Sight Diagnostics, maker of point-of-care blood diagnostic hardware, has raised $27.8 million to continue its global commercial expansion, fund U.S. regulatory efforts and support its R&D.
The Tel Aviv, Israel-based company received a CE mark last year for its OLO system, which uses digital microscopy to visually analyze cell types by size, shape, count and morphology, from a few drops of blood during a single office visit. Sight has already used its AI-based technology to screen over 600,000 samples for malaria infections, the company said.
“After proving our technology in malaria detection, it became overwhelmingly clear to us that [complete blood counts], the world’s most common blood test, is where we’d make the most impact,” said Sight Chief Technical Officer Sarah Levy.
“The ability to create rich digital images of blood samples and analyze them in minutes has enormous potential to improve diagnostics and patient care,” Levy added. “This funding round will also allow us to expand our R&D activities to develop applications beyond CBC.”
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The company previously raised $25 million in equity financing, including from former Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s Innovation Endeavors fund. The latest series C funding round was led by Longliv Ventures, a member of the CK Hutchison Group, whose portfolio includes more than 14,900 health and beauty stores across Europe and Asia.
Other investors include Jack Nicklaus II, son of the famous golfer and a healthcare philanthropist, an unnamed medical equipment manufacturer and the company’s previous backers: OurCrowd, Go Capital, and New Alliance Capital.
Sight recently concluded clinical trials at Boston Children’s Hospital and Columbia University Irving Medical Center, to study OLO’s clinical performance. The company said it is pursuing 510(k) clearance from the FDA, followed by a CLIA waiver application to allow for use at the point of care.