aims to create a new standard for blood collection that increases patient compliance with testing orders, leading to faster diagnoses and better outcomes. Future versions of TAP will be designed to enable patients to collect their own blood anywhere. Medford, Mass.-based Seventh Sense is funded by Flagship Ventures and Polaris Partners, as well as corporate partners Novartis, LabCorp, and Siemens.